How often should marble be sealed?
Every bottle says a different number and every surface is different. The honest answer is a test, not a date, and it takes ten minutes.
Marble is porous even when polished. A penetrating sealer slows how fast water, oil and colour get into it, and it wears out at a rate set by the room, not the packaging.
What wears a sealer down
Traffic on a floor, especially at the door and along the kitchen path. Contact on a bench: water, cooking oil, cosmetics, wiping, and above all the cleaner. Acidic and bleach-based products break sealers down while they etch the stone, so a surface can still look glossy after the protection is gone. Denser marbles hold protection longer; lighter, more open ones show it going sooner. And a sealer applied to a dirty, coated or etched surface never performed evenly in the first place.
The test
A few drops of water on a clean, dry, inconspicuous spot. Leave them ten minutes. If they still sit as beads, the sealer is working. If the stone has darkened under them, it is absorbing and the sealer is due. That is the whole test, and it is more reliable than any interval. Its limit is that it measures absorption, not condition: an etched, scratched or dull surface will not look better for being resealed, and needs restoring first.
Typical intervals, as a starting point
A kitchen bench or island: check at six months, expect to reseal around twelve. A bathroom vanity: usually longer; a shower surround and floor: sooner, because of constant water and product. A residential marble floor: twelve months or more; a foyer or a commercial floor with grit and traffic: sooner. Fireplace surrounds, feature walls and occasional tables: years. Honed finishes show absorption differently from polished and are worth checking a little more often.
What sealing does not do
It does not stop etching. Lemon, vinegar, wine and bathroom sprays react with the face of the stone, above where the sealer sits, so a freshly sealed bench still etches. It does not remove scratches, restore shine or lift dull lanes. Over-sealing on a calendar leaves residue and a cloudy film that is its own problem. The order is always inspect, correct, then seal.
Making it easy
Every surface we seal goes on a list with its date, and the reminder page will send you a nudge when it is time to do the water test. A benchtop that has started absorbing quickly, holding soap film or marking more easily than it used to is telling you the same thing.
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Related questions.
How often should marble be sealed?
It depends on the surface and what it takes. A kitchen benchtop or a shower, which see acid, oil and water daily, are usually resealed every twelve months. A floor or a table in a lower-traffic room goes two years or more. The honest test is the water bead: a few drops left on the stone for ten minutes should sit up. If they soak in and darken the stone, the sealer has worn and it is time. We add every surface we seal to a reminder list and message you when yours is due, so you do not have to remember. A sealer is not a coating sitting on top. A penetrating sealer soaks into the stone and slows how fast liquids get in, which buys time to wipe a spill before it becomes a stain. It does not stop etching, because acid attacks the surface of the marble itself rather than soaking into it, and nothing short of changing the stone prevents that.
What causes water marks on marble, and do they come out?
Water marks on marble are usually one of two things, and both come out. Around a basin or on a shower ledge, a white ring or haze is mineral deposit from hard water evaporating, which strips off. A dull ring where a wet glass or bottle sat is etching, where the acidity of what was in the glass has dulled the polish, and that is honed and re-polished. The two look similar and are handled differently, so a photo helps us tell you which you have. Neither is a reason to replace the stone. Hard-water marks come off with a mild descaling pass and a stone-safe pad, because the deposit sits on top rather than in the pores. Etching is the opposite: nothing was added, a thin layer of polish was dissolved away, so it is corrected with fine abrasives until the finish is even. Wet the mark with a finger: a mineral deposit vanishes and returns as it dries, while etching looks the same wet or dry.