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New Year, New Shine: Revitalize Your Stone Surfaces

new year marble polishing shine

Stone surfaces—whether granite countertops, marble floors, or wall slabs—add an elegant touch to any space. However, to maintain their timeless beauty, these surfaces require regular upkeep. Both businesses and homeowners can benefit from clean, polished, and well-maintained stone surfaces, creating an inviting environment for the new year.

Why Stone Surfaces Need Maintenance

Stone surfaces are durable but not impervious to wear and tear. Foot traffic, spills, and environmental factors can lead to dullness, stains, and even cracks. Without proper care, the beauty of natural stone can diminish over time, potentially leading to costly replacements. Maintaining these surfaces ensures they remain a statement of style and sophistication while also protecting their structural integrity. Neglect can result in deeper damage that requires more extensive repair work.

For Businesses: A Professional Polish

In a business setting, stone surfaces are part of the first impression customers have. A clean and polished stone floor or countertop conveys professionalism and attention to detail. When clients and customers notice sparkling, pristine surfaces, they associate it with quality and reliability, which can enhance your reputation.

Regular Cleaning
Use pH-neutral stone cleaners to remove dirt, grime, and grease without damaging the surface. Consistent cleaning not only keeps surfaces hygienic but also prevents buildup that could lead to discoloration or stains.

Seal and Protect
Seal stone surfaces periodically to prevent stains and extend their longevity. A well-sealed surface is more resistant to daily wear and tear, maintaining its strength and polished appearance for years.

Repair and Restore
Address cracks, chips, and dull areas promptly. Professional restoration services can bring back the shine and smoothness of your surfaces. This approach also helps extend the life of the stone, reducing long-term maintenance costs.

Routine Inspections
Schedule regular inspections to identify wear patterns and prevent minor issues from becoming major problems. Early detection allows for targeted maintenance, ensuring your surfaces always look their best.

For Homeowners: Revive and Refresh

Stone surfaces at home are a significant investment and a focal point of interior design. To ensure they remain stunning year-round, consider these practices:

Daily Care
Clean spills immediately and use soft cloths or mops to avoid scratching. Avoid harsh chemicals that can erode the sealant or damage the surface. Consistent care ensures that your stone remains vibrant and free from etching or stains caused by daily use.

Polishing for Shine
Polishing stone countertops and floors restores their natural luster, perfect for the holiday season or a fresh start to the new year. Regular polishing also minimizes scratches and imperfections, keeping your surfaces looking luxurious.

Repair Minor Damage
Filling chips and repairing cracks not only keeps your stone looking its best but also prevents further damage. Prompt repairs stop small issues from escalating, saving time and money in the long run.

Reseal for Durability
Just like businesses, homeowners should reseal stone surfaces every 1-3 years, depending on usage, to protect them from stains and etching. A proper seal acts as a barrier, preserving the surface’s natural beauty against water, oil, and other contaminants.

Benefits of Proper Stone Maintenance
Enhanced Appearance: Clean and polished surfaces elevate the look of any room or business space. They make interiors feel more welcoming and sophisticated, adding a touch of luxury to everyday life.

Longevity: Regular maintenance prevents costly replacements and preserves the value of your investment. Stone is a timeless material, and with proper care, it can last for decades, retaining its aesthetic and functional qualities.

Health and Safety: A clean, sealed surface is less likely to harbor bacteria or allergens. Smooth, well-maintained surfaces also reduce the risk of tripping hazards or sharp edges, keeping homes and businesses safer for everyone.
Start the new year by giving your stone surfaces the care they deserve. Whether it’s a countertop, floor, or decorative wall, a little effort goes a long way in keeping them beautiful and functional for years to come.

Why Choose a Professional Stone Care Company

While regular cleaning and minor maintenance can be done at home or by your in-house team, there are times when professional expertise is essential. A professional stone care company has the tools, knowledge, and experience to repair and maintain your stone surfaces, ensuring they look as good as new and last for years.

Expert Assessment
Professionals start by assessing your stone surfaces to determine their condition, identifying cracks, chips, stains, or dull areas. They use specialized equipment to analyze the type of stone and its unique needs, ensuring a tailored approach to maintenance and repair.

Specialized Repairs
Cracks, chips, and etching can be challenging to fix without the right tools. Professional stone care companies can expertly fill cracks, polish out imperfections, and even color-match repairs to blend seamlessly with the rest of the surface. This precision ensures that the repairs are virtually invisible, restoring the surface to its original beauty.

Deep Cleaning
Over time, dirt, grime, and spills can penetrate the surface of natural stone, leading to discoloration. Professionals use industrial-grade cleaning solutions and equipment to deep clean your surfaces, removing stubborn stains while preserving the stone’s integrity.

Polishing and Honing
For dull or scratched stone surfaces, professionals can hone or polish the stone to restore its natural luster. Whether you prefer a high-gloss finish or a matte look, they can customize the polishing process to match your aesthetic preferences.

Sealing and Protection
After cleaning and repairs, sealing is a critical step to protect your stone from future damage. Professional-grade sealants provide long-lasting protection against stains, moisture, and wear. Experts can also recommend the best type of sealant for your specific stone and its environment.

Restoration Services
For older or heavily damaged surfaces, restoration might be necessary. This process can include grinding, resurfacing, or complete refinishing to rejuvenate even the most neglected stone surfaces.

The Benefits of Hiring Professionals

Time Savings: Professionals complete the work efficiently, allowing you to focus on other priorities.

Long-Lasting Results: Expert repairs and maintenance extend the lifespan of your stone surfaces, reducing the need for frequent touch-ups.

Enhanced Appearance: With their specialized skills, professionals can achieve a flawless finish that’s difficult to replicate with DIY methods.

Peace of Mind: Knowing your investment is in expert hands ensures that your stone surfaces will remain durable and beautiful.

Whether you’re a business owner looking to impress clients or a homeowner striving for a pristine home, a professional stone care company like NYC Statewide Stone Care can elevate the beauty and functionality of your stone surfaces. Investing in professional maintenance today can save you from costly repairs or replacements in the future.

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Are Marble Floors Difficult to Maintain?

As a flooring option, marble floors offer a beautiful and timeless addition to any space, whether it’s a home, office, building lobby, etc. Marble is a natural stone with veined patterns and colored marble variations that can give the space an elegant look for many years to come. But while marble is relatively easy to maintain day-to-day, it is also a porous material, which means that maintaining its beauty in the long term requires some occasional extra care. Let’s discuss marble maintenance in general, and what is required in order to keep your marble surface looking great for years down the road.

Tips for Maintaining Your Marble Floors

The key to keeping marble stone floors looking their best is to think of your marble maintenance strategy in terms of short-term, mid-term, and long-term maintenance. The following tips will cover each of these.

Clean on a Weekly or Daily Basis

For short-term maintenance, marble floors should be cleaned on a regular basis. For daily cleaning, you can simply use a soft, dry push mop to remove dirt and dust from the floor. This sounds simple enough, but it’s also very important because if dirt is left on the floor, it can be ground into the floor by people walking on it, causing microscopic scratches and dulling the finish. For weekly care (or at least every few days), use a soft mop and warm water to clean the floors. If you use any type of cleaner when mopping, make sure it’s a cleaning solution specifically designed for marble surfaces. Do NOT use ammonia, vinegar, or anything acidic or corrosive, as these can interact chemically with the stone and cause permanent damage. Establishing a regular cleaning regimen like this can keep your marble floors looking their best and also prevent dust and dirt from accumulating in the pores of the marble (or in the grout connecting marble tile floors).

Perform Routine Maintenance on the Stone

For mid-term marble maintenance, you should go beyond the basic cleaning and give your marble floors a thorough cleaning and inspection. This is to remove any dirt or residue that may have become embedded in the marble over time, as well as to look for signs of scratching, chipping, or cracking and make needed repairs before these become bigger problems. For this step, consider hiring a stone care professional to come in every few months and perform routine maintenance. For highly polished marble floors, you may want to schedule maintenance more frequently than for honed marble or matte finishes as polished finishes can show signs of wear more easily. (Statewide Stone Care can offer a variety of regular maintenance packages.)

Seal Stone Regularly

For long-term maintenance, marble floors should be treated periodically with a sealer to protect the marble from staining and etching. Sealing marble creates a protective barrier on the surface that keeps liquids and other substances from seeping into the stone, thus preventing discolorations and damage. For best results, have a professional do the sealing for you. For most marble floors, re-sealing can be done once every few years, but more frequent sealing may be required for outdoor surface or high-traffic areas. Your stone care professional can advise you on how often your floors should be re-sealed.

Work with a Marble Stone Care Professional

As you can see, marble maintenance is not a difficult task if given the right amount of attention. However, long-term marble care can also be tricky, so it’s best to work with an experienced marble stone care professional who knows how to properly maintain marble surfaces and can assess any damage that may have occurred over time. That way, you can rest assured that your marble floors will look beautiful for many years to come.

At Statewide Stone Care, our technicians are highly trained in all aspects of care and maintenance for stone and tile flooring, including all types of marble. We can work with you to establish a regular maintenance regimen that is just right for your needs. For a free estimate, contact us today.

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How Often Should You Seal Your Countertops?

how-often-seal-countertops-blog

Having natural stone countertops in your kitchen or bath can be a beautiful way to add value and luxury to your home. But stone surfaces are also porous, which means that moisture can seep into the stone, eventually causing staining and discoloration over time from everyday use. If that happens, the problem typically has to be fixed by refinishing the surface. Applying a sealant periodically can prevent this issue and extend the life of your stone. Stone sealers add a barrier of protection so moisture can’t seep into the stone underneath, thereby preventing staining. The question is: how often should you seal your countertops?

The answer is different for everyone because a number of factors are involved. Granite and marble sealing, for example, should happen at a different rate than limestone or travertine. Let’s take a closer look at these factors so that you can determine when it’s time to reseal your granite, marble, or other stone and tile counters for optimal protection.

Factors to Consider When Sealing Your Countertops

Let’s start by looking at the individual factors that can increase or decrease the rate of wear-and-tear on various natural stone surfaces.

Type of stone. The type of stone you have affects the frequency with which you need to seal it. Harder stones like granite and slate are denser and less porous than softer stones such as limestone and marble. Therefore, granite surfaces generally require sealing less often than their softer counterparts.

Color/shade of the stone. As a rule of thumb, lighter-colored stone surfaces tend to be more porous and require resealing more often–even among countertops of the same type of stone. Plan on resealing a lighter-colored granite countertop more frequently than a dark granite slab, for example.

Amount of use. How often you use your countertops can also affect how quickly sealant wears off. High-use areas such as kitchen counters, bathroom vanities, and bar tops may require more frequent sealing than surfaces used only occasionally.

Type of sealant. Some sealants are designed to last longer than others; however, they can be more expensive. If you’re using a lower-grade sealant, you may need to reapply it more often.

Frequency of cleaning. If you tend to leave spills and water droplets standing on the countertop, this can wear down the sealant more quickly. You can make the sealer last longer by cleaning spills as they happen and by cleaning your granite, marble or travertine countertops regularly with gentle dish soap and water, then drying the excess water quickly so it doesn’t stand on the surface.

Environment. Outdoor kitchens with stone countertops must be resealed more often than countertops indoors, for example, due to the wear-and-tear of the elements, the freeze-thaw cycles of wintertime, etc.

How to Tell When It’s Time to Reseal Your Stone Countertops (The Water Test)

Many home and business owners assume “more is better” when it comes to resealing, but that’s not always the case. Over-sealing with multiple layers can actually leave your stone surfaces with an unattractive “hazed” look that is difficult to remove.

The best way to tell when your countertops need to be resealed is the “water test.” Here’s how it works: simply pour a tablespoon of water onto your stone countertop and wait about 30 minutes. If the water beads up on the surface, you’re good–the sealant is still there and doing its job. If, however, the water is absorbed into the stone and darkens it, then you know it’s time to seal your stone.

How Often Each Type of Stone Countertop Should be Sealed

Remember, there’s no hard and fast rule for how often you should re-seal your stone countertops. All different factors need to be considered, including how much use the countertops get, whether the countertops are indoors or outdoors, etc. That said, the following are some general recommended ranges for how often to have a sealant reapplied. Plan on more frequent resealing for high-use or outdoor surfaces, and less frequent for low-use, indoor surfaces, and so on.

Marble

Marble is one of the most popular stone surfaces, but it’s also higher maintenance due to its porosity and light color. For regular use, plan to schedule marble resealing every 3-6 months.

Granite

Granite is one of the densest and least porous of the natural stones used for countertops. You can plan to seal your granite countertops about once every 1-2 years.

Slate

Like granite, slate is a dense and fairly non-porous stone. For best results plan on resealing every 1-2 years depending on usage.

Limestone

Limestone tends to be light, soft, and very porous, similar to marble. Plan on resealing at least once a year, or every six months with heavy use.

Travertine

Travertine countertops tend to be dense, durable, and low-maintenance. Resealing every 1-2 years usually works for these countertops.

Are Your Countertops Ready to Be Sealed?

Many stone sealing products are available for do-it-yourselfers, but for the best finish and an even, long-lasting seal, it’s best to have the sealant applied by a trained stone care professional. At Statewide Stone Care, our technicians are highly trained in sealing all types of natural stone, including granite and marble sealing, slate, limestone, and others. We can also do a free evaluation of your stone countertops to give more specific advice on how often you should schedule re-sealing based on the type of stone and the amount of use. For a free estimate, contact us today.

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Can Anti-Etch Prevent Etching and Staining of Your Countertops?

Why do we love marble, travertine, or other types of natural stone countertops in our homes and businesses? The simple answer is that we love the beauty and elegance these surfaces add to the space, plus their durability over time. But at the same time, these stone surfaces can be costly to restore if they are stained, etched, or damaged–so we tend to worry constantly about using them! MORE™ Anti-Etch™ is a product that’s supposed to eliminate this worry by preventing etching and staining of your countertops–but does it really work?

Depending on the type of counters you have, the answer is a clear YES. Let’s discuss this question further.

What is Anti-Etch?

MORE Anti-Etch is a product that, when applied to natural limestone-based surfaces, provides a crystal clear, ultra-thin protective barrier that prevents etching and staining from acidic substances like wine, tomato sauce, vinegar, etc. It also makes the surface more resistant to dirt and other wear-and-tear damage. Anti-Etch can be applied on marble, travertine, limestone, onyx, and even concrete, and it’s available for honed, polished, and leathered surfaces. It is an environmentally friendly compound (no VOCs), and it’s safe for all food-grade surfaces. Best of all, it’s long-lasting. Just one application and your counters are protected for up to 10 years!

What Is Etching?

Etching is a type of damage caused by acidic substances that seep into the stone surface and eat away at it. Limestone-based surfaces are particularly vulnerable to acids and bases because they react with the calcium carbonate in the stone, forever changing it. Etches leave behind microscopic “pits” in the surface, which create an uneven discoloration to the countertop that may look like staining, but is actually permanent damage. Once etching occurs, the only way to remove it is by refinishing or restoring the countertop–grinding down the stone to remove the damage and honing it back to the desired sheen.

What makes MORE Anti-Etch so powerful is that it follows the maxim, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” By applying Anti-Etch, you stop etching before it ever starts.

How Anti-Etch Protects Your Countertops

MORE Anti-Etch is more than just a sealant. It forms an invisible barrier on the surface of your counters that prevents acids, bases, and other corrosive substances from coming into contact with the stone. This makes it impossible for etching to occur, even with repeated spills or everyday use. If the acid can’t touch the stone, it can’t react with it. The barrier is so strong that you can leave spills sitting indefinitely without fear or worry! (Not that you would.)

But this invisible barrier does even more to protect your counters than just protect from etching. It also provides protection on the microscopic level from dirt and grime, making the stone surface more resistant to scratching. It also makes your counters hygienically safer because Anti-Etch is completely non-porous–meaning bacteria and germs have nowhere to take hold!

How Long Does Anti-Etch Last?

MORE Anti-Etch is designed to last for up to 10 years with proper application and with normal use. That means that once your stone service professional has applied it to your counters, you can use your marble and other stone surfaces worry-free for up to a decade! And Anti-Etch is easy to reapply; all it takes is a light buffing and a fresh coat of the product, and your counters are set for the next 10 years.

Want to Protect Your Counters?

You installed your stone counters so that you could enjoy them for many years to come: why be afraid to use them? With MORE Anti-Etch, that worry becomes a thing of the past.

For best results, MORE Anti-Etch should only be applied by a trained stone restoration contractor. At Statewide Stone Care, our technicians are highly experienced in all aspects of stone and tile care, restoration, refinishing, and protection in New York and New Jersey–including proper application of MORE Anti-Etch. And if your stone surfaces have already sustained damage, we can perform a complete restoration and refinishing on them to make them as good as new, then apply MORE Anti-Etch to make sure they stay that way. For a free estimate, contact us today.