Sealing Black Pearl Granite

QUESTION:

We installed Black Pearl granite about 10 months ago. We have very hard water in this area and I believe this is what causes the gritty buildup around the faucet/sink area. How often should I use product on it? I have been using Weiman Granite Corian Cleaner & Polish. Is this a sealer? Should I use something else instead?

ANSWER:

Black Pearl granite is super dense and typically does not need sealing... essentially it cannot be sealed since the sealer or any other substance will not be absorbed by the stone.

I say "typically" because in recent years many new quarries are producing more varieties of granite and sometimes granite gets mis-named or mis-categorized, therefore neither you nor I know for sure that what you have is Black Pearl.

So, you should always test your stone to see if it needs sealing.

Hard Water

Just clean the area daily with a pH neutral cleaner like Simple Green and wipe dry. If you do this, you shouldn't even get a build-up. Also, you shouldn't need any extra protection (sealing) if you have Black Pearl.

If the hard water build-up is hard to clean with Weiman or other stone cleaners, then use a razor blade to scrape it off and be more diligent about cleaning and drying the area daily.

Weiman Granite Polish is a specially formulated cleaner that bills itself as a sealer/protector too.

Honestly, I do not know if that is true. If I had a countertop that needed sealing, I would NOT use this product to seal it. It probably can add some protection with consistent use, but not for an initial application.

For general cleaning, I think it's fine, although I would test it first before cleaning marble with it. But, you have Black Pearl granite, so Weiman is fine for cleaning. It won't damage the granite at all and makes it look great, but it isn't protecting it.

Just to be clear, applying a sealer does absolutely nothing to protect Black Pearl granite or any other extremely dense, non-absorbent granite. These stones are incredibly stain resistant just by their natural composition.

Applying a sealer on these stones only gives you the opportunity to let the sealer dry on top and leave a streaky dull haze that will need to be professionally stripped.

Hope this helps,
Ryan