It’s easy to imagine that stone is a material that can “take care of itself.” It’s lasted thousands of years, withstanding time and siege and conquest. But there’s a difference between surviving and thriving, and while, indeed, the stone is a material more resilient than most, it too has its weaknesses.
Whether slate, limestone, travertine, marble, flagstone, or soapstone, here are some summer month care tips to keep your stone in shape.
1. Summertime Sealing
It’s beneficial to keep your stone on a regular maintenance schedule which should include regular sealing applications. However, during the summer months, you need to ensure your stone is not HOT when applying your sealer. Whether water-borne or solvent-borne the carrier is designed and balanced to allow enough time for your stone to absorb the sealer into the pores we are seeking to seal before the carrier evaporates. Do this on a hot stone surface at mid-day, and you may not get the seal where you want it – in the stone. The solution is simple; time your sealing for the cooler temperatures. While we may have greater timing flexibility during the cooler portions of the year, the most important thing is that you remembered you needed to seal again. Call B.A.S.I.C. to apply some sealer to your outdoor patio TODAY!
2. Sweep away loose debris
If you’ve ever swept outdoors in the presence of children, you may be familiar with the following question, why are you sweeping outside? Attempts to push Mother Nature back from encroaching upon our human spaces are not in vain. It’s because loose dirt and gravel that gets ground into the surface, damaging stone, which may not be that big an issue outside, but once trapped in your shoe soles, you know it's planning a sneak attack on your interior glossy marble and travertine surfaces. Win the battle outside by clearing the enemy before they hop a ride under the kids, family and pets to reach their ultimate objective --your beautiful floor.
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