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Marble countertop installation in kitchen

Dear Maurizio, I am currently having Calacatta Gold countertops installed in my kitchem. What is the best product to seal the seams without noticing ie(white caulking)...and what is the best sealer in the market for this type of marble. Kindest regards, Jeffrey Wood
 

Dear Jeffrey:

 

What is the best product to seal the seams without noticing ie(white caulking)...

 

Color-matching epoxy.

 

and what is the best sealer in the market for this type of marble

 

Are you talking about polished Calicatta Gold??... If that's the cas e, my answer to your question is: none. Polished Cailicatta doesn't take any sealer in: it is too darn dense. But, believe me, if it is polished, the last thing you will ever have to worry about is staining! Read this:

 

SEALING POLISHED MARBLE

 

Most people who inquired with me on the particular subject of stone sealers turned out to have a big misconception about the actual product and its expected performance. The word sealer would bring to their minds the image of a hard-shell topical finish, much like the one used to finish/seal hardwood floors.

A sealer for stone (better defined as “impregnator”) is not a topical sealer of sorts that will envelope your stone within an impenetrable cocoon. All sealers for stone are impregnators and, as such, are below-surface products that only deal with the rate of absorbency of the stone by dramatically reducing it. It is obvious that since they have to go below the stone surface, they have to be absorbed by it to begin with. It is also obvious that since none of the stuff will be allowed to cure and stay on the surface, no protection whatsoever to the surface itself can be expected.

Having said that and coming to polished marble, for starter it will not absorb a darn thing, since its high-density and high surface tension (especially when polished) makes it impossible to seal (and to stain, of course). (Widespread popular misconception has it that marble is very absorbent. It is not, and it's a scientific fact, not my opinion.) Therefore the application of an impregnator/sealer to it would only help its makers and its distributors to put their kids through college.

That was the good news. The bad news is the fact that most marbles are calcite-based stones, and therefore they readily react to acidic spills by etching, which is not staining: it's rather surface damage, a mark of corrosion, which has nothing to do with the (very limited) absorbency rate of the stone itself, but exclusively with its natural chemical make-up. Soda, drinks, lemonade, orange juice, vinegar, salad dressing … you name it, will damage the stone surface by just becoming in contact with it in a matter of a few seconds. These damages will look like “water spots” or “water rings.”

No sealer for stone under the sun will ever offer one iota of protection against those occurrences.

Bottom line: the wrong stone for the wrong application. End of story. (Unless, of course, you will use your countertop exclusively as the holder of the telephone that you will be using to make reservations or order take-outs.)

All the above goes to show that there's a big need for marblecleaning.org of what it stands for!

 

May I ask you now to please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

www.marblecleaning.org – The Only Consumers' Portal to the Stone Industry Establishment!
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