Home » Categories » Natural Stone Q & A’s

Bought a home with carrera marble kitchen counter tops...

Never had nice counters and our new home has a large expanse of carerra marble and I need your help! The counters have no colored stains but are covered with water marks and a few "etched" type stains (one is from an over-ripe pineapple...my fault!). Should I let this top just be "itself" and love the marks of time and wear or should I seal it to take better care of it? If Yes to that, can I apply "Stonetech - Bullet Proof" sealer that was recommeded by someone and do I need to prep first (aside from having it clean and dry)? Lastly, you recomend a pH neutral cleaner for marbles...how do you know if a cleaner is pH neutral when I go to the store? (By the way~ I love your sense of humor; and you are a patient man to answer SO many questions...) THANK YOU VERY MUCH! ~Stacey Grandy Clueless with Carerra
 
Dear Stacey:
Firstly, your "water marks" are etches themselves, just as those produced by the pinapple.
Second, if you have no real stain, what the heck do you want to apply an impregnator (a.k.a. sealer) to your stone for??... It will not stop etching from happenening, that's for sure. It will not seal your stone, either: marble is dense to begin with and in its polished form does not absorb anything (including the impregnator) due to its increase surface tension.
What to do then?
Become Italian! (In your perception of what a marble countertop should be and how should be used.)
So, you start by giving up the shine altogether.
To do that, unless you want to hire a stone restoration contractor to hone your countertop for you, If you or any other member of your family are handy, you could do the job yourself by using good ol' (metal-grade) sandpaper with an orbital sander. Start with a 60 grit, and then you go on and finish at 240 grit. Work every grit of the sandpaper intensively - not just a few strokes.
Once you have your hone-finish, it would be advisable to apply a good-quality stone impregnator like MB-4, because the pores of the stone will be more opened on the surface than if it were polished.
As for routine cleaning, MB-5 is the best specialty cleaner that you can find on the market.
And if a few visible etch marks will boher you in the future, your orbital sander will always be avaiable to come to the rescue!

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

Ciao and good luck,

Maurizio Bertoli

 

www.marblecleaning.org – The Only Consumers' Portal to the Stone Industry Establishment!
Attachments Attachments
There are no attachments for this article.
Comments Comments
There are no comments for this article. Be the first to post a comment.
Related Articles RSS Feed
New Granite color
Viewed 0 times since Sat, Sep 1, 2007
mbcare disinfectant spray cleaner
Viewed 0 times since Sat, Dec 15, 2007
LImestone - Mildew issue
Viewed 0 times since Wed, Aug 1, 2007
To travertine or not??
Viewed 0 times since Sun, Apr 13, 2008
Marble Bathroom Counter cleaned with bathroom cleaner
Viewed 0 times since Wed, Jun 25, 2008
Slate tile in the shower????
Viewed 0 times since Sat, Feb 23, 2008
honed absolute granite help and advice
Viewed 0 times since Tue, Nov 27, 2007
Color Enhancer over an impregnator?
Viewed 0 times since Thu, Jul 10, 2008
UBATUBA PROBLEMS
Viewed 0 times since Tue, Jul 10, 2007
Marble in my steam shower -
Viewed 0 times since Fri, Oct 10, 2008