Granite Shield marble sealer with a lifetime warranty

15 years ago

I'm getting honed carrara marble for both my perimeter and island countertops and my fabricator suggested sealing the marble with this fairly new product called Granite Shield. The company offers a lifetime warranty. Is this too good to be true? I haven't seen anyone mention it on this website. The fabricator needs to go through some type of certification to apply it and it costs a little more than a regular sealer.

Featured Answer

bill_vincent

15 years ago

erikanh-- James is a granite pro who comes in here and gives freely of his time and knowledge. Most times, when Granite Shield is brought up, it's by company reps trying to spam the forum without looking like they're spamming. I just checked madlizard's joining date, and apparently this is one of the few times that it's a bonafide question.

Madlizard, please don't take any offense. To most of us in the trade, this stuff is snake oil, and I'll tell you why. There is no way ANYONE can offer a real lifetime warranty. There's just way too much out of the control of the sealer manufacturer that can happen where they can claim that it's not covered by the warranty. That warranty is there for one reason only, and that's as a marketing tool, and obviously it works. To me, it's just another reason to charge more for a product that's expensive enough already, and doesn't take but about 10 minutes for ANYONE to apply. Simply wipe it on, and the wipe off the excess about 5 mintues later. It's really that simple.

Still think you need someone who's been schooled?

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Comments (16)

erikanh
15 years ago
One of the countertop showrooms I considered offers this treatment. I was told that it wouldn't totally prevent etching on marble, but would reduce it by 80%. I'm skeptical.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.graniteshield.net/graniteshieldquestionsandanswers.pdf
vrjames
15 years ago
OH NO, the unpaid advertisers are back!!!!!
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madlizard9
Original Author
15 years ago
I guess I'm a bit skeptical as well since when I google it I only seem to find information that the company itself puts out. I just wondered if anyone has had any actual experience with it.
erikanh
15 years ago
@ vrjames: huh??
vrjames
15 years ago
Thank you Bill.

Erikanh and madlizard, I apologize if I offended and your questions are genuine. This question came up a lot last year and it was always spam. There was a real estate agent in Sarasota that would start threads and say how great Granite Shield is and she did not let any of her customers buy a house without this protection for their granite. Then she had a link to her website and the Granite Shield site. It was quite annoying. AND she was one of several.

Now I did follow the link, watched a YouTube video presentation and made quite a few calls to my customers.
A few of my observations are 1.) Granite Shield is a 2 part resin/epoxy type product that is topical. Topical products are bad for too many reasons to list here. 2.) Only a few people in the trade I spoke with are aware of this product and the ones who were would not touch it, mostly for reason #1. 3.) As Bill said it is an unnecessary expense feeding on the excessive marketing hype of the dire need to "maintain" your granite. Sealing, if necessary at all, is like waxing your car every 2 to 6 years depending on your stone.

Blessings,
James
azstoneconsulting
15 years ago
Not to "pile on" here....

But how good is the "lifetime warranty" on a DeLorean???

just my .02 cents worth - I've been out sealing Granite all day...HA!

just kiddin

kevin
madlizard9
Original Author
15 years ago
No worries, everyone. I've been lurking on here for some time and finally decided to post as demolition was completed on Sunday and I must make a decision soon! I love this site and appreciate all the comments. I'm just looking for honest feedback. Something about Granite Shield seemed iffy to me, but since my fabricator recommended it I wanted to check it out.

From what I've read here it seems that applying the wrong sealant can ruin your marble, and it sounds like you need to make sure your fabricator uses the same sealant that you plan to apply later yourself. A lot of people seem to speak very highly of 511 on this site. Is this what you would recommend?
bill_vincent
15 years ago
It's one of them, along with Stone Tech, and the MB line.
erikanh
15 years ago
vrjames, no worries. That spam must have been before my time, or I just missed it. Sounds like it was tres annoying!
bill_vincent
15 years ago
Bigtime.
azstoneconsulting
15 years ago
I USED to ONLY recommend 511 Porous Plus - that is, until
my Brother Bill Vincent "schooled" me on 511 Impregnator.....HA!

Now I recomend both - depending on the stone of course..
There's other products that work really good too - I just have
NEVER had a problem using 511, so I am reluctant to look at anything else..

sometimes ya just gotta keep dancing with the one that brung ya!!!

hope that helps

kevin
madlizard9
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, Kevin. For honed carrara marble would you recommend both 511 Impregnator and 511 Porous Plus? It seems like you would put the impregnator on first and then use the porous plus to seal every six months or so?
bill_vincent
15 years ago
One or the other-- not both. And quite frnkly for Carrara, the Impregnator should be all you need. The Porous plus will do exactly the very same thing as the Impregnator-- but at more than twice the price.
User
15 years ago
Bill or azstone.. would you recommend either of the 511's for my slate shower? I have used almost all of my supplied through tile store's sealer, and although I like the finish/colour enhancement, the smell for the first two weeks when it got wet was.. gross/disgusting/made me thankful I have a window in the shower. Are the 511 products as strong smelling? I am not due to reseal it for a bit, but wanted to ask while the topic was on the boards.

Sorry to highjack your thread madlizard!
Kym
azstoneconsulting
15 years ago
I think either for slate would work, depending on the slate (some are
more porous than others)

You might want to give Miracle's Tech Support a call to run it by them.

Both products do have an odor, but it's not going to overwhelm you or
make you grow a thrid eye or anything like that.. Just turn on a fan
and crack open a window until everything is dry.

HTH

kevin