Cleaning & Maintenance Tips for Natural Stones
Introduction • Natural stones are bringing natural beauty to your places. Natural stone always is dazzling your eyes with lustrous appearance unless time-worn effects are diminishing all. Some areas are affecting rapidly due to ongoing wear& tear or weathering while some less, thanks to proper cleaning and maintenance practices. So, today I am going to describe ten (10) best cleaning & maintenance tips for natural paving stones in 2019.
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Know Your Stones Siliceous Stones: Some stones contain Silica, which is the main component of sands, so those are referring as Siliceous Stones. Calcareous Stone: Some stones have Calcites or Calcium Carbonate as chief mineral, so known as Calcareous Stones. • .
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Tip 1 – Know Siliceous Stones
Granite Granite has tough and durable surfaces. It is less porous, so it is stain and waterproof/resistant. Granite is weak heat conductor so it can withstand against normal wears and tears taking place in decks of swimming pools on countertops designed in patios. Granite also is an excellent choice for exterior locations. Its maintenance is easy.
Slate Slate is a sturdy natural stone with substantial heat and waterresistant properties. So, it proves an ideal option for roofing material. It is equally applicable for exterior paving with proper treatment. When it is broken, it turns into thin sheets. It requires simple cleaning and maintenance treatments.
Sandstone Sandstone has a range of colors and natural patterns those make it beautiful. Thus, it is the best choice for patios and terrace applications in outer places. Due  to these all, it has a lot of demands in the market. Being a siliceous stone type, it demands substantially low care.
Quartzite Quartzite has the best of both worlds, the durability of granite and beauty of marble. It is hard and resistance to stains. Thus, you can pay less attention to the maintenance program.
Tip 2 – Know Calcareous Stones
Limestone Limestone contains calcites, so it is porous and prone to get stains easily. It has look-n-feel of marbles, so it gives a cheaper option to marble. Due to soft and non-slip nature, it is ideal for  paving applications under the roof of your exterior as well. Thanks to its delicacy, it requires more attention in maintenance and cleaning practices.
Marble Marble is a kind of Limestone, but have tons of options for color, styles, and patterns occur in nature. So, it has stunning beauty and tempts us to lay as floors and cladding on walls. It is highly sensitive material to stains, spills, humidity, and scratching.
Travertine Travertine is durable and thermally resistant material for exterior applications. It is luxurious material with all beauty attributes of marble, but sturdier than marbles. Finishing  treatments determine its maintenance & cares. So, polished travertine, thanks to its properties, is easy to care and maintain.
Onyx Onyx is softer than granite. It has bands of different silicon oxide minerals, which are adding beauty to it. Being calcites, it is porous and absorbs stains easily. Therefore, onyx requires more care than other natural stones. It believes that it has healing properties, so the use of Onyx is high in affluent homes& religious places.
Tip 3 – General Cleaning & Maintenance Tips
Tip 4 –Area/space Specific Cleaning & Maintenance Tips
For Exterior Floor Surfaces: • Apply cleaning practices described in general cleaning section regularly.
For Exterior Countertop Surfaces: • Barbeque and exterior tables/desks countertops are the most used areas where chances are high for staining, spilling, heat damaging, and scratching due to complicated activities of food preparations.
For Other Surfaces: • Exterior walls, open stairsteps, window sills, and myriads of other large to small surfaces laid or cladded with natural stones are demanding regular attention of cleaners. Dry dust removal and wet/water washing are useful to avoid rapid wear and tear.
Tip 5 – Identifying Stains
• There are varying types of staining takes place on stone surfaces due to different causes. Let’s identify causes of stains first so we can take precautionary steps in advance. • Organic Stains • Inorganic Stains • Oil-based Stains • Biological Flora-based Stains • Ink Stains
Tip 6 –General Stain Removal Techniques
Tip 7 – By Type Stain Removal Techniques
• Washing detergents and mineral spirits or acetone are best solutions to remove oil-based stains. • On siliceous stones, you can apply diluted hydrogen peroxide solutions directly on the organic stains. • For calcareous stones, you have to apply only a mild detergent/soap solution or warm water to remove the stone, not any acid-based mixture at all.
Tip 8 – Stain Removal Poultice Technique
• Often general stain removal techniques and solutions prove inadequate on tough stains. A poultice is a technique to pull and suck the stain molecules from inner mass or beneath the surfaces of stones.
Tip 9 – Sealing Natural Stones
Conclusion • Now, you have nearly complete guide for 2019 to clean and maintain natural stones in your exterior spaces to keep the natural beauty intact for longer. High-quality natural stones for external applications from reliable suppliers like World of Stones is an excellent and costeffective option. World of Stones provides only quality stone products, which last for longer and need a fewer maintenance expenditure. Would you like to try it once?
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