Refinishing soapstone counters

3 years ago

Long story short-the guy who did the PA soapstone counter install for our kitchen remodel did not finish them correctly and has stopped responding to us. We have tried living with them for about 6 months now but decided we want to get them refinished correctly (they show water marks and are just too shiny…and I just want them to look like soapstone not granite). However, no one local will touch them (for several reasons). I got in touch with a national company (M. Teixeira) who was super nice and gave us a quote to come out and fix them…but they are 3 hours away so the quote was $2400. Soooo…does anyone know of a company in the western MA area who might be willing to do this?

Featured Answer

s m

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

J Bank, below is a post that I wrote 6 months ago when I refinished my soapstone:

I have been dealing with very shiny soapstone too. After reading through some old threads I ordered a Diamond hand polishing pad (grit 120) from amazon and have been hand sanding my counters.

Original finish, extremely smooth and shiny. Only mineral oil had been used on them:

After sanding:

After applying enhancing sealant (I know that this is controversial but I did some tests and decided that it didn't hurt to try it for a while since I know that I can sand it off if I do not like it. The mineral oil and waxes that I tried took too many applications and care for my preference and leaving it light was a mess, grease marks were a beast. The sealant did not make them shiny.)

The hand sanding did work my arm a bit but it really was not too difficult, even with this soapstone being one of the harder varieties. I would suggest using a spray bottle of water to wet the area before you sand as it keeps the dust down. Diamond sanding pads are able to sand wet. I also tried an orbital sander but only bought silicon carbide wet/dry sanding pads and they don't work great, they really need to be diamond.

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Comments (9)

User
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Get out your dual action sander with a dust attachment and go to town. It really is pretty easily DIYed. It just takes time and tools.
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darbuka
3 years ago
You might want to contact Vermont Soapstone, as they might be closer to you. Terrific company. In business for decades, and they travel. At the very least, they may be able to suggest someone nearby, who can help.
blueskysunnyday
3 years ago
We DIY’d it, but they were not brand new. Not sure I would have felt comfortable if they had been new.
just_janni
3 years ago
s m - that's some great work and your counters are stunning.
J Bank
Original Author
3 years ago
Darbuka-I did contact them but they said they don’t work with PA because it’s not soapstone (according to them it’s a serpentine). :(
J Bank
Original Author
3 years ago
s m -your counters look amazing! I actually ordered diamond sanding pads after reading your post months ago but haven’t tried it yet-the mess has been holding me back.
s m
3 years ago
The potential mess held me back from doing it too but after I watched a video of a small scratch repair where the guy used water when he sanded I decided to try wet sanding. the process involves alot of ongoing cleaning of the water and stone residue but it prevents dust from forming and spreading.
Nancy C
2 years ago
Not sure if you’ve found someone
By now but perhaps garden state soapstone? They are in NJ.