you are handy. The product comes with instructions. Why are you not thinking of doing the work yourself?

That's exactly my question Davidro1. I am wondering if there are any benefits beyond what I can do myself, if I have a pro do it. I don't want to pay for his labour to simply apply and wipe down, but if the professional process does result in a much better seal, then I'll consider it. I just don't know enough to know if the differences are real. Thx.

it's made by Dupont. They haven't written anything about pro installs. Or have they?

I don't believe there is a "professional process" other than the one used to take $600 out of your pocket.

They will most likely use the same sealant and will just wipe it on and wipe it off. As long as you follow the directions you can do the job just as good. The second guy is just spending more time pouring on more sealant until the stone quits soaking it up which is why he is charging 3 times as much as the first.

Dupont has not written anything about pro installations. Take this as a clear signal. They are telling you something in the fact that they did not write out a section for professionals.

Call the manufacturer and talk to them about everything they have written in terms of knowledge. It may be as simple as breaking eggs and putting a whisk to them. BUT, when someone has never made an omelet or even thought of making one, they may find it hard to understand all the written steps. I hope the analogy makes sense to you. There are millions of other things that are hard to describe in print. How to pet a dog. How to look into rear view mirrors, and see what you need to see. How to "click" on an "icon". How to make "instant" coffee. How to wrap a cube with wrapping paper.

I wouldn't use many towels or rags to wipe up excess sealant. That written advice just makes you buy more and put more into the rags that go in the garbage. But I'm a saver.

Thx for the good advice. Sounds sensible, but I was afraid I didn't know what I didn't know. Sounds like I should revisit all the threads here about the best sealer (likely Bulletproof or Akemi Nano) and do it myself.

I've thought about this also for my upcoming Carrara tops. Somewhere, maybe it was on the Bathrooms Forum, a tile pro said that it wasn't worth messing with the professional sealer as a homeowner. I can't remember why. He recommended having someone knowledgeable and experienced do it. I'm definetly leaning that way, but I don't have a quote yet.

Hmmm... I asked my counter guy if it was sealed or needed it and he looked at me cross-eyed. 'Course it's sealed' was his implication. I asked about resealing. He said "yeah, every 6-12 months". That was that. No special recommendations.

Not implying my minimal information is accurate, just passing it along.

I would second the suggestion to just call Dupont and ask.

Johnny153 - pretty funny!

Thx all. Aliris19 - for what its worth, the "marble expert" told me that the counters are pre-sealed by the fabricator but that this was a basically a half-ass job meant to be a temporary measure. Whether or not I used him, he strongly recommended sealing it again after installed. No idea if this is correct, but he seemed to know what he was talking about.
Rococogurl, thx for the good advice. I live in the Toronto area so I'll have to try to track down some Akemi here in Canada. Cheers.

Did you ask your fabricator? Ours were sealed with a silicone based sealant at the shop before install and we haven't had any problems with them in the past year it's been in use.

If it is polished, it really doesn't even need to be sealed. Especially the backsplash. But you will want to seal it to keep the grout impenetrable. We had a polished marble bs, didn't seal it and one tiny fat glob got on the grout and leached it's way into the tile, thus staining.

Go to the Cleaning and Restoration forum at JohnBridge.com. They'll recommend a good sealer for you. There are a number of pro's that hang out in there that have restoration business'. There are a few other good sealers out there. One that I believe I heard was good from the the JB forum is Drytreat (or something like that). I'm just outside of Toronto and I've seen it sold locally. Believe it was at a place called Marble Trends on Dundas near Winston Churchill in front of the Costco. Could have been another brand... Anyways, do some research. Doesn't take a pro to apply sealer if you can read and follow directions.

Ditto advertguy's advice. The stone pros on John Bridge's forum are friendly to homeowners, extremely helpful and can give you the real skinny if you ask the same question over there:

Here is a link that might be useful: John Bridge Tile Forum: Sealing section

Good question and one I will be asking very soon as well. I quickly nipped over to the John Bridge Tile Forum and searched some posts. They were mentioning a product called STT SB impregnator sealer- anyone use this? They seem to really like this product.

I hope it's not too late to write here, but woke up this morning very worried, and came across this about sealers.

I just had my marble island countertop installed yesterday and the fabricator sealed it 3 times. Once at the shop and twice at installation, an hour apart. He is from Ecuador and barely speaks English. He used something I've never heard of. I saw the name on it. It said "Adria Protection" it was made in Italy. It doesn't come up in Google, so I'm worried if it's safe for putting food on? I like using natural products and now this has me worried. It had a very strong smell...I had to open every door and window while he applied it.

When I first shopped for Marble everyone I first talked to said "You don't want marble in a kitchen, etc., but when I met this guy and said I wanted marble, he didn't blink an eye, just said he would seal it and that I would never have any problems.

The sealer did slightly change the background color of the marble (maybe like a polish would?), but I'm worried about food safety. I am wishing that I didn't have him seal it. (He said that he wouldn't if I didn't want it.) Do all of the sealers smell strong. Does anyone have an opinion about this for me?

In general the stone can be simply sealed by directions on the bottle, but some pros can "push" a sealer deeper into pores on horizontal surfaces by using orbital buffer. So that maybe the reason for the higher prices.