Literally, a question we get asked about on the daily!! R.O is here to help don't worry!!!!!
Whether you have granite, quartzite, marble, porcelain, Corian or quartz the fundamentals are the same!!!!!
Quick daily cleaning routine
We recommend a pH-neutral cleaner for whatever surface you have, especially for the natural stones as chemicals in some cleaners can leave you with a damaged surface,
cleaners with bleach are a no no even in corian as it can dull the finish!!
Every man and his dog recommends cleaning with warm soapy water, we don't and here's why. sometimes the soapy water dries back and it looks like a stain or a dull spot and believe it or not this can be a bit of a pain to clean off. This leads to some people thinking its a stain. Avoid this with just using a daily cleaner pH neutral or a dedicated worktop cleaner such as Method spray. Our favorite on naturals is The Gloss boss spray. whatever you use be sure to test it on a small area first. As some supposed dedicated sprays have chemicals in that leave a film on the surface and thats exactly what we are trying to avoid.
Light Stains or marks
You've had a shindig the night before and you wake up to a bit of surface stain on your worktops. Reach for bar keepers friend power cream. Now please note that this is slightly abrasive so you DO NOT want to scrub any surface with this stuff, especially those highly polished surfaces or you will create dull spots and that's not what you want.
try to clean the stain with your normal cleaner first, then shake the bar keepers, squirt a little piece on your worktops and rub it in GENTLY with your finger or a cloth. voila stain will be gone, this may take 2 or 3 goes depending on the don't be tempted to go harder rubbing it in you will damage your surfaces.
Also if this is a natural stone this has happened on you will of been advised of the care instructions after the installation as there is a slightly different maintenance. if the stain is not caused by an acidic product you may be able to do the bar keepers trick too with great success.
Natural stone Sealing
Depending on where you have purchased your natural stone from will determine what has been done to it previous to installation, long gone are the days of having to seal worktops every 12 months. Our sealers are guaranteed for 15 years on natural stone and we use this because it gives us peace of mind. but not every fabricator does so check with yours how often you have to seal it as some sealers only last 12 months.
Really heavy staining, etching, chips, cracks, etc
The dreaded stain you can't remove!! Again don't be tempted to scrub this off it will not work. if you've tried to remove a stain or a mark and it isn't moving it's time to get the professionals in. The first port of call would be your fabricator give them a call to explain whats happened and see if they can help, be open and honest about what happened and they will help as best they can as there is different courses of action for different damages.
If they can't help you call a specialist in. We here at R.O for instance provide a full in depth repair and restoration service for chip reapirs, refinishing worktops, etc. there are companies all over the UK who carry out this sort of work too.
Hope this helps
Happy 2024
Team R.O
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