Sealing Natural StoneSealing natural stone like granite or calcium based stones like marble or travertine, is an important step in the istallation process that is often overlooked by the tile contractor.
How to Seal Natural Stone You can use this cleaning process for cleaning countertops, floors and just about any natural stone surface. 1. You need to know if there are any topical coatings such as wax or polyurethanes on the natural stone, and if there is, they require a stripping process, that's different than what it is described below. 2. Clean your natural stone thoroughly with a neutral cleaner or if it's badly soiled, you can use an akaline stone cleaner to break down dirt and grease build-up. 3. Once the natural stone surface is clean, dry it with a cotton or microfiber cloth. It's very important the stone surface is dry before any sealer is applied. In some cases, if the stone is more porous, it may need 24 to 72 hours to dry before applying a sealer (e.g. some limestones). 4. If you're sure the stone is completely dry, you can apply the sealer evenly using a lamb's wool applicator or any soft cloth. Honed and textured stones will require more sealer due to them being more porous than polished stones. 5. Not all sealers behave the same and if you're using a water based sealer, it will take longer to dry compared to a solvent based sealer. It's important not to let the sealer puddle up as any unwanted residue can dry up and even stain some stones. If you do see any residual streaking, re-apply the sealer to these areas to re-activate the sealer. This will make it much easier to remove. Once you are sure it's penetrated into the stone, you can apply a second coat of sealer. Before the second coat dries on the surface, buff off any residue from the stone. When buffing the sealer off with your soft dry cloth, and you see any residual streaking, re-apply the sealer to these areas to re-activate the sealer. This will make it much easier to remove. That's all you need... to know about sealing natural stone. Of course what sealers work best for which stone is always hard to know. We are continually testing different sealers on different stones in our lab, to see for ourselves what works best. Sealing natural stone can be an easy task if you know what you're doing and have the time and patience to do it right. Return from Sealing Natural Stone to Integrity Stone & Tile Cleaning We Can Help When it comes to sealing natural stone, 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, but often find ourselves cleaning and sealing natural stone, ceramic tile and grout and colorsealing grout throughout the Bay Area. Want to know more about our services and how we can help you maintain your ceramic tile and grout or naturalstone, check out our website, or, better yet, give us a call 408-998-8781 we'd love to come by and see how we can help you. 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, 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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