At Creative Granite, we’re proud to be your one-stop shop when it comes to all your home’s countertop needs. We offer the finest custom granite, quartz, marble and other stone countertops, plus finished edges and numerous other products and services to bring you an ideal practical and aesthetically pleasing home interior.
And not only are we here to provide these products for you, we’ll also advise you on numerous care areas and themes for getting the absolute most out of your stone countertops. Many of these themes trace back to avoiding certain kinds of damage that you might unknowingly cause during basic use of the countertop in question – this two-part blog series will dig into several such types of damage plus how you can avoid them once you’ve installed beautiful new countertops.
Cleaning Products
One common area where owners of stone countertops think they’re helping but may actually be damaging the surface: Cleaning products, particularly those that contain bleach or ammonia. While you may reach for these the moment a spill or some other incident takes place, these chemicals will actually degrade the protective coating found on your stone countertops.
Not only does this reduce the shine and luster that makes your countertops a sight to see, it also risks significant physical damage from a countertop that’s now unprotected. If you do need to clean these countertop surfaces, avoid the harsh chemicals and go for simple soap and water, which are easily enough to get the job done.
Stains and Marks
There are also certain liquids or elements that may stain stone countertops, such as acidic foods, wine, vinegar or even tomato sauce. When spilled onto porous stone surfaces, these may absorb into the stone and create long-term issues.
If such a spill takes place, immediately clean it up and use baking soda in the area to limit the acid content. When placing glasses on the countertop with liquid in them, use a coaster to limit stain potential.
Weight Concerns
Stone countertops are built to be strong and durable, but they aren’t meant to constantly bear the weight of heavy appliances or other major items. Occasionally placing a heavier item on the countertop is no problem, but you should not be using it as a regular heavy storage area. In addition, make sure no one in your home ever sits or stands on your countertops, as they are not meant for this kind of weight.
Temperature
Another area to take great care in is the placement of extreme temperatures on stone countertops, namely hot pots or pans from the stove nearby. Not only can these discolor the stone, they may burn it or even crack certain materials. This same theme applies to slow cookers, pressure cookers and similar items. If you are using these on a countertop, you must use a trivet or hot pad between the surface itself and the hot item.
For more on how to keep your stone countertops safe from damage, or to learn about any of our high-end granite, quartz and other countertops, speak to the staff at Creative Granite today.
