In 2009 we moved into a home that was almost perfect. It was big, beautiful, and had upgrades in every room, but what shined was our granite countertops, marble tile backsplash, and the Italian tile flooring with detailed inlays at the foyer. All this stonework blended together so beautifully I sat in disbelief for days admiring it. When I finally realized that “I lived here”, I began to panic over how to care for everything. At the time, everyone I talked to appeared to be just as clueless as I was about caring for granite. It wasn’t until some friends joined us for pizza that we realized there was more to our granite countertops than we knew. We were going to seriously damage them if we didn’t educate ourselves – quick!
5 Habits That Are Destroying Your Granite
The first thing our friend asked me to do was run my hand across the counters to feel the differences in texture. He knew, right away, that our counters were overdue on their treatment of granite sealer and granite polish. It was alarming that they were so overdue we could feel it! When I called the property manager, she couldn’t tell me the last time the granite was sealed; she wasn’t even aware that it was “a thing.” The installer later contacted me to say the granite is supposed to be resealed every three-six months — it had not been done in almost two years!
The second thing my dinner-guest had me do was to immediately remove the hot pizza delivery boxes off the counters! When I lifted them and saw the black heat marks, I was terrified. When I think of granite, I don’t think of heat being an issue, but the moist heat from setting my pizza boxes on the granite counter was going to cause damage if I didn’t stop right away!
As you can guess, when our dinner guest left that night I was determined to learn as much as I could about my new counters. Another shocking thing I learned was that I couldn’t use my home-made vinegar based cleaner or any variety of citrus cleaners on the granite. Specifically formulated granite cleaner is the best route to go instead. I had been using my vinegar spray! Big no!
My cast iron pans became an issue also. I stopped setting them on the countertops for any reason whatsoever when I ran into a possible scratching problem!
Do you love wine? I used to love wine and back in 2009 and I foolishly assumed those rings in my granite were going away after the moisture evaporated. Apparently, not. Wine, grape juice, blueberries, etc., can stain your granite! It isn’t an easy fix either!
My final battle with the counters were after I had to call the Sheriff to my home to deal with a slimy intruder! After being distraught over a snake in my kitchen — yes, I repeat, I had a snake in my kitchen — I spent an entire evening atop my counters refusing to get down! When the Deputy arrived, I was standing on my counter watching the snake so it wouldn’t get lost in our home. The next day, my husband pointed to a tiny fracture in the granite. We found out later that our granite had invisible fissures that were agitated when I spent three hours walking on it. It’s granite, I know, but don’t sit or stand on it!
Are you guilty of these five habits too? The great thing about granite is that simple care can prevent much of the damage caused by thinking “it’s granite and invincible.” Visit Rock Doctor to learn how to care for your granite.
