Care and maintenance
Keeping the surface
Two facts govern everything on this page. The stone is 95 to 98 per cent calcite, which means it is acid-sensitive - lemon, vinegar, wine and acidic cleaners etch it and dull the polish permanently. And the published slip resistance on the honed surface is 43 USRV dry and 16 wet, which is the figure a wet area has to be designed around rather than the dry one. Everything below follows from those two.
Every day
- Wipe with a soft cloth or a non-abrasive mop, and use a cleaner made for marble and neutral in pH. Nothing acidic, and nothing with a scouring particle in it.
- Blot spills rather than wiping them. A wiped spill spreads the acid across a larger area than the one that was spilt.
- Furniture feet get felt pads. A worktop is the first thing in a kitchen to be marked, and the mark is nearly always a ring left by something wet.
- Cutting boards and coasters go on the counter. Stone does not scratch easily, but it does mark, and a mark on a polished surface cannot be polished out without taking the whole surface with it.
The sealer
- Seal after installation, and re-seal on a six to twelve month cycle. The cycle depends on the finish, the application and the condition of the stone, not on a calendar.
- Sealing reduces absorption. It does not make the stone acid-proof, and it does not make it scratch-proof.
- On a polished floor, directional lighting makes etching and residue more visible than the cleaning actually is. Entry protection and a steady routine do more for the surface than an aggressive periodic strip.
- The sealer is only as good as the preparation. A surface that has not been cleaned properly before sealing seals the dirt in with it.
When it goes wrong
- Etching is a dull, lighter mark where an acid has taken the polish off. It is not a stain and no amount of cleaning will shift it. It can be re-polished, and the answer to how long that takes is how long the stone has been out of use.
- A stain is different: it is something in the stone or something on it, and the treatment depends entirely on what the stain is. A poultice is the usual answer for an oil or a plant, and a specialist is the answer for anything unknown.
- An efflorescence is white powder on the surface, and it is salts coming out of the slab rather than something on it. It is brushed off and rinsed, and it is a question for the slab rather than for the finish.
- A chipped arris is a mechanical fault rather than a chemical one, and on a brecciated stone the corners are where it starts. This is why the edge profile is agreed before the cut and not after it.
What not to use
- Vinegar, lemon juice, citrus cleaners, and anything acidic enough to smell sharp.
- Abrasive powders, scouring powders, and pads with grit in them.
- Bleach and ammonia on a polished surface. They are not needed for this stone and they will dull it.
- Wax on a polished floor. It yellows, it traps dirt, and it has to be stripped off again later - which takes the polish with it.