Natural stones like marble, limestone, granite, and slate are a beautiful addition to any home. Natural stone adds value to your property and is a popular option for flooring, countertops, and backsplashes. Along with its charm and unmistakable character, your natural stone has many benefits but requires certain types of cleansers to maintain the structure and beauty of the stone. When maintaining and cleaning your natural stone surfaces, you should avoid using harsh cleaning chemicals and solutions that can damage your stone. The experts at Heart of Texas Chem-Dry have provided the following information to help you take care of your natural stone between professional cleanings.
Why You Should Not Use Acidic Cleaners on Natural Stone
Natural stone is highly porous and allows water, liquids, and moisture to penetrate deep into the stone’s pores, often leading to stubborn and unsightly stains. Moisture is the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew, which grows inside the pores of your stone and rapidly multiply. If you use a cleaning product with a PH balance between 1 and 4, these powerfully concentrated acidic cleaning products will tarnish the outer surface of the stone and damage the structure.
What Does Acid Do to Natural Stone?
Highly acidic cleansers and cleaning products cause etching on the stone’s surface when the soft outer coating of the stone is damaged; rough patches then begin to develop on the surface, allowing liquid and spills to penetrate, leading to deep stains. Acidic cleansers can also cause the stone and grout to become discolored. Over time, the stone’s natural color can also be compromised; your stone may even appear bleached out and unevenly discolored, disturbing the natural balance and making the surface look patchy and worn. When highly concentrated acid cleansers penetrate the pores of your natural stone, the bonds inside can be damaged, making the stone brittle and weak.
What Acidic Cleaners Harm Natural Stone?
Unfortunately, avoiding spills from acidic foods like wine, lemons, limes, and vinegar is almost impossible. Forgetting to utilize a cutting board and cutting acidic food directly on the natural stone also leads to discoloration and etching. It’s also hard to avoid spreading the liquid on the surface during clean-ups which amplifies the clean-up emergency causing the spill to spread over a larger area. DIY cleaning products used to clean tile, including acidic vinegar and lemon, are also known to cause rough patches, etching, and discoloration on the stone’s surface. The result is a natural stone surface that is lackluster and dull.
Tile & Natural Stone Cleaning, Sealing & More in Axtell, West, Lorena, Bellmead, Woodway, Hewitt, Robinson, Crawford & Greater Waco, Texas
Contact the experts at Heart of Texas Chem-Dry for professional cleaning and stone sealing services to keep your natural stone floors and countertops from getting ruined by highly acidic cleansers, food, and drinks. Your Heart of Texas highly trained technician will apply a water-proof sealer to prevent moisture, food, and beverages from penetrating the stone’s pores. Your technician will also recommend alkaline cleaning products to maintain the cleanliness of your natural stone between professional cleaning and sealing services. To learn more about professional natural stone cleaning and sealing for your floors and countertops, and to schedule an appointment, contact the knowledgeable experts at Heart of Texas Chem-Dry today.
