Granite

In the last article we explained that granite is tough and durable against chips or breaks, making it an excellent choice for many different applications in your residential or commercial space. In this article we will go over another 4 reasons why granite is an excellent choice for your kitchen countertops. Maintenance is Easy The granite counters must be properly sealed, and that’s why it’s a great idea to have an experienced professional do the installation. But when sealed according to the manufacturer’s guidelines, the granite countertop will resist staining and bacteria. You can also seal them yourself. This makes cleanup easy using soap and water, or with a cleaner designed for your granite. Get to spilled juice quickly – which you should do with ANY countertop material – and you’ll enjoy a stain-free counter surface that looks like new for decades. Granite Boosts a Home’s Value New granite countertops make your home more valuable as well as more attractive. The return on your investment can be as high as 100%. That means they’ll potentially increase your home’s market value by the amount you spend on them. Here’s another way to look at it. If potential buyers are looking at two homes and your home has granite countertops while the other one doesn’t, the granite might make the difference in which home they select. They’re a Great Long-term Investment While you’re enjoying your countertops made from granite over the next 30+ years, one neighbor might be replacing their laminate counters three times while another replaces wood countertops twice and has them refinished a few times. They’ll last twice as long as popular materials like quartz or soapstone in some cases. Here’s the point: In the long-run, granite countertops are a very cost-effective solution for many homeowners. Granite Countertops Offer Stunning Beauty This is why you’re considering them, right? For all their other qualities, what really stands out about granite counters are their gorgeous appearance. The natural appeal of the stone, with its textured, gently-hued beauty, is unsurpassed by most any other material. If you are considering granite kitchen countertops in your home, keep in mind they will need professional care in order to maintain their beauty. When well maintained the benefits of granite countertops can add value to your home and also loos great for decades. These are only 4 Reasons Why Granite Is an Excellent Choice for Your Kitchen, […]

Granite surfaces make beautiful additions to homes and commercial spaces. While granite has the ability to last a lifetime, it will require proper care in order to avoid scratches, etches, and other damages. Modern Stone Care offers a wide range of granite care services including polishing services, granite cleaning, grout cleaning, granite restoration, and more. Our restoration services can help to repair and refinish your damaged stone surfaces. What Is granite Used For? Kitchen Countertops Bathroom Vanities Flooring Shower Interior Is Polished granite Safer? The best way to protect your granite surfaces is by maintaining a strong seal on the granite floor or surface. Polished granite tends to offer a bit more protection than honed granite, however, with proper care and regular cleaning services either finish should be fine for your stone. Our team can instruct you on the proper care needed to get the longest lifespan out of your granite.  Granite is Tough and Durable Granite is rock-hard, literally. It’s second only to diamond in terms of the harness of natural materials. When properly installed, it will be the last countertop you ever need. If you replace it down the road, it will be because you want to and not because you have to. It resists chipping, scratching and cracking. Because of their hardness, granite counters are also heat resistant.  If you do manage to chip or crack the granite, it is a relatively easy thing to fix, depending on the severity of the damage. While it’s not recommended, if you occasionally set a hot pan or tray directly on the countertop, it won’t damage it the way it would laminate, wood and other softer materials. Why Choose Modern Stone Care? Our team specializes in natural stone maintenance and care. Be careful working with companies that may claim they are able to clean all types of flooring but if you have Natural Stone floors it is important to do your research and find a company, such as Modern Stone Care, that specializes in natural stone flooring. This is because natural stone flooring comes with many sensitivities and vulnerabilities that make it easily damaged. Too often other companies come in and treat these natural stone floors the exact same way that they would handle other floors with no attention to the stone’s particular needs. When you want to protect your natural stone and avoid causing damage to your surfaces, our

Caring for natural stone can help you to avoid cloudiness and dullness over time. The team at Modern Stone can work with you to restore your granite countertops and other surfaces so that you can get a deep clean and great finish. Best Granite and Marble share the following reasons why you may have cloudy granite surfaces: Improperly Dried Sealant: One of the simplest causes of a cloudy surface on granite is that the sealant has been improperly applied and allowed to dry improperly. The way to apply sealant is to put it in a 3-foot area across the granite surface and buff it into the stone until the sealant has completely dried. Trying to allow it to “soak in” leaves a cloudy film on the surface of the granite and also prevents proper sealing. Below are some of the top reasons you’ll find yourself with cloudy granite countertops and how to avoid them. Abrasive Cleaning Products: While granite is a sturdy stone, it still doesn’t enjoy being worked over with abrasive cleaning products. This means using steel wool or other harsh cleaning materials or using acidic or harsh chemical cleaners. These eat away at the stone and leave discolored and cloudy spots as remnants of where they have done damage. Always use soft cloths and gently cleaning products and polish on your granite countertops. Residue From Food and Drink: It may also be that your stone is just showing the wear and tear of everyday use without proper maintenance and cleaning after the fact. Excessive spills of food or drink on the counter will become more noticeable, especially if you wait to clean them off. The products can saturate the stone and leave dark spots and stains. To avoid this, you need to clean up any spills right away to avoid them setting into the stone material.   Safe Stone Floor Cleaner Modern Stone Care Stone & Tile Floor Cleaner is a neutral (ph 7) marble safe floor cleaner which is to be used for regular maintenance on any hard surface not harmed by water. It was originally made to protect calcite based stones, such as marble, limestone, & travertine, which are alkaline in nature due to the mineral content, from chemical etching. It’s no rinse, streak free properties make this cleaner ideal for any hard surface, as it does not leave a dulling film or residue. Special organic

Uses of Granite Granite is the rock most often quarried as a “dimension stone” (a natural rock material that will be cut into blocks or slabs of specific length, width, and thickness). Granite is hard enough to resist abrasion, strong enough to bear significant weight, inert enough to resist weathering, and it accepts a brilliant polish. These characteristics make it a very desirable and useful dimension stone. Most of the granite dimension stone produced in the United States comes from high-quality deposits in five states: Massachusetts, Georgia, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Idaho. Granite has been used for thousands of years in both interior and exterior applications. Rough-cut and polished granite is used in buildings, bridges, paving, monuments, and many other exterior projects. Indoors, polished granite slabs and tiles are used as countertops, floor tiles, stair treads, and many other practical and decorative features. High price often reduces the popularity of a construction material. Granite often costs significantly more than man-made materials. However, granite is frequently selected because it is a prestige material, used in projects to produce impressions of elegance, durability, and lasting quality. Granite is also used as a crushed stone or aggregate. In this form it is used as a base material at construction sites, as an aggregate in road construction, railroad ballast, foundations, and anywhere that a crushed stone is useful as fill.   Affordable Granite Polishing Services in Houston, Texas With our granite polishing service we first evaluate and closely look to see how its makeup. The procedures for granite can vary depending on the types of granite If you want your floors restored to its marvelous original look. Modern Stone Care granite polishing process will restore your floors with a fresh, clean look and a smooth feel when touched. While granite is resistant to mold and mildew, granite floors can dull and lose its shine without proper maintenance and care. That is why it is imperative to have them professionally cleaned every so often. The caring and maintenance for granite is different than marble care and maintenance. Granite is a harder stone than marble, and granite typically not etch, but the cleaning process is still the same. It is recommended to use a stone safe neutral stone cleaner when cleaning the surface of granite. Modern Stone Care only use our employees for ALL our jobs, no sub-contractors. We have the latest flooring equipment and

Natural stone materials, such as granite, are popular choices for homes and businesses. Granite is an investment that not only looks great but also has the potential to last a lifetime whenever it is properly taken care of. Ongoing maintenance throughout the lifetime of the stone is needed in order to keep it looking great. The frequency required for resealing granite countertops depends on several different factors. Applying a fresh coat of protective sealant at the correct intervals is necessary in order to ensure that the granite is kept from staining and other common damages, which threaten to affect the surface.  Standard Granite Countertop Sealing Standards Many natural stone experts recommend sealing granite countertops on an annual basis unless they are experiencing above-average wear and tear. For instance, if you cook every day in your kitchen and clean the countertops daily, you might need to reseal the granite seasonally or biannually to protect it from future damage. If your granite countertops or natural stone surfaces are in need of some TLC contact the professional stone experts of Houston at Modern Stone Care. Our team can help you to determine how often you need to seal your granite surfaces and keep them looking great for decades to come. The efforts you put into maintaining your granite countertops can also have an impact on the required frequency for resealing. If you use chemicals on the granite that wear away or weaken the sealant, you will need to reseal more often. Additionally, you need to closely monitor the products you use on your natural stone surfaces because many have properties that can damage your stone.  What products can I use on my natural stone surface? At Modern Stone Care in Houston, we understand that natural stone materials are sensitive and require special attention in order to last a lifetime. We want to help home and business owners protect their investment and keep their natural stone looking great for decades. This is why we have made our own specially formulated natural stone cleaning products. For countertops, we recommend Pure Stone: Streakless Countertop & Shower Cleaner. Pure Stone: Streakless Countertop & Shower Cleaner by Modern Stone Care is a slightly alkaline cleaner designed for marble, limestone, granite, corian, silestone and other manmade and natural hard surfaces. Specifically designed to safely clean light soil and grease from their surfaces. It is marble safe (will not chemically

Granite is one of the most popular materials used in homes and businesses, especially when it comes to kitchen and bathroom countertops. Granite is versatile and comes in a wide variety of colors and styles, is stronger than marble, and can last for a lifetime when it is properly taken care of. At Modern Stone Care in Houston, we offer many different types of affordable granite care services including granite polishing, granite cleaning, granite sealing, granite restoration, and more. We work with home and business owners to help them get the longest lifespan out of their granite and other natural stone surfaces. From regular maintenance to major restoration projects, we dedicate ourselves to focusing on the small details, while also working quickly to leave you with a stunning finished product.  We have the knowledge and experience to properly care for your natural stone because we understand the vulnerabilities of these materials. So, what exactly is granite? According to Geology.com: Granite is a light-colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the unaided eye. It forms from the slow crystallization of magma below Earth’s surface. Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica, amphiboles, and other minerals. This mineral composition usually gives granite a red, pink, gray, or white color with dark mineral grains visible throughout the rock. Granite is the best-known igneous rock. Many people recognize granite because it is the most common igneous rock found at Earth’s surface and because granite is used to make many objects that they encounter in daily life. These include countertops, floor tiles, paving stone, curbing, stair treads, building veneer, and cemetery monuments. Granite is used all around us – especially if you live in a large modern city. Use of the word “granite” in the dimension stone and crushed stone industries is different from how the word is used by geologists. In these industries, the name “granite” refers to an igneous rock that meets the following criteria: 1) a rock with visible grains that interlock with one another 2) a rock that is harder than marble These “granites” are used to make crushed stone that is used for highway construction, concrete, building construction, fill, railroad ballast, and many other purposes. They are used in the dimension stone industry to make countertops, floor tiles, curbing, building veneer, monuments, paving stones, and many other products. These granites

Granite is a widely used natural stone in homes and businesses. Its popularity is due to multiple contributing factors including that it is a more accessible natural stone than many others; granite comes in a wide variety of color combinations, and known as a hearty material that can last for decades when properly cared for. Traditionally, granite surfaces have been polished to the point of giving off a reflective sheen that catches the light. However, in recent years matted granite surfaces have been on the rise, when finished in a process known as, “honing.” What Is Honed Natural Stone?   Honed natural stone is the result of when the stone is left in a more natural state. The finish will be velvety and smooth, without the reflective shiny finish you see with polished natural stone. In some cases, honed surfaces will not show off all the colors of your granite to the same level as when it is polished. However, many home and business owners prefer the matte finish for its subtlety and interest. Is It Possible To Go From Polished To Honed? The simple answer to this question is yes. Natural stone surfaces can be manipulated through honing and polishing techniques to go from one state to the other. It is not recommended to transition your natural stone frequently or quickly between the two states because it can wear down the stone. If you have a granite or natural stone surface in your home or business that you wish to take from a shiny, reflective finish to a velvety matte finish, contact Modern Stone Care today. We are the Houston experts at honing granite and other natural stone surfaces. Our team knows the needs and vulnerabilities of natural stone surfaces and works with you to ensure your natural stone is being cared for. What Surfaces Can Be Honed? Whether you have natural stone for outdoor flooring, interior flooring, countertops, vanities, or the interior of your showers, the professionals at Modern Stone Care are here to help you achieve the finish you desire while keeping your stone completely protected. We work with our clients to help them come up with long term care plans for their natural stone surfaces in order to protect their investment and keep their natural stone surfaces looking great for decades. Houston Natural Stone Experts We offer our customers the best natural stone cleaning, sealing, polishing, and

In order to sustain the beauty and lastability of your granite countertops, they will require regular maintenance. Granite is a strong material that has the potential to last a lifetime when properly cared for. At Modern Stone Care, we work closely with our clients to ensure they are doing everything they can to preserve their natural stone. One of the most critical components to protecting your granite countertops is ensuring you have a strong seal on their surface. These seals serve as invisible barriers, protecting your granite from all outside influences. This is important for all natural stone surfaces because these stones are porous and can easily become damaged when they encounter acidic properties, or become impacted with dust, moisture, or grime. If you are unsure how long it has been since you had your granite countertops sealed, contact us today! The natural stone experts at Modern Stone Care in Houston, are here to provide the most affordable and reliable services available. How Often Should You Seal Granite Countertops? The best way to avoid damage to your granite countertops is to reapply sealant to your surfaces at regular intervals. This seal works to keep stains, scratches, cloudiness, and other damages from your counters. So, how often should you seal granite countertops in order to ensure they are safe? Kitchens and bathrooms can be pretty hectic places. Not only is moisture a factor to take into consideration, the ingredients in all of your foods, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, shampoos, and other toiletries, can also play a role. Everything from soda to mouthwash, has the potential to cause harm to your granite and weaken the seal. It is most commonly recommended for granite countertops to be sealed at least once a year. If you are someone who uses your kitchen daily, it may be wise to have your granite sealed more frequently. The natural stone sealers at Modern Stone Care can help you check the seal on your natural stone surfaces and come up with long term solutions for your stone. Natural stone surfaces, such as granite countertops, need regular cleaning to avoid grime, dirt, dust, and moisture from penetrating its porous surface. A weak seal on your stone’s surface will leave it vulnerable to all materials it encounters. However, if you care for your granite properly it can last a lifetime. If you have not had your natural granite counters sealed

Granite is a tough, heat resistant stone that perfect in hiding soil. In about a period of one year, granite will have luster loss and wear down on it sealer. It will need to be sealed and deep cleaned (restoration) yearly to restore its original appearance, having the smooth texture when touched, and protect it from any damage in the future. At Modern Stone Care we not only restore your granite floors but also repair chips, cracks, along with holes in our granite floor repair restoration services. A lot of flooring companies would avoid working with granite because of it’s difficult hard surface but not us, we have the skills, knowledge, and proper training to restoring the granite in your home.    With our granite polishing service we first evaluate and closely look to see how its makeup. The procedures for granite can vary depending on the types of granite If you want your floors restored to its marvelous original look. Modern Stone Care granite polishing process will restore your floors with a fresh, clean look and a smooth feel when touched.    Even though granite is resistant to mold and mildew, granite floors can dull and lose its shine without proper maintenance and care. That is why it is imperative to have them professionally cleaned every so often. The caring and maintenance for granite is different than marble care and maintenance. The first thing is understand that granite is a harder stone than marble, and granite typically not etch, but the cleaning process is still the same.  It is recommended to use a stone safe neutral stone cleaner when cleaning the surface of granite. Modern Stone Care only use our employees for ALL our jobs, no sub-contractors. We have the latest flooring equipment and we use professional grade granite polishing products on all our granite polishing jobs. With the supplies and sealants we use, your floors will look fresh and clean back to it’s original shape.    To find out more about granite floors and the difference to polishing marble floors along why it’s an excellent addition to your home contact the natural stone flooring specialists at Modern Stone Care.      Modern Stone Care  Address: 970 Bunker Hill Rd Houston, TX 77024  (832) 814–2041  https://restoreyourfloors.net