Author: chicagostonepro
Subject: Best Stone for Hardwater
Posted: 12 Aug 2011 at 9:34am
Slate exhibits a wide range of composition and performance. It's impossible to make a credible blanket statement such as "incredibly durable". Anyway, even the most dense slate, typically from Pennsylvania, will attract soap and hard water deposits.
Marble is calcium carbonate, so any attempt to clean calcium carbonate off of it - the major component of hard water - will also damage the marble.
Travertine and limestone - ditto the marble statement.
What does that leave you? Porcelain and granite. However, if you go granite, make sure you do a lemon test, to be sure the material actually does NOT react to acids. Much of what is called "granite" really isn't, and the lemon test is a great way to make sure what you get performs as you need it to in your real world. You should also try to scratch the material with the corner of a razor blade or razor knife. If it scratches, find another stone.
For the lemon test, cut a lemon into slices, and press a couple slices onto a sample of the stone you are considering. Leave it there a couple hours, or even overnight. If it's good material, it won't matter how long you leave the lemon on it. Remove the lemon, rinse the stone, wipe it dry, let it finish drying, and see if you have a lighter etched area from the lemon. Etch = FAIL.
You clean hard water deposits off granite with razor blades and weak acid cleaners, basically. This means you want to be sure what you install won't change color (isn't dyed), won't scratch (is harder than steel), won't etch (has no calcium or other acid sensitive minerals in it).
Regards.
Subject: Best Stone for Hardwater
Posted: 12 Aug 2011 at 9:34am
Slate exhibits a wide range of composition and performance. It's impossible to make a credible blanket statement such as "incredibly durable". Anyway, even the most dense slate, typically from Pennsylvania, will attract soap and hard water deposits.
Marble is calcium carbonate, so any attempt to clean calcium carbonate off of it - the major component of hard water - will also damage the marble.
Travertine and limestone - ditto the marble statement.
What does that leave you? Porcelain and granite. However, if you go granite, make sure you do a lemon test, to be sure the material actually does NOT react to acids. Much of what is called "granite" really isn't, and the lemon test is a great way to make sure what you get performs as you need it to in your real world. You should also try to scratch the material with the corner of a razor blade or razor knife. If it scratches, find another stone.
For the lemon test, cut a lemon into slices, and press a couple slices onto a sample of the stone you are considering. Leave it there a couple hours, or even overnight. If it's good material, it won't matter how long you leave the lemon on it. Remove the lemon, rinse the stone, wipe it dry, let it finish drying, and see if you have a lighter etched area from the lemon. Etch = FAIL.
You clean hard water deposits off granite with razor blades and weak acid cleaners, basically. This means you want to be sure what you install won't change color (isn't dyed), won't scratch (is harder than steel), won't etch (has no calcium or other acid sensitive minerals in it).
Regards.