I'm not positive but it sounds like your suspicions might be right. I have an area where there's a fissure in my quartzite that seems to absorb water but it also evaporates from the stone and the temporary discoloration goes away.

One of the bloggers (maybe young house love) shared their technique for polticing the counters with a mixture of baby powder and alcohol (I think?). Don't take my word for the exact technique. They had good luck in lifting the stains though.

I am a fabricator.

Typical countertop "granites" (most of which aren't actually granite) will naturally darken if wet.

Sealers do not waterproof granite but do fill the pores of the stone with an intert material which greatly reduces the rate at which the stone can absorb moisture.

it does sound like your stone was never properly sealed. many would tell you to put a few drops of water on the stone and if it doesn't bead up there is no sealer. I do not believe this is a reliable test as there are some stones with such a tight grain then even unsealed stone will bead water for a little while.

the simplest test I could recommend would be to take a darkened area and protect it from moisture for several days and see if it lightens up. (it probably will).

@oldryder... I'm not sure the purpose of testing it. Isn't the fact that it is dark near wet areas already telling?

I think my biggest concern now is if sealing it at this point will "seal in" the dark areas for good or if they will get lighter once sealed as he claimed? Just got a phone call from granite company and they are coming in 2 days to seal it.

> "(most of which aren't actually granite)"

That's an interesting statement!!! What's the scoop?

wendyb - the stone will dry out after sealing but it could easily take a week or more.

I once came back from the lake and left a 6 pack flexible cooler on the counter and had a big dark spot the following morning. Water leaking from the cooler had all nite to slowly soak in. dark spot was completely gone by the next weekend and I know my stone was properly sealed.

Hi WendyB. I know this is an old thread but I have the same situation as you and was wondering if you ever found a solution. Did you end up sealing it while it was dark? If so, did it eventually fade back to normal color? Thanks for your feedback.

Most granite isn't actually granite?

Let's just say plenty of "granite" isn't granite. Some is serpentine, gneiss, and others. Plenty of "quartzite" is marble too. You've got to test to be sure.

After the builder sent the granite people back to seal everything, things improved a bit. It's not great,but it does not darken too much when wet. The space under the nearly-permanent dishmat is still lighter than everything else. I do not think the sealing treatment lightenened anything, but I believe it stopped it from getting darker - wet or dry.

I've since learned that my kitchen granite is probably Venetian Gold and that it is more porous than most. I'm not crazy about it and hope to replace with quartz someday.

Ironically, I recently had a wine stain show up (which I treated easily) but that was a trigger for me that it is time to re-seal. I bought some. Just have to do it...maybe tomorrow :-)