Edges and Tops Different Colors

Hi,

 

I'm really impressed by your knowledge!!!

 

We had Juparana Florencia countertops installed 3 days ago. We got the half bull nose edge. The edges are much lighter in color than the tops. The colors on the surface tops that carry over to the edges are not nearly as bold and vibrant on the edges as on the tops. Some edges are darker in color than others but overall, they're very light (almost white) with lighter muted versions of the surface colors. What would cause this? Poor polishing by the fabricator? Also, does Juparana Florencia need to be sealed? The installers sealed it before leaving. One area (approx 12" diam) looks yellow. Could that be from their "sealer"?

 

Thanks in advance!

Kim

 

Dear Kim:

Why, thank you for your nice words!

There could be two reasons why the edges don't have the same depth of color of the top:

1. Poor polishing. If you don't polish to the max, you will never get the right depth of color. If that's the case you will need to have your fabricator to address the issue by finishing the polishing job on the edges. FYI, it is not - by a long shot - a DIY project.

2. The slab your countertop was cut from has been resined by the factory (which overall is a good thing). The resining kind of enhance the natural color of the stone. However, when you do the edges, there's no resin there (nor can it be applied to them at thsat stage), and therefore, even if polished properly, it will never get to the same depth of color of the top. To minimize the difference, the application of a good quality stone color enhancer like MB-6 should do the trick.

Needless to say, it could also be a combination of both, but by your description I lean toward possibility #1. In fact you're reporting areas of the edge that are darker; which means that the polishing is not uniform. You have to consult with your fabricator to solve the problem - whatever that might be.

As for the sealing, if the slab had been resined, the stone may not take any impregnator (a.k.a. sealer) in. It also depends on how good a sealing job your installer performed. to find out if tyour stone will take some more imregnator in do this:
Spill some water in a few spots of your countertop, let it dwell for 5 minutes or so, wipe it dry and observe if the areas under which the water was sitting have become (temporarily) any darker than the rest. If so, you will apply a good-quality impregnator like MB-4. If not, the stone can't be sealed.
And remember: for the sake of your stone it is vastly more important learning what to use on it on daily basis, than the sealing.

Do visit our Helpful Hints section at: http://www.marblecleaning.org /helpful-hints.htm and read all the fre articles vailable there.

 

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Ciao and good luck,
Maurizio Bertoli

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