Dear Maurizio, I am redoing my kitchen and have found the stone Absolute Zimbabwe Black Brushed for my countertops. I love both the texture and the color of the stone. It really is a very light black or dark gray. How black would the enhancer make the stone? After reading a few of your questions, I am concerned as to the proper seal / color enhancer / maintenance of this particular stone. The fabricator we are thinking of using has said that an upgrade sealer called nanobead can be installed and that it holds a 15 year guarantee - another one I heard of with the 15 year guarantee is Drytreat. HomeDepot seems to be using all stones from Stonemark with a sealer of somekind with a 15 year warranty as well. You seem to only recommend the color enhancer with a sealer included from your products. I have read your other black honed / brushed granite answers, but I still have questions. You say there is no real black granite - then what is it? You also say, I think, that you like the black brushed granite. Is that correct? So if I stuck with this brushed black, I would buy the products from you and apply them myself? And how often would I need to apply product to the stone to maintain? I thank you in advance for your reply - I know you have covered this before - but I think a lot more people are interested in this type of stone and not many fabricators are knowledgeable. And this does represent a large investment. I want to do my research and be as knowledgeable as I can possibly be. Thank you, thank you, mary sharrow

 

Dear Mary:

 

“ How black would the enhancer make the stone? ”

 

Just wet it with some water and you will find out.

 

“ You seem to only recommend the color enhancer ”

 

Yeah, aren't I the most radical chap on planet Earth?!... J

What can I tell you? All I know is that black Zimbabwe can't be technically sealed (and this is science, not my opinion) because it is a stone way too dense to take any sealer in (absorbency rate: 0.1% to 0.15%). And with this in mind, all of a sudden the promoters of those 15-year warranty nano-thing sealers and dry stuff take on their real identity: county-fair, snake-oil salesmen! But hey, you be the judge and follow your instinct. I will stick to intelligence and I will not try to sell you my 10-year warranty impregnator (see, it's only 10-year… what can I say!...) L

 

“ You say there is no real black granite - then what is it? ”

 

Oh come on, girl! Don't tell me that all those very important people with all those very important 15-year warranty sealer, nano thing dry and all that don't know what black granite is! I mean, you have to descend to the level of a little guy with a sealer that offers a mere 10-year warranty (and that is telling you not to buy) to find out?!...

Well, I don't know how much credibility I have with my little 10-year sealer, but I will try: it's either gabbro, or dolerite, or diorite, or norite, or anorthosite. None of them even close to granite. Black Zimbabwe in particular is dolerite.

 

“ You also say, I think, that you like the black brushed granite. Is that correct? ”

 

Indeed it is.

 

“ So if I stuck with this brushed black, I would buy the products from you and apply them myself? ”

 

No, not the products: the product. In fact the only one that I recommend is a good-quality stone color enhancer like MB-6 (which is also an impregnator). And yes, I do recommend that you apply it yourself. You care more about your stone than the contractor, that's for sure!

 

“ And how often would I need to apply product to the stone to maintain? ”

 

Color enhancers and/or impregnating sealers are not maintainers of the stone. They actually need to be maintained! The real maintainers are the products that you will use everyday on your countertop to clean it, which – as it should be intuitive – are vastly more important than the sealer. And here resides the first part of the answer to your question: the frequency of the application of a color enhancer depends on the type of cleaning agents that you will be using daily. The second part is the type of traffic that you will have on your countertop. Certain people use and abuse their kitchens, and certain other people have a kitchen just as a show-place. So, where you fit in the picture will make a huge difference. Let's just say that all factors being equal, if you use appropriate cleaning agents, MB-6 should last a good 5 years. But then again, you have eyes to see when it's time to apply it again, don't you?... J

 

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

 

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