There is nothing more beautiful in your bathroom than natural stone. On the whole, most natural stone is hard, durable and water resistant. Some people don’t mind a tiny bit of wear on their stone surfaces but if you are like the majority of us that spent a small fortune on your natural stone surfaces, you want it to look like the million dollars that you feel like you paid. Natural stone, whether it is marble or granite will need to be occasionally resealed and while regular bathroom cleaners are fine for ceramic tile, they are normally too harsh for cleaning natural stone surfaces. Even using soap to clean your stone surfaces can cause a soap film to build up overtime. From sealants, cleaners, strippers, enhancers, polish and conditioners, to preserve the natural beauty of your granite and marble countertops, walls or floors you need to be selective about what products you use to care for your bathroom stone surfaces.

"Summary: Caring for natural stone in your bathroom will depend whether the stone is siliceous or calcareous. Natural stones such as marble, limestone, travertine, granite, slate, quartz and sandstone will all benefit from natural stone products such as sealants, cleaners, strippers, enhancers, polish and natural stone conditioners. Use these natural stone supplies to bring out the lustre and beauty of your natural stone surfaces."

If you have natural stone tile floors, sand, dirt and built up grit is not your friend, the abrasiveness of these materials can scratch, dull and damage the surface of your beautiful floors over time. To minimize this problem, you should frequently clean your floors with a dry dust mop or a slightly damp mop with a little bit of mild, non-acidic cleaner. Another thing that you may want to do is place a mat or area rugs inside and outside your bathroom entrance to help minimize the sand, dirt and grit that may scratch your stone bathroom floor. Also be careful about using a vacuum cleaner on your natural stone floors because the wheels or housing may inadvertently scratch your lavatory floors.

And while your expensive granite may be extremely hard, it still may stain if exposed to harsh chemicals or acidic substances. Ladies remember hair coloring may help you peel away the years but will definitely age and discolour your marble and limestone surfaces. The best way to guard against blemishes is the periodic application of a durable stone sealant to protect your limestone and apply wax to your marble finishes to safeguard your counter top surfaces. This not only serves to enhance the lustre of your stone surfaces, it also helps to reinforce your stones protection. And remember that if the unthinkable does happen, there are repair kits on the market to remove or at least reduce stains and scratches.

One of the things that homeowners sometimes forget when renovating their bathroom is that sealing natural stone does not eliminate them having to clean the stone. You can purchase a stone soap or you can use a mild liquid dishwashing detergent and warm water that will also do the trick. A good stone surface cleaner is one that is a neutral based cleanser such as Mira Clean #1, this is a commercial cleanser that can be used on marble, ceramic tile and other polished stone surfaces and it is gentle enough so it can be used daily to keep your surfaces sparkling. As a special note, it is very important that you do not use products that contain citric lemon, vinegar or other acids, especially on marble or limestone stone surfaces.

It is also recommend that you actually get to know your stone. Natural stone can be classified into two general categories based upon what it is made of. There are two types of stone: siliceous stone and calcareous stone, it is very important that you know the difference because this will become critical when selecting cleaning products. Siliceous stone such as slate, quartz, granite and sandstone is very durable can be easily cleaned with very mild acidic cleaning solutions. Whereas Calcareous stone such as limestone, marble and travertine is very sensitive to acidic cleansers, so find out for sure which type of stone you have so you can get keep your natural stone surfaces in your bathroom looking bright and lustre for a very long time. Here is a little tip: in the shower or other wet areas of your bathroom, soap scum can be minimized by using a squeegee after each shower.

Most stones are naturally porous so in a moisture ridden environment such as your bathroom, you will need a sealer that is stain and water resistant and once applied to the surface of your stone, will not affect the underlying colour of the natural stone. With stone surfaces that are colourful such as marble, it’s best to polish them frequently so that you can see the character of the stone and bring out the natural beauty of the stone. Also, we should not have to remind you not to place hot items such as curling irons directly on your stone surfaces, remember to use the stand that usually comes with the unit.

These categories are designed to help you renovate your bathroom with these handy renovation tips, learn more about bathroom home design elements, customize your bathroom with these home remodeling ideas, bathroom trending info to guide you with your bath redecorating decisions and we offer bathroom product reviews as a helpful resource when buying bathroom products so come by often to keep abreast of what is going on in the bathroom remodeling environment.

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