Snowflake Granite owners - Absorption of Liquids?
xmkx
11 years ago
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xmkx
11 years agosoibean
11 years agoRelated Discussions
BLING! Bathroom done... Lots of photos.
Comments (101)I AM SPEECHLESS!!!!! Ditto everything everything everyone else said! I am in awe. I am a left brained design clod, but I do recognize genius. I am stuggling to dwsign 5 bathrooms and a kitchen with only two weeks to prepare for our newly constructed home in Irvine. Our two bedroom filled with mold was torn down to the concrete slab and has gone up faster than I expected. Any tips, help, suggestions, this peon will fall to her knees. I really know nothing about gardenweb protocol as I just joined and you are my first message. I am overwhelmed and don't want to go to a tile design showroom where I get the most recent 'in' Tuscan look ir white carrera marble design. How do you come you with such great ideas. I have sat in Barnes and NOble and looked through magazines...lthe saddest part is I'm married to a contractor and his design sense is more outdated than mine! We both just stared at yours and said...ooohhh.......aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!...See MoreGranite shield?
Comments (11)Jon, dreedree had asked "Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of this product? thanks in advance!" And yes I do have experience and knowledge about the company, Im just simply answering a question or questions that had been asked and pointing out the fact Granite Shield has no restrictions such as the other companies I had mentioned. Many customers now are buying granite from Lowes and Home Depot with these kind of warranties because they know granite stains and want some kind of protection rather than having to seal often. I am one of the owners and have tested and had a part in the creation of the chemicals Granite Shield offers. Granite Shield is a member of the Marble Institute and a highly respected company. It is your choice whether you want to use it or not, but for anyone to say its a gimmick and just a way for some fabricators to upcharge the customer is incorrect. It is quite known that granite does stain even if its resin filled and a homeowner can make that decision to which sealer or sealing service they want to choose. Its a granite fabricators choice whether they want to seal or offer a sealing service to protect granite with a warranty. 2008 you will be hearing a lot more about Granite Shield and many very large granite fabricators will be offering it to their customers on the bottom line, the customer either wants a lifetime warranty against staining or not. Here's just a few things being said about Granite Shield: "I wanted to inquire as to who I would contact to have an appointment done for the Granite Shield. I have granite in my kitchen and had the Granite Shield applied and have had no problems. However, my parents, who have the same granite as I do, did not have the Granite Shield applied and their granite has darkened in certain spots, due to some staining. I was wondering who would be the contact to find out about having the stains removed, if possible and then having the Granite Shield applied?" Thanks, J. A. Calabrese, CFP Assistant Vice President East Longmeadow, MA 01028 "We installed a CaesarStone (HONED finish) bar counter that is extremely difficult to clean. Following is an excerpt of an email I received from a CaesarStone representative recommending your Granite Shield product: There is one product that CaesarStone has tested and approved for use on our product. It's a one time application that doesn't change the finish hardly at all (it might add a little luster to it). From the results that I have seen it really does keep the dirt and oils from sticking to the surface which makes cleaning a lot easier. It's called Granite Shield 877-477-3254. We live in Chaska, Minnesota (just 20 miles from Minneapolis) and would like to engage someone to professionally apply your Granite Shield product to protect the bar from fingerprints and stains. Could you recommend someone we could contact?" Thank You, J. Metzger Chaska, MN 55318 "Wow for Granite Shield! Once again my son put a container with oil on the bottom on top of my very light colored granite counter top. Only this time it is shielded! No stain!!! Yes! Granite Shield is wonderful!" Thank You, P. Symonds San Francisco, CA "First of all, I would like to thank you for the prompt and professional service I received from you and your staff at Granite Shield. I would also like to share with you a little story of an event that occurred a couple of days after you completed the job. At about 3:00 in the morning I was awakened by my teenage son advising me that his bathroom was overflowing with water. I quickly got up and was greeted with his bathroom having about 1/4 of an inch of water from an overflowing toilet. I quickly shut off the water supply to the toilet and proceeded, with my wife and son, to clean up the mess. To my great surprise, the travertine floor that had been treated by your company actually held out the water and as soon as we dried it up, the floor showed no water spots of any kind. As a matter of fact, the bathroom is located on the second floor and to my great surprise we had no leakage onto the first floor. You may use this testimonial if you so desire, as part of your advertising as I am very happy with the way your "Granite Shield" has functioned thus far. I have and will continue to recommend your company. Very truly yours, L. P. Carreras, EA, AT" L.P. Carreras & Associates Chino, CA "Craig, Last week you shipped me some sealer at the request of Craig Kenningson at Santa Regina International, LTD www.SantaRegina.com. I also spoke with you about the products application on Friday afternoon. We applied it on Sunday after the Terrazzo was completely dry. It is a nice product that is pretty easy to work with. I had a slight amount of the product left over and I did some testing with it on my own. All I can say is wow. I put it on a couple of pieces of slate, and it worked great. Beaded up like a mother. I thought your talk about Dry Treat was a guy proud of his product, but hey the proof is in the pudding. I also honed 1/2 a polished square of Brecca Oniciatia. I split the tile in thirds, with one section your stuff, the other a competitors and one clear. I applied two coats each. Your competitor didn't fare so well, so I gave him another coat. Maybe it will be better for him in the morning. Worked great on the polished side as well as the honed. I will send pics, but I am sure you know all this. I call on architects, designers, tile retailers & distributors (like Daltile where Craig found us) stone fabricators here in Jacksonville FL. We should talk about your products. I am filling out the applicator info and will send it to you." Sincerely, H. Edenfield Jacksonville, FL "We have spent a lot of time refining our process in order to completely eliminate the absorption and staining issue on our cement based engineered terrazzo flooring. Initially, we tested all major sealing products on the market. We solved our problem by developing a new proprietary sealing system with a company called Granite Shield which takes the free lime from our cement and crystallizes into a quartz material. This satisfies 98% of the seal. We then add an ionized polymer sealer on top of the tile to complete the seal. Now our Santa Regina engineered terrazzo has a 10 year stain resistant warranty backed by Granite Shield. To enhance the warranty to a 10 year stain proof warranty an Authorized Granite Shield applicator must complete the sealing process by sealing the grout after installation. Our terrazzo is sold through Daltile nationally. Thank you Granite Shield for solving our problem." Craig Kennington Santa Regina International, LTD Palmer, TX 75152 www.SantaRegina.com "My name is Karan Barber and I am the Granite Shield Distributor for this area. This product is terrific. It truly is amazing! We have Shielded several types of stone and put them to the test. We put red wine, red Kool-Aid, iodine, brake fluid, oven cleaner, lemon juice etc. on the shielded stone, left it for 24 hours and it wiped right off with a wet paper towel. Water beads on honed stone." Thanks, K. Barber Granite Shield Distributor / Applicator Monroe, NC 28110 "November 07, 2006 I have a customer for whom we installed new Venetian Gold granite kitchen countertops in August 2005. He claims that every day the counter is covered in "grit" that can't really be seen, but can be felt. It has been an ongoing problem since installation. I went to visit and found the tops to be just as smooth and shiny as the day installed. I suggested maybe his ceiling is falling apart rather than his countertop and that if that much "grit" came out of his tops every day, there wouldn't be much granite left. He is raising hell with the cabinet shop and contractor and I don't have any ideas. Has anyone had a similar problem customer in the past?" "November 08, 2006 The granite was definitely sealed, but I don't remember which sealer we were using at that time. Furthermore the customer went to Home Depot and purchased a cleaner and sealer kit and has sealed the top another half dozen times. The only time I have experienced anything like this, it was short lived, not continuous for over a year." "December 19, 2006 2 weeks ago I applied Granite Shield to the table as a sample to see if it would stop the "shedding" problem. The customer is now very happy and I will be applying Granite Shield to the countertops after the holidays." "January 11, 2007 This is definitely grit that is coming off the tops. The table was the worst area and it had almost a honed feel to it, but was still shiny. We had to epoxy fill just 2 "chips". The Granite Shield did the rest. Shedding stopped, feels smooth, CUSTOMER HAPPY!" Sincerely, B. Stone Architectural Surfaces Granite Shield Distributor / Applicator Punta Gorda, FL...See MoreHelp me pick my cork floor!
Comments (15)Cork WILL swell if it gets soaked, so will wood, laminates, everything else I can think of except tile (of course if you have a wood subfloor that would swell, too). My old plank floating cork absorbed so much water it was amazing. If you ever DO have a flood, chances are the flooring will need to come up no matter what you choose- the mold that could grown underneath would scare me. We debated on going with tile this time around- after weeks, we finally realized neither of us wanted anything other than cork. It's so nice to walk on and save your back and knees. Our old floor was similar to the golden nugget(long piece) type showing in the 1st pic- it showed NO dirt. My new floor pattern is similar to the last pic. I love the look of the newer style. The closer the color to natural cork, the less you'll see any sort of dings or scratches- no that you'll see many anyway, since it is self healing,...See MoreHoned quartzite gritty - Calacatta Gold
Comments (33)kim k: So, so sorry I didn't reply to your post. The grit/counter issues were resolved, sort of, in that I settled for a crappy job and had to move on with my life. The ugly details here, if you care to see/read. Scroll down to 6/10/2017, 1:08 p.m. post for the small claims update. The entire process has paralyzed me to a point where we are still without a backsplash. I'm so gun shy about hiring anyone at this point, DH and I have been contemplating DIY. I just need to get up the energy to find someone local (a master/certified tiler) who will take the job. (If anyone in the Houston area can recommend someone, I'm all ears. No disrespect to handyman-types who might do a great job, but I don't want to take any chances.) Over the past 18 months, I've turned my attention to something more gratifying and soul fulfilling than being angry about my kitchen: butterfly gardening! Butterflies will not fail you, people. :) --------- It you have specific questions, kim k, perhaps I can at least provide my experiences (i.e., are you considering having macaubus/calacatta quartzite honed?). I took these pics just now -- in many parts of the stone, these bright white veins (some of which I pointed out above) are still quite visible. (Click to enlarge.) Pic #2: The white arrow points to a pit I noticed this morning. So, I grabbed a safety pin and lightly scratched at the bright white spot in Pic #1: it very easily powdered up and resulted in another little hole. I'm so apathetic about my tops, I don't care any more about creating another hole -- at least it's in a relatively unused part of the counter run (but not less visible, as the area sits right beneath a window). So, perhaps stone that arrives polished should not be honed/leathered by the fabricator on this end. Dunno. But that would be something my fabricator should have realized and perhaps warned against -- i.e., that veins might be opened up, exposing, what, resin? I'm assuming that's what the white powder is. If Karin is reading this, perhaps she can advise: a quartzite vein shouldn't be powdering like this, correct? Or is it possible this powder does naturally occur? I just wouldn't have thought ANYTHING in a slab of quartzite would be affected by the head of a safety pin. And for anyone wondering, Tenax Proseal sealant did the job: our tops are very resistant to both water- and oil-based liquids....See Morexmkx
11 years agoxmkx
11 years agoMary Boardman
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoChessie
6 years ago
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