Hi There, Recently I had honed Costa Esmeralda installed for my kitchen counters. I'm still getting used to the honed look as it was not what I expected. I must say that it looks like natural stone. I choose a piece that was 1-1/4" thick and ergo it went right on top of the plywood. The company that I dealt with have not been much help and I'm not sure what to finish them with. I have tried some all natural bees wax on a small bit and it really brings out the colour but I'm not sure how much protection this will give me. The company I bought it from also gave me a clear sealer called wet seal to put on it but I have delayed doing this as I'm not sure how toxic it is. I hope you can take a few minutes to reply to me. Thank you, Lori

 

Dear Lori:

Quite frankly I don't understand your entire question.

You have a hone-finished Costa Esmeralda countertop.

So far so good.

Now you're not sure what to finish your counters with… What's wrong with the hone-finish that you chose? Is it perhaps that you would like to bring out the color that the stone lost because of the honing?

If it is so, you tried bee-wax but you don't know what kind of protection it will give to the surface of the stone…

Why on earth a stone as hard as Costa Esmeralda should need any protection on its surface??... People buy stone like granite and other mercantile granite because of their inherent hardness that makes so that their surface will need no protection… So what's seems to be the problem?

If you want to bring back the colors, stop fooling around with bee-wax and such. I don't even know what knod of clear sealer they gave you, but it sounds awfully suspicious to me! You do not want to put anything on top of your stone! No matter what it is, it will require much more maintenance than the stone itself – which requires virtually none, this side of a good-quality stone cleaner!

I would suggest you that you deep clean your countertops with acetone to get rid of any possible contaminants and the bee wax. After that you will apply a good-quality stone color enhancer like MB-6 and you will take it from there with a good-quality stone spray cleaner (like MB-5) – as simple as that.

You do not need to worry about the possible toxicity of MB-6, because it's a product that will go below the surface of your stone. Besides, its content (resin) is totally inert when cured.

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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