Real problems sealing granite--help!

[KDillon]

We recently had new granite installed in our kitchen. The specific name is Ivory Gold. I'm learning through painful experience that that is a porous granite and will be hard to fully seal. It was sealed by the fabricator (before and after installation) and we've subequently sealed it ourselves, exactly per instructions, another 5 or so times with a product called Dry Treat. It seems to work at first, then a few weeks later we notice grey/damp spots under anything left on the counter with a touch of water on it. (Soap dispenser, cup, dish drain) that takes hours (or a day) to seem to dry out. We're heartbroken that we made a choice that turned out to be so stressful--but must make this work. (New granite not an option.) Any ideas? Keep going with more Dry Treat? Try a different product? Help!

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[Davestone]

Well, Dry Treat is a great sealer,but depending on whether you used the water based or solvent based may have an effect, you see the water based won't work over a previously sealed stone, only the solvent based, so you may be wasting your time,in that respect.Here's a link to their site,you can actually contact them...http://www.drytreat.com/home.asp

[KDillon]

Thanks for the reply. I did use the solvent based, but I will get in touch with them in any case. Do you think I have cause for hope? Can any granite, with proper sealing, eventually get to be pretty well sealed? Or are there granites (perhaps mine being one) that just don't seal, no matter how many careful layers you do?

[doitright]

Hi KDillon, Welcome! :)

Which DryTreat product did you use?

It is not uncommon for the extremely porous granites to apply a multitude of coats. I've heard upward in the neighborhood of 13 applications. This isn't to say that your stone is that porous, but it may be.

DryTreat also has a two step sealer program that is used by the licensed applicators to give the extended warranty. Besides the water darkening issue, have you had any staining issues? :shades:

[KDillon]

It was Dry Treat Stain Proof. Followed directions to the letter. (This was post our fabricator sealing it at the factory and two extra seals from him. We started the Dry Treat on our own, in part because we could afford the time to do it properly.) If it's useful information...when we sealed it, you could sort of see the granite soaking up the sealant. It got especially dark in certain places as if they were especially absorbing it After the last application or two, there seemed to be a fine, fine film of sealant on top. (In our minds it suggested that it had overflowed with sealant and was now, finally, full.)

No staining problems except for this although we've been hyper vigilant. Have had a little stain or two that I've noticed and it's wiped right up. And water does bead on the surface. So it seems to be working. Until you notice the big grey wet spots under something that has been sitting.

[Davestone]

Well, there is a fine line between sealing something totally and letting vapor escape, in other words any sealer that allows vapor transmission can't totally enclose a stone.

[KDillon]

Not sure I follow that. Meaning perhaps the fact that this Dry Treat leaves a sort of film on the top suggests that this product is not working to totally sealing the stone? Or that I shouldn't worry about water marks because that is to be expected?

Also...if I go the route of the two step process (I think it must mean putting the Dry Treat porcelain sealer on top) would you recommend a few more coats with the existing sealer before trying the porcelains sealer as a final step?

Thanks so much for your thoughts here. I'm SO grateful.

[doitright]

Hi KDillon :)

Usually, if water beads on top and the stone doesn't darken, it's ready for the Porcelain Sealer.

If I'm not mistaken Dave was trying to explain that some surfaces will tend to "wet out" and darken. This is normal. With a glass leaving a dark spot after a period of time just means the surface tension has been broken and water darkened the surface. However, the surface should not take a day to dry out. This seems to indicate that more Stain Proof needs to be applied.

[KDillon]

Just a couple last questions:

How will we know when we have enough stain sealer on to be ready for the porcelain sealer? Any rules of thumb?

Also, in future, if we determine it's time to touch up with more sealer, can do we that on top of the porcelain sealer? And if so, do we repeat the regular sealer and the porcelain sealer? what do we do in future years (and how often would you guess we'd need to do it?)

thanks, guy, for this forum. it's amazing.