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DHTiling
Have a read of this article about sealers etc....a good read indeed...
An article by Maurizio Bertoli, the founder of the “marble cleaning” company
The past 12 to15 years witnessed the birth and phenomenal surge of a type of product for which nobody had ever felt the need for since mankind started to use stone, which means since the stone-age. All of a sudden, the last decade of the twentieth century brought about the awareness that, without it, we could no longer live!
I’m talking about sealers for stone, also more appropriately referred to as “impregnators.”
What happened, that caused this kind of frantic need for something that nobody ever needed before just about overnight?
Ignorance happened!
North America and most Northern European countries (that had no stone culture to speak of) were fascinated by a product that they always admired and craved for, but could never afford. The affordability factor, however, was not as much a cost issue, as it was an issue of lack of the specific craftsmanship necessary to process it. I’m talking about marble, limestone, granite, etc. Up until a couple of generation ago, stone tiles finished in the factory had not even been invented yet, and the slabs were delivered to the fabrication shop right off the gang-saw; that is, neither one of their two faces were calibrated and polished like they are now. It was the fabricator that had to process the surface of one side of the slab, by calibrating it (grinding), honing and polishing! All this without mentioning the machinery and tooling that were available back then! Marble and granite floors were made by using unfinished cuts of stone (the only ones available) that were set directly on the mud bed, then ground and finished on the premises (“grind-in-place” method). And that – all the processing, that is – is the main factor that makes the craftsmen involved understand stone.
New processing techniques in the quarries and manufacturing plants, brought about an impressive reduction of costs, along with the great idea of ready-to-use products, such as polished marble and granite tiles, or almost ready-to-use, such as pre-finished marble and granite slabs.
All of a sudden, the whole world was flooded with such enticing and legendary materials like marble, granite and other stones, which were offered in a way where expertise and craftsmanship were no longer needed (or were they still?) and at prices that were getting more and more affordable.
Buying and selling stuff that’s manufactured in some mysterious way, in some far off factory, doesn’t make anyone any more intelligent about whatever it is that one’s trading. Processing it does. But it’s not the case here, remember?!… All the processing had been done by the factory; all we needed were just plain setters, or contractors that could use a saw and learn how to polish edges; and we could find plenty of them at a dime a dozen!
Installing and cutting material that was made ready-to-use in some mysterious way, in some far off factory doesn’t make anybody anymore intelligent about such material, does it! Once again, only processing does! That’s why stone restoration / refinishing is the very pinnacle of all stone related activities: It’s the only one that actually processes the stone! And to do that, one must know stone.
Are we beginning to get the picture? If you add to the mix the huge number of “new” stones that all of a sudden started appearing on the marketplace from all corners of the planet (and counting), and the almost total lack of self-regulation of the stone industry, which has been desperately trying to “keep things simple” with the consequence being that the situation is so confusing that nobody knows what actual stone one’s looking at, you have a big melting pot where only one ingredient is brewing: Ignorance. And to the best of my knowledge, nothing intelligent ever came out from it!
Without knowing which one stone was good for what, and without any official guidance, wrong choices and specifications became the rule, rather than the exception (the exception, in fact, was a strike of pure luck in many instances!), and problems of an unknown nature started springing up from all over the place (and still counting, of course!)
A solution was badly needed. But, alas, with the benefit of a precious few exceptions, the importers/distributors don’t know the first thing about stone. The fabricators are just about there themselves, since they get their stone “education” from salesmen and invoices. And the setters? What on earth have they got to do with stone knowledge? They only install it! What about the original producers? Well, quarry owners/operators usually know their own stone, period. So, if for instance you’re considering a marble quarry and processing plant, and you go back to the owners and question them why their marble “stains” so easily when it’s installed, say, in a kitchen, all they could honestly do would be to break the news that’s the wrong material for the wrong application, but such a “solution” – the only sensible one -- would certainly not be satisfactory, would it! It would mean going back to school and learn something about stone, and nobody has time for that! Something “better” and “easier” was needed!
An article by Maurizio Bertoli, the founder of the “marble cleaning” company
The past 12 to15 years witnessed the birth and phenomenal surge of a type of product for which nobody had ever felt the need for since mankind started to use stone, which means since the stone-age. All of a sudden, the last decade of the twentieth century brought about the awareness that, without it, we could no longer live!
I’m talking about sealers for stone, also more appropriately referred to as “impregnators.”
What happened, that caused this kind of frantic need for something that nobody ever needed before just about overnight?
Ignorance happened!
North America and most Northern European countries (that had no stone culture to speak of) were fascinated by a product that they always admired and craved for, but could never afford. The affordability factor, however, was not as much a cost issue, as it was an issue of lack of the specific craftsmanship necessary to process it. I’m talking about marble, limestone, granite, etc. Up until a couple of generation ago, stone tiles finished in the factory had not even been invented yet, and the slabs were delivered to the fabrication shop right off the gang-saw; that is, neither one of their two faces were calibrated and polished like they are now. It was the fabricator that had to process the surface of one side of the slab, by calibrating it (grinding), honing and polishing! All this without mentioning the machinery and tooling that were available back then! Marble and granite floors were made by using unfinished cuts of stone (the only ones available) that were set directly on the mud bed, then ground and finished on the premises (“grind-in-place” method). And that – all the processing, that is – is the main factor that makes the craftsmen involved understand stone.
New processing techniques in the quarries and manufacturing plants, brought about an impressive reduction of costs, along with the great idea of ready-to-use products, such as polished marble and granite tiles, or almost ready-to-use, such as pre-finished marble and granite slabs.
All of a sudden, the whole world was flooded with such enticing and legendary materials like marble, granite and other stones, which were offered in a way where expertise and craftsmanship were no longer needed (or were they still?) and at prices that were getting more and more affordable.
Buying and selling stuff that’s manufactured in some mysterious way, in some far off factory, doesn’t make anyone any more intelligent about whatever it is that one’s trading. Processing it does. But it’s not the case here, remember?!… All the processing had been done by the factory; all we needed were just plain setters, or contractors that could use a saw and learn how to polish edges; and we could find plenty of them at a dime a dozen!
Installing and cutting material that was made ready-to-use in some mysterious way, in some far off factory doesn’t make anybody anymore intelligent about such material, does it! Once again, only processing does! That’s why stone restoration / refinishing is the very pinnacle of all stone related activities: It’s the only one that actually processes the stone! And to do that, one must know stone.
Are we beginning to get the picture? If you add to the mix the huge number of “new” stones that all of a sudden started appearing on the marketplace from all corners of the planet (and counting), and the almost total lack of self-regulation of the stone industry, which has been desperately trying to “keep things simple” with the consequence being that the situation is so confusing that nobody knows what actual stone one’s looking at, you have a big melting pot where only one ingredient is brewing: Ignorance. And to the best of my knowledge, nothing intelligent ever came out from it!
Without knowing which one stone was good for what, and without any official guidance, wrong choices and specifications became the rule, rather than the exception (the exception, in fact, was a strike of pure luck in many instances!), and problems of an unknown nature started springing up from all over the place (and still counting, of course!)
A solution was badly needed. But, alas, with the benefit of a precious few exceptions, the importers/distributors don’t know the first thing about stone. The fabricators are just about there themselves, since they get their stone “education” from salesmen and invoices. And the setters? What on earth have they got to do with stone knowledge? They only install it! What about the original producers? Well, quarry owners/operators usually know their own stone, period. So, if for instance you’re considering a marble quarry and processing plant, and you go back to the owners and question them why their marble “stains” so easily when it’s installed, say, in a kitchen, all they could honestly do would be to break the news that’s the wrong material for the wrong application, but such a “solution” – the only sensible one -- would certainly not be satisfactory, would it! It would mean going back to school and learn something about stone, and nobody has time for that! Something “better” and “easier” was needed!
