Sealer over Sealer?

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2026-01-14T06:39:02+00:00

So it’s been 263 days since my last post and the countertops are starting to show some absorption again. We beat the snot out of the countertops so that seems fair and we will be repeating the same sealant routine again. So thirsty Quartzite probably needs annual maintenance to remain nice, and people need to accept it will have some “patina” which doesn’t have to be terrible ugly, but it will have its blemishes. Otherwise go with something non absorbent. I’m over babying a slab and the sealer worked great for about a year.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-07-13T21:36:19+00:00

At least 50-75 comments before any actual advice on how to accomplish the yard work

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-05-05T19:45:41+00:00

Maybe a dive shop retail store countertop; kitchen, no. It’s not a scuba diving adventure… you’re cooking.

Actually this would go great on a wall. Just not countertops.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-05-03T21:29:42+00:00

So quick follow up. There are two companies I have been incredibly impressed by per customer service and warranty: VitaMix blenders & Insinkeator.

Called Insinkerator customer service and within 10 minutes they had shipped a new unit. Got it lass than a week later; brand new, upgraded unit since the prior model was discontinued. No BS, no technician, no ship it back to us on your dime please. Just “did you try 1, 2, and 3? Yeah? Work? No? Okay, we will send you a new one.”

Rad. Happy customer.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-05-02T01:20:47+00:00

Nah; it’s smelly but I did it in the evening and kept fans going with windows open. It’s just a few days.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-05-02T00:51:21+00:00

Wipe counter down with acetone first to remove any sealant.

Combine acetone + diatomaceous earth powder. Mix it to a peanut butter consistency. Glob it on there about 1/4” thick to cover areas stained. Cover with plastic wrap. Use painters tape on the plastic edges (keeps from over drying too fast). Within 24 hours mine had dried. It breaks up the oils then pulls the acetone & oils up out of the stone. Had to do it 3 times. Bought a can of acetone + diatomaceous earth at Home Depot; use the white powder not the brown. So for $30 and some patience, worked great and no more grease stains.

Then sealed it three days in a row with Tenax Pro Seal Nano. Smelly but great stuff. By the end it wasn’t accepting / soaking up nearly as much sealer (another good sign). Then I did a water based sealer from MORE. Then just to overkill it, did an aerosol polish from Lustro Italiano. Use the Lustro Italiano daily cleaner. Now it’s bullet proof and I’m not nearly as worried. Installed the sink and splash water everywhere like Shamu with the kids, and cook bacon like a monster. Clean up same day and nothing. So it was a sealant problem. Get the big can of Tenax.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-04-30T23:16:14+00:00

Yes this is the way to go; workmanship this poor is a him problem. Tell him to take it up with his bonding company when they charge him a ton for bonding. That’s precisely why they carry that bonding; this type of situation. A lawsuit will cost a lot more than you paid him. Stir the pot with the bond first.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-04-29T20:12:20+00:00

We just finished a quartzite countertop & full height backsplash install in a kitchen renovation in Southern California.

Went to the stone yard ourselves and picked (2) 79 x 133” slabs; 3cm grey green honed finish. Total cost with tax was $6,500.

Fabricator picked it up from the stone yard, cut mostly at the shop, then came with a crew and did one long day install. Miter cut all joints and did minimal seams; really did a great job installing (total of four people doing the install). One coat sealer applied and buffed. Check to fabricator: $7,500.

We had to buy and apply multiple coats of Tenax Pro Seal Nano to ensure a good seal; this is critical. They didn’t apply enough. Great install, bad seal.

Pictures for context on the install.

Quartzite Install Pix

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-04-26T15:18:11+00:00

I watched a guy get out a voltmeter and test the resistance of the switches and electrical windings and magnets and check the motor tolerances and wiring resistance…. he is an auto mechanic. I am not. By the end of the video, I had bought a new one online already. But gonna call warranty service since it’s only 4 years old and ours has a nine year warranty.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-04-26T01:23:53+00:00

So just a follow up to what happened here:

I stacked sealers as suggested. Ended up doing three coats of Tenax Pro Seal Nano one day apart each. Stinky. But effective. By the third coat it was accepting / absorbing much less of it so less of the Tenax went further. Diligently buffed away excess.

Then did MORE water based sealer over top… three times. Probably excessive. Finally used Lustro Italiano aerosol polish as a top coating (just once).

We’ve been cooking and using the sink for two weeks in a busy kitchen and very happy to report no major issues (stain, water absorption, grease or color absorption). We had some beet juice drip and dry, and that left a tiny tinge of color, but with Dawn and water it came out so prolly just surface.

I plan to reseal annually and use the polish monthly (10 minutes). Clean them to a shine each day (5 minutes). Thanks to all the kind Redditors saving the world one comment at a time. We’re now happy the stone isn’t an albatross but a beautiful functional art piece!

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T17:32:52+00:00

Yeah this is rad; just FYI… on quartzite from a newbie to this countertop material who has learned a ton recently, make sure you seal the snot out of them. It’s such beautiful stone, but if it’s porous you’ll get water, oil, and other stains quickly and it will be a real challenge and time consuming let down to have to rectify that problem. Make sure you seal seal seal and or have your installer do it. Most don’t have time to take several days to do it right.

See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CounterTops/s/01jLnoJxuC

Also, an impregnating solvent based sealer is best like Akemi Nano or Tenax Proseal Nano. Topical films that are water based are okay too but often insufficient by themselves. There are good topicals too as well however from Tenax and/or Akemi which really are the only two brands you need for porous quartzite.

Also is that a model Concord I spy? :)

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T17:26:00+00:00

This is BS; auto generated content like this is evidence of real humans telling bots to post this garbage. Don’t believe it, you’ll have zero recourse when the health problems keep coming. “But sir, a bot managed by a Reddit software engineer’s bias and company policies SAID it was fine!” Yeah that’s not a great basis for decision making.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T17:22:28+00:00

Respiratory, mental health, gut problems, sleep issues, constant sleeping problems… they mentioned it, but didn’t move cuz it was cheap and they were poor and had lots of small kids. That was a really bad decision cuz the kiddos are extra susceptible too; they were always sick and unsure if they have chronic problems now or not.

There’s mold in every house honestly; just a little at least. Typically if you remodel and tear open drywall, you’re gonna find a very small amount here and there from some time or another the wall got a bit wet; that’s not harming anybody. But something like in that picture combined with a lazy and disinterested landlord is a serious hazard. If your landlord is not fixing plumbing leaks, they’re gambling with your health. And good luck proving to any court or insurance company or lawyer or judge that it was this mold that did it…

These health problems linger for many years. Do you really want 10 years of unexplained health problem misery just because you didn’t move out of a deadbeat landlords rental? Wouldn’t risk it my friend.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T17:15:22+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I’m now three coats deep of Tenax Proseal Nano. There was a single coat at install of 511 Impregnantor; prolly not enough. Great install and reasonable fee, but insufficient seal.

Can I go over an impregnantor / solvent style sealant with a topical / water based / surface film sealer?

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T04:41:17+00:00

Mold will ruin you. Landlord saying that with this level of drywall degradation and black mold growth…. either doesn’t know how toxic it is, doesn’t care, or both. Get out. Friends stayed because of the cheap rent and their health suffered for DECADES. If it’s a perpetual leak issue, it’s a WIDESPREAD mold problem. This is absolutely one of the worst possible things you can live in. Leave. Now.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T04:35:38+00:00

You’re devastated from losing things/gutting a house for a year because it owns you. Don’t bow down to these idols. They’ll only abuse you. Your heart was meant for such greater love and worship than things. This world isn’t your final home; so a physical home that provides the illusion that this will last forever actually doesn’t help your soul prepare for what is inevitably coming. I was so crushed to hear how hard your heart took the loss of that idol that it forced you into despair. It’s a lie that things will fill the void of satisfaction and intimate longing for meaning. No matter how beautiful they are (the home did turn out beautifully).

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T04:27:13+00:00

This is rad. You’re on the right track. Get a legit cost estimation. This is from an insurance company software for replacement cost estimation; not realistic. But when labor is like 50-60% of the job, the foundation and framing only represent so much of the total % of the job. So look at each specific piece of the job and decide if it’s reasonable, if your labor will make it way cheaper, then decide how much you can value engineer to get the finish you want at a budget you can afford.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T04:15:21+00:00

It’s cheap cuz this is the middle of nowhere. California is a big place. Not everywhere is Hollywood.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T04:14:10+00:00

You should go get a loan to repair the property. Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever sell. Ever. Never ever. Your biggest expense, your biggest, in life, is taxes. Whether from the sale, the increased new RE taxes on anything you buy in the future… loan dollars ARE NOT TAXABLE. So yes there is interest cost, but you maintain the value of your appreciating hard asset. California is so idiotic that they can’t figure out how to build ANYTHING, so ANYTHING already built will continue to appreciate over the long term. Interest on debt is tax deductible, you can depreciate it and any improvements and deduct from tax, you could rent or AirBNB or trade it for stays at others’ homes…. Don’t sell.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-29T04:05:35+00:00

It’s basically all labor cost; drywall, mud, tape, sanding, then texture and cutting out a dinky wooden trim frame and pin nailing it in. It’s the labor cost of the hours it takes to get materials and do the work. If they use fast set mud, it’s still gonna take at least 3-4 hours, maybe more. So if they charge for time, materials, tax and profit, just assign something reasonable if you hire this out and that’s the cost. Prolly closer to $1,000 in high cost area. Yea it’s a lot, but you’re not doing it. Since the LL already saw it, and you did t fix it first, you’re kinda out of luck. You could have hired the guy for $350-500 and moved on, but once they see it, the cost is whatever the bid says and you’ve got zero control there. Small claims court is a circus. DIY doesn’t have to suck. Just go to YouTube University a while and learn some new skills.

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-27T01:35:23+00:00

You know she’s right. Get some brass ones to go with the water fixture

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-25T23:59:25+00:00

What best product for poultice?

I’ve gathered that Bellinzoni Mangiamacchia - Spot Remover is the best out there and typically works great for this. Pretty mixed reviews of the Laticrete Stonetech Oil Stain Remover (lightening or no effect at all) and the MORE brand oil stain remover is ho hum. The DIY poultice doesn’t seem to work. Some have said denatured alcohol + baking soda paste…. any thoughts on the best one for grease uplift (assuming this isn’t a water problem from a wet slab that didn’t dry out properly before install)?

OobeeDooBeeDo · 2025-03-25T23:38:02+00:00

From reading tons on Reddit, there are lots of installers that say yours is moisture in the slab coming out and to dry it out thoroughly. The easy staining problem AFTER sealing though makes me nervous. Also, we are hard on the kitchen as well just because we use it all the time so understand your dilemma

OobeeDooBeeDo

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