Thanks, Joseph Corbett, LLC. for your comment. I have been in love with the good boy, Corian, for 25 years and had it in several homes. Only a couple of problems over the years. One, a caterer put a hot pot on the counter and it burned a spot. The other, several scratches when a cutting board wasn’t used. Both, were because of mistakes. However, all contractors (there were 10) that bid on my renovation had the same recommendation....if you want heat and scratch resistant, go with natural stone. So, I went with the bad boy biker and have to live with my decision, as I did when choosing Corian. Owning up!

Nothing better than quartz composite countertops (e.g., Silestone). No stains, no chips, no problems ever.

We are having the same issues with our Mont Blanc quartzite after just moving in to our new house (it’s less than one week old and already staining). We had Taj Mahal quartzite in our old house and never had any issues. It was bullet proof.

Emma Ann - did you ever find something that fixed the issue?

For anyone with natural stone or quartz having a stain buy this Stain Remover. After the stain is removed, seal (or better yet based on the comments in this thread have a professional seal) your counter tops.

No material is bulletproof, and no material is the perfect material. What all sales people should do is tell you all the pros and cons to a material and let the client decide.

I sell natural stone, and I sell quartz, and I can list a bunch of reasons why one might be better than the other. If you were pushed into a product without being told the cons I'm sorry, but just because you have something doesn't make it better for someone else.

Man made Quartz is not bulletproof, and if you have a marbled pattern that was purchased 3 years ago or longer I can tell you it already looks dated, The technology for aesthetics is getting better and better. Think about that before you lock into one today. Oh and heat damage is not covered under warranty,.

Corian is plastic and it's not cheap anymore because less is being sold so factories need to charge more to make margin. Yay for zero depth of plastic!

Natural stone is often mislabeled, people are selling dolomite marbles as quartzites. This is plain wrong. But of all the options it's the most timeless.

I'm salty today, this thread is full of a bunch of non experts pushing their uneducated opinion.

Emma - you may have (i don't think so though) have etched your counter. if that's the case you need to find the best fabricator in your city that can hand polish it out. Try the paste first though. and if you sealed over that stain you need to apply it multiple times as that will make it harder to get out. and stay away from the DIY and your expensive stone.

Suray - buy the paste, and if you sealed over the stain than it needs to be applied multiple times.Also I have seen shadowing that was natural similar to the image you attached. seek an opinion from another fabricator if it's that concerning.

Joseph - Don't be an a$$, natural stone is fine (depending which one & fabricator) and way more timeless than a hunk of plastic.

If you have an issue you can always get a second opinion from another fabricator generally at a cost. But there are people that can restore your stone if the material was compromised by man.

Thank you, C Tilma. I will follow your advice. Just ordered the paste.

"Corian is plastic and it's not cheap anymore because less is being sold so factories need to charge more to make margin. Yay for zero depth of plastic!"

C Tilma:

I suggest you dive a little deeper into the composition of countertop materials before typing. Virtually the only difference between engineered stone and Corian is the filler. Corian is filled with ATH, engineered stone with quartz. Both are chock full of "plastic".

Most of the "natural" stones you advocate for would be unsuitable as countertop material were in not for the resin sucked into them at the processing facilities. Resin as in plastic. I can't stand duplicity and stoners lecturing a solid surface man on "natural" is just a bit more hypocrisy than this ex-fabricator can take. If that makes me an "a$$", fine by me.

Timeless? You wanna talk about timeless? Let's talk about timeless. Like the 50th birthday of Corian recently.

So back on this old thread I commented on a while back. We have been in the house for 6 months and still dealing with issues on the counters. You can’t leave a drop of water on it because it leaves a dark wet spot that last for days. Luckily it goes away, but still a pain. Also have what I think is an oil stain. Also have white rings left wherever a glass of water might have been for not even a few minutes. I’m constantly wiping and cleaning off the counter and lay out butcher paper whenever cooking because I’m afraid I’m going to mess it up. I didn’t think this is what I paid for!
Life has been busy but I finally reached out to the fabricator because builder said it “probably needs to be resealed” so the fabricator came out today and basically said they use a great “expensive” sealer and it’s not a sealer issue it’s the stone and they have no control over that. Said they can try an oil sealer, but has no idea what the white rings are but it’s not a sealer issue. I told him I don’t care how expensive a sealer is if it doesn’t work it doesn’t work! I just want to know how I can get my counters to not have these issues and can be functional! Hindsight is 20/20!
Anyone get any resolution with their issues?

Here are the white spots and what I think might be an oil stain. The fabricator said the white is not etching, and doesn’t know what it is but isn’t because of the sealer. Everyone is just passing the buck. How can you be a “professional” and literally say you are clueless to this?

The white circles could be pod marks. Measure their diameter, then go to the fabricator's shop and measure the diameter of the vacuum pods he sucks against slabs during fabrication to move them about the shop. If they match, he won't be clueless any longer.

If they don't match, have him measure the pods at his stone distributer.

kris, if you sprinkle water on the stone, what happens? does it sit or absorb? if the latter, it's not sealed.

Joseph, I don't think there's any equivalence between resin used on some natural stones and the resin or ATH used in engineered surfaces.

First, there's quantity. On engineered quartz, the resin makes up a significant fraction of the material, like 20 - 30% or so.

There are no natural stones that have that much resin in them. Resin can only fill void spaces and most commercial stones have porosity of less than one percent. So, that's the upper limit of how much resin a stone could contain. Plenty of natural stones contain no resin at all.

Then there's quality. A natural stone is natural. It's entirely made by the earth. Yes, it's finished and fabricated and made into a finished product, but that's true of every natural material. If you put varnish on wood is it no longer natural wood?

That said, there are all kinds of strengths and weaknesses of various materials. No argument there. But these materials are so poorly understood in the first place that it doesn't seem helpful to add more misinformation to the mix.

karin_mt:

I reviewed my second to last post. There is no "misinformation" in it. None.

While you are correct that there is considerably less resin in natural stone than in engineered stone or solid surface, that is irrelevant to my point that many natural stones are made suitable for use as countertops by the use of resin and resin and mesh on the backs of slabs. My second point was to show the hypocrisy of the natural stone industry's criticism of other surfaces' use of resin/plastic. Following your quantity reasoning, that's like someone saying "Hey, I only stole .25, he stole a million dollars!" Sorry, both are stealing, no matter the amount.

"If you put varnish on wood is it no longer natural wood?"

Of course it still is, however, the natural product, wood, needs the assistance of an unnatural substance, varnish, to reach peak performance. So do many natural stones. Thanks for making my point.

We agree that there are all kinds of strengths and weaknesses of various materials and that they are poorly understood. They are often poorly understood because consumers buy into industry propaganda put out by manufacturers and the natural stone industry. I will continue to shed light on their claims and point out when the proverbial pot is calling the kettle black.

Stealing 25 cents is entirely different than stealing a million bucks. One would land you in prison and likely ruin your livelihood and credibility. The other won't.

We are smart enough to evaluate differences in magnitude. Customers, fabricators, and everyone else would benefit from knowing the difference between a tiny amount of resin, and resin that makes up one quarter of the entire product. Numbers matter.

You were lumping very different things together despite huge differences in magnitude. That's not a correct or helpful way to look at it.

This isn't a pot/kettle situation. The claims are nowhere near the same.

Best way to shed light is to resist the temptation to exaggerate. Especially when the topic at hand is something that can be measured and quantified. Clear, accurate information helps everyone!

karin_mt:

I think we're gonna hafta get married to argue this much. lol.

KrisG, I think you should do as Joseph says...measure the round circles, then go to the fabricator and measure those "things" they stick on the slabs so they can lift the slabs. The ones I have seen at various stone sites have been round, but I did see some non-round ones. I bet they are the same measurement.

The greasy looking one is for sure grease. Which quartzite do you have? My Sea Pearl absorbs nothing. It was sealed one time at least 7 years ago. No problems except for grease. Dried on mustard, red stains, red wine vinegar, ketchup, etc does not absorb or stain.

Joseph, you know your Corian and a whole lot more, but Karin_MT is a geologist and our resident rock guru on Houzz. No point in arguing...just say... "Yes, dear!" Happy "wife " = happy life! You know how it goes!!! LOL

I have a quartzite from Arizona Tile called White Pearl. My stains have been from a cut strawberry left overnight and oil stains. A poultice made of baking soda and enough water to make it into a sour cream consistency removed the strawberry stain after one application (taped saran wrap on four sides and cut a hole or two in saran wrap). I live in Glendale, AZ and it's very dry here so the poultice dries quickly. I think I waited 8 hours to remove the poultice. The same poultice worked for a lighter oil stain with one application. For the darker oil stain (left it longer), it took three applications. I sealed the countertops twice using 511 impregnator. We have spilled the following (many left overnight as we have a toddler so we don't always get around to wiping the counters at the end of the day): lemon juice, grape fruit juice, pasta sauce, tumeric (makes color in yellow curry) and none of those have stained. The light stain was from cooking oils and the dark stain was from peanut butter. I'm more careful with peanut butter now and we wipe oil splatter after cooking. It's fine to be lazy about wiping your quartzite. You might just need a poultice or two later. We love the look of it!

Emma Ann - did you ever get into contact with your friends fabricator to see why the tops they installed don't have the same issues as yours?

As a fabricator, am always interested in different products that will improve the performance of natural stone.

@Emma Ann, curious if you wers able to get the sealer's name that your friend's fabrocator used? Thanks

@Howard Jow How long did it take your baking soda/water poultice to dry? I tried the poultice on my quartzite and it's been 6 days, and has not dried. I have one that has partially dried and is leaving a ring around where the poultice was! Was your experience similar?

In Glendale AZ, as I said in my previous post it takes 8 hours to dry a poultice made of water and baking soda. If you live somewhere with more moisture, maybe run a de-humidifier during the drying process to see if it reduces the drying time to 8 hours?

I actually meant after the poultice was removed, how long did your countertop take to dry?

I wipe away the poultice with a wet cloth and then just let it dry naturally. If I wipe it at 8pm, it feels dry in a few hours. We wipe the counters with a spray water bottle everyday to keep them clean.

We just had Calacatta Vermont installed in our kitchen. I noticed a 3 x 3 round grey stain and freaked out. Our fabricator left us two cutting boards from our slabs so I used one for etch testing. When I added apple cider vinegar to the slab it turned the Quartzite a darker grey and I thought that my Quartzite wasn't really Quartzite. But the following morning it disappeared! What?Here are pics.

Desiree C.

if it's absorbing, it's not sealed properly.

get a good impregnating sealer (aquamix, 511) and apply as directed. you'll know when it's sealed when water beads up on top and just sits there.

(and if that vinegar didn't etch your stone, you have quartzite.)

However, Calacatta is a marble. if it's marble and that's vinegar, the surface will be etched.

I've never heard of that name for a stone. lets see a larger pic

Calacatta Vermont - that sure looks like marble to me. More like Vermont Danby.

Here's are details of Calacatta Vermont http://aracruz.stoneprofitsweb.com/Calacatta-Vermont-3cm/3189/Location

Lots of stoneyards label marble as quartzite. You have to test the slab to be sure what you are getting.

Yep, I did test it, results and pics above. Was just sharing that it passed the etching test BUT the results first showed darkening (which would have indicated it wasn't actually quartzite) but then several hours later the staining was completely gone. I just want folks to know you may have to wait several hours to get a true read.

Desiree, quartzite can stain. since it went away, it would appear it's absorbing.

You never answered if it was properly sealed.

drop a few tablespoons of water on one spot. what happens after 5 mins? does it sit on top or does it get absorbed? if the latter, it's not sealed

BTW, your stone place just renamed that stone. (many sellers rename slabs w/their own name. why they picked "calacatta vermont' is a mystery. Calacatta is a marble)

Anyhoo, your stone is commonly referred to as Infinity White or a White Macaubas quartzite. You'll find much more info on it w/the correct name.

I have not sealed it yet but plan on it - etch testing was recommended on unsealed stone. Huh I just checked the link and not seeing that they renamed the stone http://aracruz.stoneprofitsweb.com/Calacatta-Vermont-2cm/2414/Location

I think they probably named it Calacatta because it resembles Calacatta marble https://askinglot.com/is-calacatta-quartzite-durable 

Just a quick comment in regards to the statement that the "fabricator left us two cutting boards from our slabs" ...

Quartzite is not a good material for cutting upon ... it will dull your knives like crazy. Use it as a pastry board, it'll be great for kneading dough and such; use it for serving cheese or something, but don't cut on it. (Same goes for tempered glass "cutting boards" ... those make great trivets; they destroy knife edges.) Cutting boards should be made of materials like wood, wood composites, or even plastic. If you have been cutting on stone, glass, ceramic (plates), or similar with your nice, plain-edged bladed knives ... get them sharpened and see how much more easily and smoothly they cut for you.

The science:

Quartzite is predominantly made up of quartz, which is a mineral that rates a 7 on the Mohs' hardness scale ... that's roughly a 71 on the Rockwell C scale that is used for steels ... FC61, a kitchen knife steel, has a Rockwell rating of 61; guess which material is winning that battle? Glass rates between a 5.5 and a 7 on the Mohs scales (58.8-71 Rockwell C). Wood is much softer ... it uses the Janka scale, which actually uses a steel ball in testing, but it's possible to compare with the Brinell hardness. For reference, woods generally rate in single digits up to like 10 or 11 BHN for the hardest woods; that doesn't even rate on Rockwell C scale (measured using a diamond cone).

Agree! I saw that "cutting board" comment and was hoping they were not actually doing any cutting on them!

Yeah, once upon a time I thought the tempered glass cutting board we had was great and convenient ... heat resistant, cut resistant ... it sat out all the time. Yeah, I eventually figured out how dull it had made various knives ... they worked much better once I sharpened them. The glass "cutting board" is still very useful: it's great as a landing pad for hot pans, and it's easy to clean and pick up to bring over to the stove and such ... we just don't cut on it. Dough I generally just work straight on the Corian, since I tend to get flour everywhere either way, haha.

Desiree, they don't tell you they rename. they just do it. It's what companies who sell slabs of stone do. They name it whatever they want. Some leave it the common name, others just name it what they want.

just look at all the pictures of Infinity White and White Macaubas. it's the same.

In fact, MSI stone calls it "Calacatta Macaubas Quartzite". Trust me. It's White Macaubas. Maybe it's cut a little differently, but it's still the same type of stone.

https://www.msisurfaces.com/quartzite/calacatta-macaubas/

Remnant stone is always an inappropriate cutting board; remnant Corian pushes the limits. It's just too heavy and that makes it dangerous. Stone will scratch stone when the little bumpers fall off. Your knives can be resharpened, but your foot may never be the same.

Keep a remnant stored safely in the garage; you never know when you may want a sink or appliance replaced and need it.

We had a piece of granite remnant sitting in our garage for 14 years at our old house. We dragged it to our new house after we sold the old house and made it into a cart. We use it on our deck between our smoker and kamado. I can't imagine using something that heavy as a cutting board.

Here are my stains from lavezzi quartzite. These are from water 🥺

Kelley... are you going to dig up every old stone thread and post on it? Just curious so I know t oavoid all the others that keep getting resurrected.

Yeah it would be great if you could avoid my posts. You dont seem very helpful

I wish I could! Unfortunatley there is not an "Ignore" option I am aware of on Houzz. Your best bet is to talk to a fabricator.

Kelley, if you want help, start a new topic instead of just tagging onto someone else's ... then you can get help that is specific to you and you won't be lost in an old thread that will only be seen by those already in the topic with notifications on. My 2 cents: water is colorless, but moisture will change the color of stone (general term ... countertop, driveway stone, sculpture, etc.) if it's absorbed ... ifit's just water, though, drying it out should restore the original color of the piece of stone. If your countertop is absorbing water, it is porous ... it needsto be dried out then sealed to remove the moisture (temporary discoloration) and prevent any more absorption.

J Hack, there isn't a way to not view a specific user's posts (you just have to overlook them), but you can turn off notifications for specific posts. (It's the green link to switch off notifications about new comments at the bottom, though it won't be user specific; it won't notifyyou of any comments on that post anymore.

Thank you. i think it is moisture but unfortunately, it hasnt dried. its been 1 month like that. arizona tile just offered a stain remover so i think im going to try that

My ignore button: swipe away and go on to next post. Works every time 😁

Omg this is my Quartzite exactly I’m having trouble with. One drop of water and it stains. It’s hard going through 300 comments can someone please help me and summarize what I should do to protect my beautiful counters the fabricator it’s not helping me. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 thank you

Laura F.-, start your own post w/your own pictures. we can't help you if we can't see it. just start a new one. you'll get more help ( quartzite shouldn't stain like that. are you sure it's just not water apsorption? Get a good sealer like 511 or aquamix and seal it if water is absorbing into the stone)

Emma, did you ever find a solution to this problem?

So many people are posting about the same problem with this quartizte. This is not a problem with the consumer, this is an issue with this paticular stone. I have Lavezzi on my island, it started staining even before we were using the kitchen. I would never purchase this quartzite again. I have honed taj mahal quartzite in my bathroom and have no problems with staining, even with oil based products.

@brenda & @everyone else having an issue

These quartzites aren't being processed by the fabricators properly. The material is fine, but the fabricator has not treated the stone properly. These stones are more porous than Taj Mahal (one of the hardest).

What should have happened

1) The fabricator will cut and polish the stone.

2) Moister trapped in the stone due to a water heavy process of cutting and polishing needs to be allowed to evaporate in the shop. (4 days - 1 week without added heat)

3) Once the material is completely dry multiple applications of impregnating sealer needs to be applied. Think of your stone in terms of a glass with rocks on the bottom, gravel in the middle and sand at the top. One coat of sealer will go past the sand and gravel and sit in the rocks. You need to saturate the rocks and gravel before the sand at the surface will seal. Analogy but I hope that makes sense.

* You can remove the stains with a good poultice paste like this https://www.granquartz.com/bellinzoni-mangia-macchia-stain-remover-8-5oz-or-250ml

* Make sure your countertops are 100% clean and dry, meaning the moisture even from the poultice paste has evaporated. Apply a good sealer (multiple times if required) like: https://www.drytreat.com/sealers/residential/stain-proof.html

Unfortunately your fabricator let you down, likely not maliciously, but rather ignorance. But I'm just a random dude on the internet (that's been in the business for 16+ years). If you want an excellent resource where fabricators help fabricators join this Facebook group and you'll find similar answers I'm sure: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StoneFabricatorsAlliance/

"These quartzites aren't being processed by the fabricators properly. The material is fine, but the fabricator has not treated the stone properly."

C Tilma:

I respectfully disagree. The material is not "fine". Some of these quartzites have had your recommended procedures followed to the letter and have still failed miserably. I'll match the 4 other quartzite horror threads on this board against your 16 years experience anytime.

You know the disiccants that you find packaged in products occasionally? Well the same stuff occurs naturally in some of these stones. These stones will suck up moisture, oil, and anything else; you're not sealing your way out of them. It's the nature of the beast; they are unsuitable for use as countertops.

What is more unsuitable is the industry's lack of self-policing. Every time there's an unhappy customer, the natural stone industry suffers. I hate what these irresponsible hacks, importers, trade associations, and fabricators are doing to my industry.

When I click on your link I get this: "This content isn't available right now

When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted."

I'll be happy to debate this with you and your fellow stoners on your Facethingie page. Or bring it over to All Slab Fabricators, unlike the SFA, where everyone is welcome.

You're an odd duck Joe 😅 But I have to say I do agree with the sentiment of a lack of standards within the industry has soiled it. Many overpromised and underdelivered jobs which is unfortunate... but I'd argue this is due to a large portion of the industry lacking general required skills & knowledge. With wholesalers willing to sell to anyone with a wet saw, many "fabricators" seek a quick buck leaving the client in a lurch.

I work in the wholesale business while previously on the front line for a fabricator. I find it interesting that some of my fabricators rarely if ever bring these problems my way, and yet others are putting one fire out after another before saying they won't work with certain materials. This leads me to the conclusion that knowing what you're doing might have something to do with it.

However as mentioned this is a wholesaler issue as well as many stones are passed off as something they are not. Calling a dolomite a granite, or a marble a quartzite for example. While quartzites like Taj Mahal or Cristalo are a much stronger, less porous materials, but many of the stones in this thread like Do Brasil, Macubas, Aria, etc.. I have sold over a hundred times easily (annual wholesale sales $8,000,000-$10,000,000 which also includes quartz, granite, marble, dolomite, limestone, onyx, porcelain, etc...). In fact I've recently had customers come back after 4 years because they were building a new home only to put Aria in again because they loved their last counters so much. That said I have seen these issues crop up many times, and in quite a few cases I've had to link up a quality fabricator to rescue a sus fabricators job. I always say "I have 40 clients, but I don't have 40 I'd let into my house". I'm sure the same goes for your business 😉

Now just to respond to a couple of your points

1. "Some of these quartzites have had your recommended procedures followed to the letter and have still failed miserably." - How do you know? You hovering over them?
2. You know the disiccants that you find packaged in products occasionally? Well the same stuff occurs naturally in some of these stones. These stones will suck up moisture, oil, and anything else; you're not sealing your way out of them. It's the nature of the beast; they are unsuitable for use as countertops. - You know everything on earth has a saturation point. Science! But many stones have a higher cement content that binds the quartzite leading to these more porous qualities. However many stones are marketed as "soft quartzites" which is a misnomer, and some stones that are not quartzite at all which is on the entity that sold the material to them.
3. What is more unsuitable is the industry's lack of self-policing. Every time there's an unhappy customer, the natural stone industry suffers. I hate what these irresponsible hacks, importers, trade associations, and fabricators are doing to my industry. - Agreed
4. When I click on your link I get this: "This content isn't available right now. When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted." I'll be happy to debate this with you and your fellow stoners on your Facethingie page. Or bring it over to All Slab Fabricators, unlike the SFA, where everyone is welcome. - I know for someone of your age the internet can be difficult; I don't mind showing you how to do it: https://gprivate.com/69fzy once you're there just ask to join. It's hardly exclusive with 18k+ members, 5K more than your group 😘

I sense a bias Joe, certainly it could be argued that I have one as well, but my goal when selling product is not to be an evangelist for any one product. You on the other hand wrote this:

• We Corian fabricators were telling consumers over a decade ago about the problems inherent in natural stone. But no, like a wayward daughter in love with the bad boy biker at the bar, you wanted hard and shiny and turned deaf ears to our pleas. We told you Corian never, ever, bled at built up edges. We told you it was virtually stainproof and repairable. No. You were warned repeatedly. Now own up. It's all we can do to hold our "I-told-you-sos" inside. We don't wanna hear it.

I provide the pro's and con's for a product and let the customer decide. I always say no news is good news. Unfortunately; as you pointed out many in my business do not approach it with the same tact.