I did a lot of research to find just the right sealer to use on the marble. I wanted something that would do the best possible job. I didn’t mind re-sealing annually, or spending a little extra, or taking a long time to seal if it got me the best protection. I searched the world wide web for all the stone sealing facts, and here’s what I learned:
Impregnating sealers are the best bet for marble surfaces because they’re formulated to go in just below the surface of the stone to slow the absorption of staining liquids rather than sitting on top. They will NOT protect against etching.
Most stone sealers are oleophobic (oil repellent) but some stains are carried by water so it’s good to have a sealer that’s also hydrophobic (water repellent) too, for protection that covers both bases.
It’s important to use a food-safe sealer in the kitchen. Most impregnating sealers for natural stone are food-safe once cured because the solids components that remain in the stone are non-toxic.
The carrier in sealers can be either water, alcohol, or another solvent. All of them evaporate away as part of the curing process and leave behind only the protective solids. Alcohol and solvent-based sealers can be more effective at slightly porous materials (like white marbles) since they can penetrate and carry the solids deeper into the stone fabric. Water-based sealers have larger carrier molecules that tend to stay closer to the surface and can be more effective at protecting very porous materials.
Tenax, Dry-Treat, Miracle, Laticrete/StoneTech, MORE, MB Stone Care, F.I.L.A., HMK are all member companies of Natural Stone Institute and offer a wide range of stone care and maintenance products. Sealers from any of these manufacturers would be great choices.
The most commonly used sealers in the DIY blogger world are Tuff Duck, 511 Porous Plus, and BulletProof. I also found TuffSkin which boasts being able to also prevent etching (other sealers don’t) which I thought was really cool and worth considering, too.
Based on my discussions with Tony at Arizona Tile, I went with Dry Treat Stain Proof Plus which has a small molecule structure for getting deep penetrative protection. It also lasts forever without needed re-application! You can learn even more about it here and watch a helpful demonstration video here. I also watched a 2-hour long application training for stone fabricators and talked to a Dry-Treat rep for 30 minutes, so I’m basically a professional now.
If you don’t want to tackle DIY stone sealing, you can have your fabricator seal the marble before installation. They can recommend products they have experience with, but I’m sure you can also ask them to use whichever product is the best/easiest for you. But since I like getting involved and I already came so far researching, I decided to DIY it myself! Here’s how you can, too:
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