Permanent Sealer

by Sharon Wiest
(Orem, Utah)

QUESTION: A company is offering a permanent sealer for all my granite and travertine surfaces. It will cost me about $1200 but I am not sure that it would be worth it. What do you think?

ANSWER: I'm very skeptical. I'm not aware of any "permanent" sealer.

Some stones don't need sealing at all and some may need it only once because they are very dense and already nearly stain-proof. Other stones will need sealing on a somewhat regular basis (every 2-10 years) since sealants do degrade with use and time.

Frequency and time between sealings should decrease with each subsequent application.

If the company means that they will seal your granite and travertine "as needed" for as long as you own the home, then it may be a useful service depending on the size and amount of stone in your home AND whether or not they know what they are doing.

As stated, some stones should NOT be sealed and sealer should not be applied to stone in wet areas like showers and outdoors. Applying a sealer to such stones only creates problems.

If you learn how to test your stone, you'll know when and/or if it needs sealing.

Sealing a few countertops is not a difficult or time-consuming job. Floors can be more work since the surface area is generally much larger and you have grout lines to deal with.

But, many a travertine is pretty dense and not easily stained, so if the floors were sealed on installation, then I probably wouldn't be too concerned about the floors.

Anyway, I would invite them in for a consult to identify the needs of your home, get full details on what they intend to do and grill them about their experience.

I would expect some kind of warranty that would pay for a repair.

I'd be very interested to hear what the whole deal is. If/when you find out, comment back and let us all know.

Thanks and good luck,
Ryan