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Cleaning Natural Stone
Why is cleaning natural stone so important? because it's an investment you made in your home to add beauty and value.
When I watch those shows on TV about flipping houses, so many people opt to install natural stone because of the
value it will add to the selling price.
I've seen it over and over again, where someone has installed marble or travertine to their home and have not
given proper care or have used the wrong chemicals to maintain it.
Cleaning and maintaining your natural stone investment, isn't hard, as long as you know what to do. Also,
strong chemicals aren't needed to maintain your stone surfaces. For more on cleaning natural stone read on.
How to Clean Natural Stone Surfaces
Cleaning your natural stone isn't a hard task and you shouldn't be worried about damaging your stone.
Granite is a very hard stone made up many different minerals that usually are not calcium based like
marble, travertine and limestone.
You should perform a lemon juice test to make sure there are no calcium based
minerals like calcite in the stone.
For every day cleaning of granite surfaces, it's okay to use dish soap with warm water, as it's pretty mild.
Depending on the dish soap brand, some brands can leave a soapy film after time (the blue Dawn seems to be the best).
We always recommend neutral cleaners for all natural stones, which are pH 7.0 on the pH scale.
These neutral cleaners are safe for all tile and grout surfaces and natural stone surfaces.
What ever you clean your stone surface with, always rinse well and dry completely with a cotton or microfiber cloth.
Drying it completely helps because any wet area left to dry, may have dirt left in it which doesn't evaporate like
the water does.
Calcium based stones such as marble, travertine or limestone, are mostly made up of CaCO3, which is calcium
carbonate or the mineral calcite.
The calcium in the the mineral will react with any liquid that is
acidic (pH less than 7.0), so there should be zero contact with any acidic liquids.
There are tons of tile cleaners and cleaning chemicals that are acidic and before using any cleaning
product, be sure to read the label and preferably the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) before
using. Usually the cleaning product will indicate if it's marble safe or not.
Again, for cleaning natural stone surfaces, we recommend neutral cleaners. Marble, travertine and limestone
can be cleaned with some akaline cleaners, but they should be rated for stone cleaning.
There are many stone cleaners you can buy at your local tile shop, but a lot of them contain other things
like wax in them so it leaves the natural stone shiny or as they will say polished.
I would stay away from these as they just leave unwanted residues on the stone itself.
Your natural stone surface should always be sealed, to protect it from any staining agents. Please see
our sealing natural stone page for more information on sealing.
If your don't want to clean your stone surface by yourself, have it done by a professional at least once
a year. This accomplishes two things.
First your natural stone is cleaned thoroughly, making it look it's
best and allows for the stone professional to inspect it for any staining or more serious stone issues.
Secondly, after every cleaning of your natural stone, we apply a penetrating sealer to the stone protecting
it for the upcoming year. Cleaning and sealing done by a professional at least once a year will help make
maintaining your natural stone easier all year long.
When it comes to cleaning natural stone or just maintaining your natural stone and tile and grout, we strive to
help educate our customers on the best protection they can have, helping them save time and money in
costly restoration costs down the road.
We are located in San Jose, CA, but clean tile and grout and natural stone surfaces throughout the south bay, penisula,
and even find ourselves in the San Ramon Valley from time to time.
Want to know more about our services and how we can help you maintain you tile and grout in your home or place of
business? Give us a call at:
408-998-8781
Bay Area Cities we Proudly Serve!
We are located at:
341 S. 20th Street
San Jose, CA, 95116
Here is a partial list of some of the cities we serve:
Aptos, Atherton, Belmont, Blackhawk, Campbell, Capitola, Cupertino, Danville, Dublin, East Palo Alto, Felton,
Fremont, Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, Hayward, Hillsborough, La Honda, Livermore, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Menlo Park,
Milpitas, Monet Sereno, Monte Vista, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Newark, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, Portola Valley, San Carlos,
San Jose, San Martin, San Mateo, San Ramon, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz,
Saratoga, Scotts Valley, Stanford, Sunnyvale, Sunol, Union City, West Menlo Park and Woodside.
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Want to Know More About Granite Sealing?
Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Always working on your home
on one project to another. Check the link below to learn how
to seal your granite countertops.
We know you can do it yourself and give you some tips on
some of the pitfalls you might fall into.
Are You in Need of Marble Polishing?
We know even though you may be a do-it-yourselfer, you can't do everything.
Marble polishing is likely one of those projects left for a professional.
Check out the link below for more information on what the process involves.
Hi Guys!
Just want to let you know that I am very happy with the outcome of your hard work.
My bathroom looks like it was just remodeled. It looks great!
I am very glad that I chose Integrity Stone and Tile Cleaning to do the job.
I will definitely recommend Integrity Stone and Tile to my friends and neighbors.
I saved a lot of money by restoring rather then replacing.
Thanks again for the fine work!
Charlie R.
From Sunnyvale, CA
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