Comment by legitster
2 years ago
The exposure to silica comes from cutting and grinding - and there is probably more exposure to cutting and grinding from natural stone (first at the quarry and second in production).
I think the important distinction is that with natural stone, much more is cut to fit from the factory (which is easier to handle dust) vs cut on site.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that nobody tries to cut granite on site with an angle grinder. It's so difficult because the material is so hard.
Granite countertops are typically cut off-site with a waterjet, which creates zero dust.
This I suspect nails the question of "why doesn't natural silica-containing stone cause the same problems?" asked several times elsethread.
I wonder why those parts are not made in the desired shape already with no need to cut or sand in place.
No perfect walls (also changes w/ temperature/humidity), drilling holes, misalignment, imperfect measurements...
Since it's a luxury but not a super expensive product, the more expensive process of precise measurement, off-site waterjet/laser cutting is not suitable.
I assume it's because kitchens and bathrooms aren't made in standardized sizes to fit standardized counters.