Are you planning to have a holiday party? Do you expect to have more foot traffic than normal on your stone floors? Modern Stone Care can help you. We work to prepare your natural stone surfaces before the holidays so that they can be protected and look great all season long. Read below for tips on how to protect your stone and call us today to schedule routine maintenance to get your surfaces ready for the holidays.
How to Protect Against Stone Etching
There are a few steps you can take to help prevent or minimize stone etching on your beautiful kitchen countertops.
- Be Careful With Acidic Products
Lemon juice, wine, tomato sauce, and vinegar are some of the usual suspects in your kitchen that can cause etching. While avoiding all of these substances is probably your best bet, it’s not realistic or practical advice for most home cooks. So, if wine and tomato sauce are staples in your kitchen, the next best thing is to be extremely careful with these products.
Moreover, if you’re an avid DIYer, you’ve probably come across many online resources that promote homemade vinegar solutions for cleaning anything and everything in your home. However, while there are some clever ways to clean with vinegar, it’s not safe for stone countertops. When it’s time to clean your counters, the best solution is likely a commercial cleaner specifically made for your type of stone.
- Immediately Address Spills and Splatters
Accidents happen, and when those accidents involve wine spills or splashes of lemon juice on your marble countertop, address them right away. Ideally, you’ll want to clean your countertops with a neutral pH stone-safe cleaner. If you react quickly, the etching may not even be noticeable. For those with granite, follow specific steps for cleaning granite countertops.
- Opt for a Cutting Board With a Well
One easy way to prevent liquids from spilling is to use a cutting board with a perimeter well. These cutting boards come with a built-in channel that collects and contains liquids, so they never make it onto your countertops in the first place.
You might also think about investing in an extra-large cutting board that you can use as a work surface. When making your favorite meals, you can place those tomato sauce and wine bottles on the board instead of putting them directly on your countertops and running the risk of an etch mark you’ll have to look at forever. Additionally, you can use trivets and placemats to keep your countertops in tip-top shape.
- Seal Your Countertops
If you’re trying to figure out how to protect your stone countertops from etching, you might bump into conflicting information. For example, some resources will tell you that you must seal your marble countertops, whereas others will tell you that sealing your countertops won’t fix etching on marble.
The truth is sealers won’t prevent etching, but they can help minimize the appearance of countertop etching. At the very least, countertop sealants will buy you some time to clean up spills and splatters and potentially reduce the damage.
Moreover, while sealers can’t protect against etching, they may help protect your stone countertops from staining. Not only can kitchen staples like ketchup and mustard etch your countertops, but they can also leave behind some nasty stains. While you may have some stone etching, your counters won’t look like finger paintings from a kindergarten class.
Prepare Your Natural Stone Surfaces Before the Holidays with the help of Modern Stone Care in Houston.
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 slats in its formula act as “moisturizers” thus preventing natural stone from “drying out.” It also contains optical brighteners to enhance the finish of the surface on which it is used.
If you have any questions or concerns about this cleaning product contact us today. Our customer service representatives will be happy to go over the ingredients and instructions when using this natural stone safe cleaner.
Natural Stone Cleaning In Houston TX
At Modern Stone Care, our team of highly knowledgeable technicians specialize in the restoration, cleaning, polishing, and sealing of all-natural stone surfaces. This includes flooring, countertops, outdoor pool coping, and more. We work hard to ensure your natural stone maintains its beautiful and vibrant appearance for as long as possible. When it comes to the care of your delicate natural stone surfaces, leave it to the professionals at Modern Stone Care. We work in Houston and surrounding areas to offer the best stone care in the city.
Modern Stone Care
970 Bunker Hill Rd
Houston, TX 77024
(832) 814–2041
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