Stone & Tile Care FAQs

No. A sealer soaks into the pores and slows how fast liquids absorb, so it protects against staining. Etching is acid dissolving the surface itself, above where a sealer lives, so a sealed marble or travertine counter etches as easily as an unsealed one. Sealing is still worth doing for stain protection. Existing etch marks are removed by honing the stone below the damage and rebuilding the finish.

Run a dry fingertip across the mark. A scratch is a groove with an edge you can feel and a direction you can follow. An etch is a soft-edged dull patch with no line in it, left where acid dissolved the surface. If a whole traffic lane looks dull rather than one spot, the finish has worn, and cleaning will not bring it back. All three are refinishing questions rather than cleaning questions.

Not on its own. Polishing refines a surface that has already been honed flat, so it adds sheen rather than removing damage. Scratches and etch marks are cut out first with diamond abrasives during honing, and polishing follows if the original finish was glossy. Honed marble and travertine can also be left as a smooth, low-sheen finish on their own.

No. Bleach is strongly alkaline, it strips pigment from cementitious grout, and it does nothing about the soil sitting in travertine's natural pits, which is what makes the floor read as dirty in the first place. Use a pH-neutral cleaner made for natural stone with a barely damp microfiber pad, and keep vinegar, citrus cleaners, bleach and tub-and-tile sprays off the stone.

Those rings are etch marks, not stains. Wine, citrus, soda and sparkling water are acidic and begin dissolving marble on contact, so the mark forms in seconds. Wiping quickly prevents staining but not etching. Coasters help, a honed finish shows etching far less than a polished one, and a protective coating such as RAKU resists etching in a way a sealer cannot. Existing rings are removed by honing and refinishing the stone.

Put a few drops of clean water on the stone somewhere out of the way and wait a minute. If the water beads, the sealer is still working. If it spreads or darkens the stone, the surface is absorbing and sealing is due. Sealing goes on clean, fully dry stone, so cleaning always comes first.

Usually, yes. Chips, hairline cracks and missing corners in granite are typically repairable in place with a color-matched fill. A repair is a blend rather than an erasure, and how close it gets depends on the pattern and color of your stone. We will tell you what to expect before the work starts.

White powder on a paver patio is one of three different things, and only one of them is efflorescence, mineral salts carried to the surface by moisture. Cleaning addresses how efflorescence looks but does not cure it, because the cause is a moisture source. Identifying which of the three you have is what decides the fix, so we look before we recommend anything.