Silicone caulk leeching through granite countertop

Yesterday, I picked up a granite counter top for our bathroom. The directions said to install it with "caulking adhesive" so I used the usual DAP clear acrylic latex caulk with silicone. Everything went fine but this morning I noticed that the caulk has leeched through the granite and you can see 2" circles of discoloration on the top side of the countertop.

Has anyone run up against this before? The caulk directions indicate that it can take 7-14 days for the caulk to dry and turn clear. Do I have to wait that long to see if the counters are ruined?

Geez, this is frustrating. I'm beginning to think that granite isn't all it's made out to be......

I'm realy sorry to hear that. I usually have granite installed and they use white silicon caulk for the bowl and clear silicon caulk for the splashes. I hope your stains go away on thier own.

Tom

Silicone in granite?

Silicone is the recommended fastener for granite.

What type of stone do you have? A lot of "granite" is not actually granite, and they might have different issues.

How thick is the slab? It's hard to imagine something leeching through 3cm of stone in a night or two.

The slab is actually 2 mm thick and it came from Home Depot. It was a standard 49" long beige granite slab with undermount bowl which they had on sale for $200. It comes from China if that makes any difference.

I called a granite place and they said that you have to use 100% silicone sealer or else it can leach through. Who would have ever thought that? It said nothing about 100% silicone in the directions. Funny thing is, it didn't do it everywhere on the slab. The biggest issue is with two corners where I dobbed on some caulk before I put it down.

Another granite place I called asked me if the granite turned darker when I got it wet. While it was advertised as being sealed, the granite does get darker so he suggested I get something called "enhancer" and it would soak in and make the granite darker so it might all blend in.

I swear. Everyone gripes about laminate but it has been around forever, it's cheap, and it seems to have been working long before we came up with all this stone countertop stuff. I thought granite was the cream of the crop. Now I think otherwise......

I've heard of this a couple times - it's an issue with just about any natural stone. If the slab isn't sealed, on both sides, the caulk will bleed through.

I hate to tell you this, but it's too late to do anything about it. You have to start over with a new piece.

If it makes you feel any better, the incident where I first learned about this, was an entire kitchen. Cost the GC about 10k...

I got under the countertop and applied a poultice to the underside. I'm hoping for a miracle.

I installed 2 granite tops in my bathroom by just lying them on the cabinets. They're not going anywhere. The undermount sinks were sealed with Polyseamseal, no sign of any bleeding after a year or so. Did anyone hear Click and Clack's views on care of granite countertops? Might be available on their Web site, but it ain't responding now.