Natural stone cleaning and sealing in Casa Blanca Estates and Judson

The resort corridor, around Lincoln and Indian Bend · built 1960s through the 2000s

Closed houses are easier to seal properly

An advantage of a seasonal property that nobody mentions.

Sealer needs cure time before heavy traffic, and in an occupied house that is genuinely inconvenient. In a property that is about to sit empty for months, it is the easiest thing in the world to give it.

So the ideal timing here is doing the work just before the house closes up. The sealer cures undisturbed, nothing walks on it, and the floor is in the best possible condition when you return.

Second best is shortly after reopening. The worst is mid-season with guests arriving, which is when most people think to ring.

Nobody is watching the deck

The other seasonal pattern, and it costs money.

A pool deck at an occupied house gets noticed as it declines. At a property that sits closed through the summer, the deck goes through the hardest months of the year with nobody looking at it, and the owner returns in October to a surface that has changed considerably since April.

Monsoon debris, algae in anything that stayed damp, and calcium from a pool that ran all summer. Autumn is when this gets dealt with, and on a seasonal property it should be scheduled rather than noticed. Full page on decks.

Working with a manager

• Access and timing arranged directly with your property or estate manager
• Invoice wherever you want it, management company or owner
• A written note of what was cleaned, what was sealed, and the cure time given
• Anything we found and did not do, and why, including etching that will not improve
• Several properties in one visit where they are close together

The fourth item is the one that matters most when an owner is not present. Etching, worn finish and failing grout all get written down rather than quietly worked around.

The chemistry, which is the whole reason this is a separate trade

Travertine, marble and limestone are calcium carbonate. Acid dissolves calcium carbonate. Everything else follows from that one fact.

It means an acidic product does not clean these stones badly, it removes part of the surface, leaving a dull patch where the finish used to be. It happens on contact rather than over time, and there is no route back that does not involve a refinisher and diamond pads.

It also means most of what sits under a kitchen sink is dangerous here. Anything sold for hard water, soap scum or general bathroom use is very likely acidic, and vinegar, which gets recommended constantly, is among the worst.

Everything we put on stone is pH-neutral. There is no circumstance in which that changes.

Worth asking any other company the same question, and treating a vague answer as an answer.

The honest limits

Stone is the one surface where the damage is permanent and expensive, so this belongs near the top rather than in a footnote.

Cleaning and sealing addresses soil, mineral and protection. Cleaning pulls out what has worked into a porous surface, and sealing keeps the next lot from going in. On stone that has never been properly cleaned the difference is substantial.

It does not address etching or worn finish. Etching is where acid has dissolved part of the surface. Worn finish is where traffic has abraded it. Both are changes to the stone itself rather than something sitting on it, so neither cleans off and neither is hidden by sealer.

Putting those right means honing and polishing with diamond pads, which is refinishing. We do not offer it, and when that is what a floor needs we will tell you rather than take the job and leave you disappointed.

How we do it

1. Identify the stone and assess the existing sealer. Travertine, marble, limestone and slate each behave differently, and what suits one can harm another. We also establish whether a sealer is present and what state it is in, because that changes the approach entirely.
2. Clean with products matched to that stone. pH-neutral throughout, lifting soil and mineral out of the stone and the grout without touching the surface itself.
3. Seal, if you have chosen it. Clear to protect what is there, color enhancing to bring the natural color forward, and grout color seal on the lines if you want it.
4. Walk the finished floor with you before anything leaves, and explain the cure time for the product used.

Cleaning always precedes sealing. Sealing over soil locks it beneath the coating instead of protecting anything, which is why these are sold as tiers rather than sealing offered alone.

How often to reseal

Reseal every one to two years, depending on the product used and how much traffic the area sees.

There is a test that removes all opinion from it. Put a few drops of water on the stone and leave it five minutes. Beading means the seal is intact. Soaking in and darkening the stone means it has gone, and the stone is now absorbing everything else too.

Most floors we are called to fail that test and the owner had no idea, because a sealer wearing out is invisible until you go looking for it. Full page on resealing.

Questions from Casa Blanca Estates and Judson

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