Are Quartz Countertops going to be treated like its the next Asbestos? Lets explore

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[00:00:25] Eric Goranson: But the problem they're running into is that they're going after engineered stone, which is typically 90 percent or higher of Silica compared to cheese. Even some of the stuff that's jam packed with it is 45 percent or less. And then you're dealing with some of the centered or the, what they call the slab porcelain.

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[00:01:03] Eric Goranson: Here in Portland we were making the national news and especially my little city here on the outskirts as we had hundreds of trees down. It was definitely funny that I had just done a whole show about being ready for natural disasters and here we are with a state of emergency and everything else and I worked out pretty well.

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[00:01:42] Eric Goranson: Today, we are going to take on a heavy subject here. But it's something that you might not heard of, and it's something that's happening down in Australia, but usually when these things happen, they work their way here. So it's a great time to talk about it. And the question is, are courts countertops going to be the next asbestos containing [00:02:00] material type thing?

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[00:02:19] Eric Goranson: And this is from the Guardian. There's a bunch of different stories out there. This one seemed to be to be written really well from an Australian perspectives that I wanted to hear. So really what we're getting into, there was an Australian worker who was working in a stone fabrication shop that developed silicosis, which is a debilitating lung disease in 2015.

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[00:03:08] Eric Goranson: And Australia has the right to do that. But. This is interesting. So there are in Australia, just as an example, there are about 10, 000 stone masons in Australia that work with it and a hundred thousand in the U S. And so there's a lot of people working with the product. And so that's what they're talking about.

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[00:03:50] Eric Goranson: Kind of what we saw with asbestos after asbestos was used and stuff, and now they're jumping in to really start to curb this and the way they're going to do it [00:04:00] is they're going to ban the product. And. Between 2010 and Australia, actually, no, sorry, there was a study here, largest U. S. study in the material released in July found silicosis has claimed lives of several stonemasons, and a lot of them were in California, and you're seeing it in Texas, but now it's climbing.

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[00:04:39] Eric Goranson: Now, here's where I think the issue is. And I think what the big issue is that we've seen lazy practices by stone fabrication shops worldwide. And now let me explain what lazy practices are because this is a big deal. What we're seeing out there is people dry [00:05:00] cutting this material. And so what's happening is they're getting out there with grinders or cutting it.

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[00:05:25] Eric Goranson: Now there are hundreds to thousands, and I don't know the numbers, but I'm going to say thousands of stone fabrication shops out there that are doing this product the right way. They're using water, they're using machinery, they're not cutting on the job site with a dry saw out and creating a cloud of dust.

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[00:06:08] Eric Goranson: But the problem is, and they've got polishers, they've got all these wet polishers and people are doing it correctly. Now, if I walk into these cheapest chuck on the block kind of place, They're cutting it, but they're polishing it all dry. Now, when these fabricators show up to cut out a cook or a sink or anything else, I'm seeing clouds of dust.

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[00:06:52] Eric Goranson: And they're going to sit there and take it off the market for this. I'm going to throw this right back on the fabrication people out [00:07:00] there that aren't doing it right. And they are the ones that I'm going to put the blame on for creating a situation where they're putting their workers in some extreme harm.

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[00:07:35] Eric Goranson: And all of a sudden we've got bigger issues. So those are the things that we're starting to see now with this. And that becomes a major, major problem. So I'll be the first to say we've got to have worker safety, but let's not blame the product. Let's blame the companies that are out there fabricating.

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[00:08:10] Eric Goranson: People have been following it for years, but we just need to be able to figure it out because I tell you what, some of these people out there are doing a really. Horrible job of doing this now. Here's the thing now. Let's get into the details here We're gonna have to go out to break here in a minute, but I want to talk about here There's a lot of other countertop options as well.

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[00:08:54] Eric Goranson: So, when they're cutting it, you are just nailing it right into somebody's lungs. [00:09:00] Now, if you were cutting many of the granites, you're only talking about 15 or 20 percent. So, we're talking about how that's really pushing in a huge, huge area of dust into people's lungs, so that dust is going to be much more hazardous to their health.

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[00:10:14] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Around The House Show. This is where we hope to get the most outta your home through information. Hey, if you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com, and you can find out more about the show there, including All of my tv clips and videos that i've been doing we have been doing a ton of stuff for the television show And we do uh, gee six or seven segments a week and we are coming up on Our one year anniversary, so you do that times 52 weeks and guess what?

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[00:11:01] Eric Goranson: com as well as, uh, the phone numbers over on the website as well, but if you do need to get ahold of us, you have a home improvement question. 8 That's 44. Like I said, I'm still playing catch up from this last week because thanks to all you calling in, but we have been jammed here with bad weather and I've got.

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[00:11:46] Eric Goranson: And so that has become a big deal. And some of the part of the deal that we're running into here is workers, of course, getting hurt like we were talking about with silicosis. But the problem they're running into is that they're going after [00:12:00] engineered stone, which is typically 90 percent or higher of silica compared to cheese.

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[00:12:26] Eric Goranson: Cause I haven't seen it. But, really, this is where the issues are coming, and, unfortunately, the quartz is one of the least expensive. Now, some of the issues that I do have with quartz And a lot of it has become as, as some of the imports that are coming into the U S that are the, the knockoff one, shall we say?

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[00:13:10] Eric Goranson: And I have no problem with materials coming out of there. What would I prefer to be made here in the United States? Hell yeah. Absolutely. But the problem that we're seeing is a stuff that's coming out over there is we don't really have a great source of where all of the raw materials are coming from.

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[00:13:49] Eric Goranson: Those are concerns of mine. When you have a U. S. company, you have a much better chance of them dialing in and having a very consistent And clean stream of [00:14:00] materials coming in. So be careful when you're ordering Stuff and you're like, ah, it's 10 cheaper. I'm going to take the 10 One it's not going to be the same quality as we and two You just don't know what's going into that now One thing that I want to make sure and talk about here is that all quartz countertops are not the same Now you're seeing stuff with high Material content, you know, where it's got very minimal binders in it, that's usually a higher grade product.

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[00:14:58] Eric Goranson: That's a lower quality [00:15:00] product and it's going to be more susceptible to heat and all the other things that we see. So these are things that I really want you to be careful with. I am not a big fan of these Low end imported stones like that or fake stones and the same reason is why I don't like the stones The countertops coming out over there as well.

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[00:15:41] Eric Goranson: Saying, hey, there is radon in granite by quartz, and I thought it was a pretty low blow at the time. I thought, wow, that was, that's not cool because there's not really any science that stands behind that. And if radon was coming in, it would be so tiny. It would just not be an [00:16:00] issue. What would be a bigger issue would be chemicals that were maybe soaked into that granite something like that.

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[00:16:34] Eric Goranson: Name a date. I don't care. And then what I would do is I would make sure that they're all using the best practices to do it. And I'd have those reps popping in, popping out. And I would want to see pictures of the shop. I want to make sure that everybody is a quote unquote certified installer. So they're not hurting or even worse, killing workers.

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[00:17:24] Eric Goranson: But talking to people that I know, they were saying that Australia, some of the side story is what happens when people want to get rid of those courts countertops. They might have to go in and abate those, which I think is excessive because if you break it, it just snaps. It's not like it's this big dust cloud.

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[00:18:05] Eric Goranson: We're not gonna do the whole show on this, but we're seeing issues out there. You're gonna see this now with construction workers that are doing earthquake retrofits. They've had for a number of years now. Rules for drilling into concrete because concrete has it to granite has it too. All right. When we come back We're going to talk about the best ways to handle this so you can do this safely Just as soon as around the house returns don't go anywhere

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[00:19:14] Eric Goranson: back to the around the house show This is where we help you get the most out of your house through information and education. Thanks for joining us today If you want to track me down give us a call at 833 239 4144 That's 8 3 3 2 3 9 41 44. Appreciate all of you listening on the Talk Media Network out there.

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[00:19:56] Eric Goranson: And is this really going to be the next asbestos? [00:20:00] And I wanted to go back here, if you're just joining us, to really where this comes from. So, silicosis, and this has been seen for a number of years. This isn't something new. And it's something that you really saw change in concrete workers. A number of years ago, people that are out there drilling, fastening and cutting concrete.

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[00:20:46] Eric Goranson: That is something that if there was somebody driving by, they'd be over there getting the name, job site information. There'd be a fine coming that way in many instances. Because you can't do that anymore. And that's the reason why a lot of these [00:21:00] saws now come up with water attachments to them. So you can keep the water on it.

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[00:21:24] Eric Goranson: I get that. But there's people dying. There's workers dying. And it's documented. There is no debate that this is killing people. And it's something that I want you as a homeowner, if you've already got some lung issues, or if you're somebody out there working in the trades. Tens of thousands of you listen to this on the radio that are trades people out there.

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[00:22:20] Eric Goranson: But here's the thing. This is 1 of those things that if you're drilling into concrete, maybe you're putting up a basketball hoop. Just get some water. Get a hose over there. Keep it wet. If you're cutting a hole in concrete to put a footing in. Get that rental tool, hook the hose up to it. If you're drilling a hole in your countertop to put a soap dispenser or garbage disposal or a glass rinser, just get it wet.

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[00:23:22] Eric Goranson: And they're attaching that foundation to the footing, the basic or the footings to the posts, to the sill plates, all that stuff. And they're having to put in expansion bolts. Or bolt in an epoxy bolt in, depending on what the engineer said, they're having to bolt this stuff. So they're down there drilling 40, 50 holes.

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[00:24:01] Eric Goranson: Those are the people I'm the most concerned about. I get it with the con with the countertop workers, but this is where we're going to start to see that. So again, if you've got friends, family, spouses, anybody out there, just make sure they're safe. Make sure they're operating it correctly. Now, one thing I wanted to talk about here, this is an important one.

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[00:25:00] Eric Goranson: What they will do is they will cut out most. Of that sink, but they'll leave a few tabs on there because that will actually make that stronger right there because you don't want that little front and a little back to break when they carry that in there. So they'll leave the piece in there, set it in place, or they'll cut it out in the field before they carried in.

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[00:25:42] Eric Goranson: They need to be using vacuums. They need to be doing all that stuff. So if they're up there with a grinding wheel, there better be a dust attachment to it with a HEPA vac on the other side. Then you've got something that's going to be healthy for you and everybody else. I know people that have gone out of town and said, hey, I'm out of town.

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[00:26:23] Eric Goranson: Cause there's a lot of dust. Now they couldn't find them because they weren't there during that time. But if they had seen it, that would have been a whole job site stop and a whole big mess. Here's the thing I want to talk about here at the end of this one here, this segment and going into the next one, what are some better materials?

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[00:27:05] Eric Goranson: You're not cutting it You're not doing any of those things. So that's what i'm worried about with all of that So make sure that you've got that but you've got some other choices out there The other choices you have out. There is real stone Granite that's going to be under 45 I would stay away from quartzite, which is different than quartz quartzite is a natural stone.

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[00:27:57] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, I love that stuff. It has [00:28:00] performed, it has taken everything we've thrown at it. I even dropped a beam when I was setting it on my kitchen outside, my outdoor kitchen. Dropped it off my shoulder, knocked me off the ladder, landed on the countertop, didn't break it. That's pretty solid.

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[00:29:09] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the Round the House Show. This is where we. Hope you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining me today. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com. We were just talking about the potential ban of courts, countertops in the U S and we've hit that and talked a little bit more about it than I probably needed to, but I wanted to see if I could get you out as much information as possible.

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[00:29:57] Eric Goranson: And this is where you can run into problems. And we're gonna [00:30:00] have a guest on later on this month to talk in more detail about this. But for everybody out there, that's maybe thinking about buying a house or you're working on it, maybe interest rates are starting to get a little bit better. Let's talk about that for a minute, because there's a lot of weight that people put on the home inspector.

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[00:30:43] Eric Goranson: So first off, order your house inspection, make sure you talk to your realtor. I don't want the one that's going to give the glaze over the realtor likes that. That's good. Beautiful little maintenance issues. Don't worry about it. I want to make sure you got somebody good coming out there. [00:31:00] Now, here's the problem with good.

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[00:31:29] Eric Goranson: What's their liability? 600 bucks. There's not much there. And usually those contracts, there is nothing you can go after on that. And if you have a big problem that gets missed, guess what? That can be a problem. So here's what I would recommend through your inspection process. If you are worried about these things that I would make sure and go this way about it.

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[00:32:21] Eric Goranson: I would have that home inspector come out. I would have an HVAC person come out that you trust and take a look at it. I would have a roofing company that does repairs. Come on, take a look at it. I want them to get under the hood on this thing deep. I also want to make sure that if you have a foundation issue, any kind of a crack, older house.

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[00:33:12] Eric Goranson: What are some of the biggest ticket items, brand new roof, new HVAC system, and dealing with water in a basement, water in a crawl space, or a damaged foundation. Those are three of the big ones right there. Now I would lean on your home inspector to make sure to go around and double check the doors and windows and drains and all that stuff.

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[00:33:59] Eric Goranson: If it's [00:34:00] not included in your deal, like in my state, a sewer inspection is part of it's required for the bank. That's required of the process. You always have a sewer inspection, just as in my area, you have to have a rate on expect inspection as well. So I would check all of those things. Make sure you got it way dialed in.

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[00:34:50] Eric Goranson: You might get 600 bucks out of them. You might get 200 bucks out of them, but you're not going to get them to fix it. So that's where the issue rises. You can't [00:35:00] fully lean on these people. They're going to give you their best professional opinion. And that is not always foolproof. None of these people are going to be opening up walls and taking a look inside.

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[00:35:42] Eric Goranson: Building science has come a long way over the last 20 years. It sure caused some problems early on, but they've got it dialed in, but these are all things that I want to make sure that you understand, and quite frankly, you can't blame the inspector on it. They missed something. And I completely [00:36:00] understand it could be a 20, 000 kit for you.

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[00:36:24] Eric Goranson: If you are a year long listeners, have you been listening to this show for a couple decades? You've heard me preach that before, but so many times people and closing a porch, finish a basement. Do an attic, convert into living space. And they're saying, Hey, we're selling you a 1700 square foot house. But guess what?

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[00:37:03] Eric Goranson: And so is your bank. If someone didn't pull a permit on this, the building department doesn't know about it. If the building department doesn't know about it, that space doesn't exist because if you go pull a permit to do a remodel on one of those spaces, they're going to go, Hey, you got to bring that up to 2024 building code.

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[00:37:44] Eric Goranson: I've seen it happen. So do your due diligence with that. But when you lean on that inspector, make sure that you realize their liability. And I'm not a lawyer, not pretending to play one on TV either. [00:38:00] But if you read through the fine print, they tell you what their liability is. That's where you're going to get burned.

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[00:38:23] Eric Goranson: So if you've got multiple cracks, maybe that's where you bring in the structural engineer before, during your inspection period to make sure they've got it dialed in. That way, you know that I don't have to go in and put helical piers in and support part of the house at 2000 bucks a pop or whatever costs in your area.

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[00:39:02] Eric Goranson: I gotta run. I hear the music in the background. It is time to go Thanks for tuning in the round the house If you want to see us head over to around the house online. com Some of you will catch our two on the radio coming up And if not, you can always catch it on the podcast player on any podcast player.

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