We have Santa Cecilia (polished) countertops and backsplash with an accent of Black Galaxy (polished) behind the cooktop. What is/are the best product(s) to seal these stone surfaces and how many coats of product should be applied? Thanks for your input. Mark

 

Dear Mark:

The Black Galaxy accent can't be sealed. (The stone won't absorb the impregnator, a.k.a. sealer).

For the rest, you have first to find out if your stone can actually take any impregnator in.

Santa Cecilia does need to be sealed with a good-quality stone impregnator in its natural state, but (very good) chances are that your slab had been resined from the factory. If that's the case, the resining process may have already taken care of the sealing in a permanent way.

How to find out if your countertop can be sealed?

Do this:

Spill some water in a couple of spots of your countertop, let it dwell for 5 minutes or so, wipe it dry and observe if the areas under which the water has been sitting have become (temporarily) any darker than the rest. If so, then you will apply a good-quality impregnating sealer like MB-4. If not, don't.

 

Most important of all…

Remember: it's never too early to think about the proper maintenance of your stone. The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is far more important than the sealing itself 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, which includes priceless tips on how to perform a good sealing job – which answers your question of how many applications of the impregnator and all that!

Finally, keep in mind that we need your support to help us helping you!

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Thank you  

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

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