Hello, we have pennsylvania bluestone on interior floors. they were sealed with one coat of 911 impregnator and they still scratch and show hard water marks . I want to strip the sealer and start over. What do you suggest. I want to love these supposed easy floors. Thanks for your expertise!!1 Judi

 

Dear Judy:

I assume that you meant 511, not 911. But it really doesn't matter.

Now, let's see: you do know that's impregnator, right? Consequently, you should know that an impregnator is strictly a below-the-surface (of the stone) product, right? It should also be pretty intuitive that if a product is below the surface of something, it can't and will not offer any protection whatsoever to the surface it's under, right?

Now, if you know all that, what on earth has that product to do with the scratches that you're experiencing??...

And how exactly to you plan to strip that impregnator, since It's deep inside the stone?

And again, starting all over with what? Another impregnator??...

How about if you get to realize that, no matter how gorgeous that stone is, it scratches easily and there's nothing that you can do about it, other than never walking on your floor?

Sure, you could coat it with some sort of hard-shell topical finish like urethane (like the stuff they use on hardwood floors – they are available), but on stone it doesn't work quite the same way, and it turns out to be the trading of a problem with a bigger and more difficult to solve one.

Bottom line bluestone is a stone for people who don't care about what happens to it under regular traffic conditions and accept the “changes” it will inevitably go through over years of use, like an expected “aging” process that eventually will take the so-called “lived-in” look that some people love. (Like an old pair of blue-jeans, if you know what I mean.)

But if you want to keep it like new all the time, then it was a very poor choice.

Trying to fight Mother Nature to bend it to your whims, is a losing proposition, I can assure you of that.

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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