stone sealing
1. I Hear That Granite Needs to be Sealed Periodically. How Often Should We Seal Our Granite?
If we install it, probably never. All natural stone has some degree of porosity. The sealer isn’t on the surface. It’s in the pores. You’ll never scrub it away. The only way to get rid of the sealer is to chemically dissolve it. We routinely seal all granite that we install. I haven’t found anything yet that will dissolve our sealer.
Our suppliers don’t charge extra for the sealer we use, so we don’t charge our clients extra. If an installer wants to charge you extra for some “special” sealer, he’s ripping you off.
2. What If Someone Else Installed and Sealed Our Granite?
Many other sealers aren’t as durable as ours. If someone else did your granite work and you’re unsure about it, you can test the granite to see if the sealer is doing its job. Just wet you fingertips and flick some drops of water onto your countertop. If the drops just sit there, the seal is fine. If water starts to soak in, it’ll leave dark spots after you wipe up the drops. This means it's time to reseal.
Sealing is easy to do. You can buy stone sealer from most any hardware store. Just look for an “impregnating” sealer made for granite and follow the simple directions.
If you prefer, we can re-seal your granite for you.
3. Is It True That Quartz Countertops Don’t Need Sealing?
Yes, that’s true. Quartz countertops aren’t porous.
4. What About Marble, Limestone, Travertine and Quartzite?
All need to be sealed, which we do routinely when we install. Just like with granite, I doubt you’ll ever have to reseal.
Some varieties of these stones are much more porous than granite. If you select one of these varieties, we’ll use a sealer made especially for very porous stone. It’s just as durable as our regular sealer. If one coat doesn’t do the job completely, we’ll apply as many times as necessary to fill the pores of the stone. Even well sealed, some marbles, limestones and travertines may stain. It's wise to wipe up spills immediately.