General care references for natural stones:
- To the hard rocks from the depth layers belong the granites, quartzites, basalts and gneiss. They are as far as possible scratch-proof (regarding household equipment) and resistant to all household-usual acids and caustic solutions.
- This is not valid for the soft rocks such as marble, shelfstone, slate and limestone. They are much softer and can easily be scratched, however also more simply again be up-polished. Caution with acids of all kinds (juices, wine, carbonic acid!): The surface is thereby attacked and can be repaired only by professional polishing again. Acid sensitivity is valid also with some quartzites and basalts - here irreparabele color changes are possible.
- Natural stones take up air by their crystalline structure liquids and deliver them by evaporation. Water causes therefore temporarily a darker mark. Our kitchen sill plates are pre-treated for this reason with special impregnations (falsely often sealing called), which retard this characteristic and make thus an uncomplicated care possible. As a function of the use and the finery habits this prophylaxis should be repeated every 6 months.
- Nevertheless once if persistent marks should have resulted, e.g. from colored liquids (juices, red wine), then partial strong soaking with a wet sponge helps over night. Thus the color particles are shifted into the deeper layers and the plate receive approximately again their previous appearance. Also the employment of special basic cleaners is possible.
- Caution however with fat or synthetic substances (ink, felt-tip pen). In such cases we recommend special stone cleaning agents.