What's the best way to clean pietro cardoza...and should I reseal it before I move in to my new apt? I don't know anything about this stone. Thanks!

 

Dear Lisa:

You don't know anything about Pietra di Cardoso, yet you bought it and had it installed as a kitchen countertop??... L

I sincerely hope that you will not use your countertop much.

That stone, calcareous phyllite from the little town of Cardoso in Northern Italy, near Carrara (Pietra di Cardoso means Stone of Cardoso), is sensitive to acidic liquid just as much as marble. Pretty much about everything that you will spill onto it, this side of tap water, will create marks of corrosion (etch marks) on its surface that will appear like whitish discolorations that will not go away.

No sealer, impregnator or whatnot on planet Earth could do the first thing to prevent those surface damages, which could only be repaired by a professional stone restoration contractor, assuming that you can find on in your neck of the woods that could handle a job like that. And then, as soon as the damage is repaired, it will happen again, and again…

Bottom line, I feel truly sorry for you if you plan to actually use your countertop. And, of course, I'm truly sorry to be the bearer of bad news, as you can imagine.

 

Do you have to seal it again before you move in?

What for?

Impregnators (wrongly referred to as sealers) only deal with the absorbency rate of the stone, not with its sensitivity to pH active liquids. A good impregnator will help prevent deeply imbedded stains, such as cooking oil, coffee, colored sodas, etc., but it will never offer one iota of protection to the surface of the stone itself.

 

What do you have to use to clean it?

A product rated for stone like MB-5 is in order, of course. But then again, it will only solve the problem of not spoiling your stone with the wrong cleaning agent, not certainly the consequences of accidental spillage of anything pH active that will not agree with the mineralogy of that stone.

 

Didn't your stone dealer/fabricator/installer warn you about that unsolvable problem? L

 

Does the world need marblecleaning.org or what?

If we could have our ways, things like this would not happen.

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 zio Bertoli

 

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