Imagine this. You have spent thousands of dollars renovating your house with premium granite counters then due to unforeseen circumstances, you have to move out of the house or sell it.

You can’t imagine moving to the new house without the seamless design, durability, ease of maintenance, and color patterns of granite.

Can you remove granite countertops and reuse them? You wonder. The simple answer is it’s most likely impossible as there are plenty of hurdles you have to go over for it to be a success. These hurdles include:

You have to match the kitchen space layout

Since you had already cut the slabs during installation, the only way you can use them in your new home is if they fit the footprint of your new kitchen cabinetry.

This means if in the old layout the granite had cutout around the wet bar area or around the sink area, for you to reuse your countertops in the new kitchen you should have the exact layout, which as you can guess is highly improbable.

Even if by miracle the old and new kitchen layouts match, you have problems if the new kitchen is larger than the old one.

In such a scenario you have to find matching granite pieces which can be difficult if the granite pattern and color is unique.

Even if you manage to get the piece, you will have a visible seam where you attach the additional slab. As you can guess this can significantly affect the look you are trying to achieve.

So to conclude, for you to successfully remove and reuse your kitchen countertop, the two houses should have similar cabinet layouts. The length and width of the countertop should fit the cabinet dimensions.

If you have excess granite, your contractor can trim it down, but if the granite is not enough, you have plenty of issues to solve.

High granite damage risk

Most homeowners install granite for its tough and indestructible nature, but you should know that granite is heavy and brittle.

This means it’s almost impossible to remove the countertops in one large slab as the risk of damage is high.

For you to safely remove the countertop, hire a professional to come with special tools, which as you might guess isn’t cheap.

You also have to involve several people to hold along the countertop’s length to avoid pressure points that might lead to cracking.

Even when you hire experienced contractors, most of them will require you to sign a contract that frees them from liability should the granite crack during removal. This is due to the high risk of damage that comes with removing the stone.

Before you decide to remove the granite, find out the type of granite you have. Granite can be weaker and fragile or it can be harder and stronger. Obviously, you should go for one that is harder and stronger as it will be easier to handle and move without risking a lot of damage.

You also should consider the thickness of the granite counter. It’s better to remove a thicker slab than a thinner one. To tell how thin your countertop is, check it from beneath the cabinet.

If there is plywood below the granite, then the countertop is thin and has high chances of cracking but if there is no plywood, the stone is thick and there are chances of removing it with no issues.

Work with an expert contractor

There are plenty of perks that come with removing and reusing granite counters. One is you don’t leave behind your precious countertops you spent a lot of money on.

Secondly, you don’t have to break the bank to purchase new countertops in your new home.

While this is great, as discussed above, it comes with plenty of challenges you have to be strategic when approaching them. To increase the chances of the process being successful, work with experienced granite contractors Rockville.

The contractors should have removed and reused other countertops in the past. When you hire the right ones, they will help you decide whether it’s wise to remove the countertops or not.

The contractors will also remove and reinstall the countertops if the stone is healthy enough for reuse.