Thursday, June 29, 2017

Sealing Granite Counter Tops

Recently Treated with Stone Tech Impregnator Pro
Why seal granite counter tops? 

To many people's way of thinking it would seem to be an unnecessary job and expense. Their reason is based on the fact that granite is so hard and the assumption that the hardness of the stone makes it almost impervious to staining. Wrong assumption! The hardness of a stone slab and its porosity aren't connected in a causal way. In fact some of the hardest stone slabs are natural quartzite. Yet they can be very porous.

What does a good sealer protect against? First, what don't they protect against...
What sealers don't protect against are acids in foods and liquids that over time can dull and etch the surface of granite. This is even more of a reality with marble and limestone which are softer stones and thus more easily impacted by food acids. So a good rule of thumb is to immediately wipe up that lemon juice spill and do not use cleaners that are acidic, or for that matter, alkaline. PH neutral cleaners made for stone are the way to go. 
Penetrating sealers will not prevent that calcium/mineral build up that one often
Clean Counters First
finds around the water faucets. Water deposits that over time regularly collect and sit around the counter plumbing fixtures gradually leave a mineral build. That process occurs as the H2O evaporates and the minerals in the water are left behind to bond to the surface of the stone slab. So fix the leaky faucet and give a regular dry wipe to those areas.
 
Penetrating sealers will not protect against water rings and water marks. These annoying discolorations are a variation of the above mineral deposit problem. One usually doesn't see this on granite counters but it can be a problem with marble, limestone, and travertine. Again, dry off those wet areas and don't leave wet glasses regularly standing for long times.
So to the question: What does a good sealer protect against? Some sealers will protect only against water working its way into the stone. They are basically water repellants. They can be excellent as a water sealer but will be ineffective against protecting the stone from stains of the most common liquids found in kitchens such as coffee, red wine, and oil. 

To protect against staining one needs a sealer that is made for that purpose. There are several very good ones on the market. Different people have their own favorites. In a future post I'll discuss the different types and compare the tradeoffs between them. 


Then Apply Sealer
The main point of this post is to simply explain what a good sealer can and can't do and why treating your stone countertops with one of them shouldn't be neglected. A good sealer applied correctly can give several years of stain protection until needing a reapplication. But keep in mind, no sealer guarantees against staining. The sealer's function is to greatly inhibit staining, making it very unlikely in most normal situations. Also, the sealer helps prevent that coffee or oil from bonding to the stone so that in the event of a stain showing up, removing it is much easier than if no sealer were previously applied.



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