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Cleaning granite

Article Number: 680 | Rating: Unrated | Last Updated: Tue, Oct 23, 2007 at 12:00 AM

We just had Volga Blue granite installed and they put a sealer on it and told us not to wipe the counter for 40 minutes. We waited until the next day and when I tried to wipe it down it still had streaks that I could not get out. I read on the internet that alcohol would make granite shine so I tred it but still had streaks. I called the granite company and they told me I should not have touched it for 1 week and that I probablly damaged the granite by using alcohol on it. What can I do at this point? It still has the streaks and I am sick that I may have damaged my granite. They did not leave me any instructions on how to care for it ...just not to wipe it down for 40 minutes.

Dear D.:

" and told us not to wipe the counter for 40 minutes. We waited until the next day and when I tried to wipe it down it still had streaks that I could not get out."

No kidding!!... :-(

" I read on the internet that alcohol would make granite shine so I tred it but still had streaks."

Is that what you read?... interesting; I didn't know that!

" I called the granite company and they told me I should not have touched it for 1 week "

Hmmm... Perhaps not touching your stone for at least the first couple of years would be even better!!... Is there a limit to such a total lack of professionalism?! When you think that someone reached the bottom, there's always someone else that's going to establish a new record!!

" and that I probablly damaged the granite by using alcohol on it."

Is that what they told you? And how could you possibly have ruined your granite if you don't have granite at all?!?... And with alcohol??...

" It still has the streaks and I am sick that I may have damaged my granite. They did not leave me any instructions on how to care for it ...just not to wipe it down for 40 minutes."

Have you actually paid those "professionals"?!... Any chance that you can stop payment on your last check?

You should demand them to come back and remove the useless (under the circumstances) impregnator (a.k.a. sealer) that they applied to a stone (Anorthosite) that can't be sealed and does not need to be sealed, and, to top it all, for not having removed every residue of the useless product from the surface of the stone before it had a chance to dry, like it expressly printed on the container of the impregnator. 40 minutes my foot!!

You did not damage your stone: there's very little that could damage a tough cookie like that!

But you have to get rid of the stupid sealer (maybe by using a paint stripper based on Methylene Chloride; don't worry, no solvent will ever damage any stone) and then learn how to care for your stone.

The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is – like it should be intuitive – vastly more important than its sealing (if and when possible and/or advisable - which in this case is not even possible: the stone is too darm dense to take any sealer in) and it's all too often neglected. As you can tell by reading many of this site's postings, you're not likely to get good information about it from your dealer or installer. Don't become another statistic! By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/helpful-hints.htm, you will be able to get the short version of our maintenance guidelines at no charge. The full version of it – a 7-page document considered by many as an industry benchmark – is available in pay- per-download format in our Educational Literature section at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/literature.htm.

And remember, every single penny of the cost of the literature will be used to support this site and its cause: your cause.

While you are in the “Helpful Hints” section, do spend some time reading all of the interesting FREE articles you'll find in there!

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Thank you

Ciao and good luck,

Maurizio Bertoli

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