Sealing guide · Perth
Do I need to seal a stone benchtop?
It depends on the stone. Porous stone like granite, and cast concrete, genuinely benefit from sealing. Engineered quartz usually does not. And marble will always etch from acid no matter what you put on it. So the useful answer is not yes or no, it is: which of those is your benchtop?
The short answer
Sealing is only worth it on stone that soaks things up.
A sealer earns its keep by keeping oil, coffee and wine from soaking into a porous surface. So the whole question comes down to one thing: how thirsty is your stone. Most benchtops fall into one of four camps, and once you know which one yours is in, the answer is obvious.
Seal it · clear win
Porous natural stone
Granite, quartzite and natural stone with an open surface will drink oil, coffee and red wine straight into the face, where they set into a ring you cannot wipe off. This is exactly what a seal is for. It is also our sweet spot: the coating anchors into the mineral and pore structure and sheds oil and water off the top.
Seal it · clear win
Cast concrete
A concrete benchtop is genuinely thirsty and one of the best fits we get. Raw or under-sealed concrete pulls in oil and wine and marks fast around the sink and the coffee machine. Sealing keeps the face open to nothing, so spills sit on top and lift in cleaning instead of soaking in.
Usually skip it
Engineered quartz
The reconstituted quartz benchtops are crushed quartz bound in resin, so they are close to non-porous. There is little pore structure for a sealer to grip, and the resin is not the mineral surface our chemistry is built for. For most quartz tops there is nothing worthwhile to seal, and we will say so rather than sell you something.
Seal for stains, not etch
Marble and other soft carbonate
Marble is porous, so a seal does slow staining and is worth doing for that. But no sealer stops marble etching, because acid attacks the carbonate in the stone whether it is sealed or not. Seal it for stain resistance, then treat the etching honestly with a board and coasters.
Not sure which one you have? Do the water test below. It takes two minutes and settles the question for good.
Test it yourself
The two-minute water test.
Forget the sample brochure. The only thing that matters is whether your actual benchtop drinks water, because if it drinks water it drinks oil and wine too. Here is the test a stonemason would use.
Pick a hidden spot
Choose an out-of-the-way corner or the underside of an overhang, so if the result is dramatic it is not on show. Make sure the surface is clean and dry first.
Put down a few drops of water and wait
Drip a small puddle of water onto the spot and leave it for three to five minutes. That is long enough for a porous surface to start pulling it in.
Read the result
If the water soaks in and leaves a dark patch that slowly fades as it dries, your benchtop is porous and open. It will absorb oil and wine, and it will benefit from sealing. If the water beads and just sits there, the stone is dense or already sealed, and it does not need doing right now.
A quick note on the wine test. If you want to be thorough, try the same thing with a drop of lemon juice on a truly hidden spot. If it leaves a dull mark after a few minutes, you have a carbonate stone that etches, most likely marble. That does not mean skip sealing, it means seal for staining and accept that acid needs care no coating can remove.
Why sealing works on some stone and not others
A seal has to have somewhere to bond.
The reason the answer changes with the stone comes down to what the surface is made of. A mineral, porous surface gives a coating something to anchor into. A dense resin surface does not. That single fact sorts every benchtop into the camps above.
On porous stone, there is a surface to bond into
On granite, quartzite and concrete, our MineralProtect coating anchors into the mineral and pore structure and cures as a thin inorganic network right at the surface. Oil and water then sit on top and lift in cleaning instead of soaking in. This is why sealing a thirsty stone works so well.
On dense resin, there is nothing worth sealing
Engineered quartz is close to non-porous and bound in resin, so almost nothing soaks in to begin with and there is little for a mineral coating to grip. Sealing it would be selling you a solution to a problem you do not have.
Sealing changes staining, not the stone's chemistry
A seal controls what soaks in. It does not change how the stone reacts to acid. That is why marble still etches even when it is sealed: the acid attacks the carbonate directly. The full picture is in our chemistry explainer.
Want the science under all this? Read how stone and sealer chemistry actually work, and what surface resistance really means.
What to do next
Find your benchtop, then decide.
Once you know which camp you are in, here is the honest next step for each. If you are still not sure what your benchtop is made of, the quote is the place to get it identified and told straight.
If it is porous stone or concrete
Sealing is worth it and this is our sweet spot. We prepare the surface, apply a colourless mineral coating that bonds into it, and register it under a 10-year guarantee. Oil, coffee and wine then sit on top and lift in cleaning.
If it is engineered quartz
Most likely you do not need us. Keep to gentle cleaning and skip the sealer. If you have a specific concern about your top, ask and we will assess it and tell you straight rather than book work you do not need.
The honest bit
What sealing a benchtop cannot do.
Sealing a thirsty stone benchtop is one of the clearest wins we do, but a good sealer is honest about the edges of it. Here is what it will not do, on any stone.
It will not stop acid etching stone
Lemon, vinegar, wine and harsh cleaners are acidic, and on carbonate stone like marble the acid attacks the stone itself and leaves a dull mark, sealed or not. What the seal does is slow how fast a spill soaks in, so you get time to wipe it. Glass is the one surface where a coating genuinely protects against etching.
It is not a chopping board or a hot pad
It is a thin protective coating, not armour. Use a board and a trivet. It will not stop a knife scoring the stone or a very hot pan marking it. What it does beat is a topical film or wax, which scratches and dulls far more easily.
It is not permanent or maintenance-free
It is a long-lasting treatment, not a forever fix. The beading you can see fades before the protection does, so a top that has stopped beading is a prompt to check it, not proof it has failed. It lasts years and tops up without stripping, and every seal is registered under a 10-year guarantee.
Benchtops, answered
The questions we actually get.
Does engineered quartz need sealing?
Usually not. Engineered quartz, the reconstituted quartz benchtops, is crushed quartz bound in resin, so it is close to non-porous and a sealer has little pore structure to anchor into. It also is not our chemistry, since it is a resin surface rather than a mineral one. For most quartz benchtops there is nothing worthwhile for us to seal, and we will tell you that rather than sell you something you do not need.
Will sealing stop my marble benchtop etching?
No, and no sealer on the market does. Etching on marble is acid, from lemon, vinegar, wine or a harsh cleaner, chemically attacking the carbonate in the stone, and that reaction happens whether the stone is sealed or not. What a seal genuinely helps with on marble is staining: it slows how fast oil, coffee and wine soak in, so you get a window to wipe a spill before it marks. So a seal on a marble benchtop is worth it for stains, but treat the etching honestly and use a board and coasters. Glass is the only surface where a coating actually prevents etching.
How do I know if my benchtop is already sealed?
Do the water test on a hidden corner. Put a few drops of water on the surface and leave them for a few minutes. If the water beads and sits on top, the stone is dense or already sealed and does not need doing right now. If it soaks in and leaves a dark patch that fades as it dries, the surface is porous and open, which means it will drink oil and wine too, and it will benefit from sealing.
Does sealing change the colour or finish of a stone benchtop?
Our coating is colourless and non-pigmenting, so a honed or natural benchtop keeps the same colour, finish and feel. The only thing that changes is that water and oil stop gripping the surface. If you want that darker, wet-look finish some people like on stone, that comes from a topical enhancer film, which is a different product with different trade-offs, and we will be straight about which one you actually want.
Is a stone benchtop food-safe once sealed?
Our coating cures to a colourless, inorganic surface with nothing sitting on top of the stone. For a food-prep benchtop we confirm the right product and let it fully cure before you use the bench. If you want the specific documentation that applies to the product we would use on your benchtop, ask us and we will provide it.
Keep reading
Related reading.
If you are weighing up sealing your benchtop, these settle the questions that usually come next.
Not sure what your benchtop is made of? Browse every surface in The Sealing Library, honestly graded by how well we protect it, or ask us for a straight assessment.
Get a quote
Not sure? We will tell you straight.
Send us your benchtop and we will tell you whether it is worth sealing, and if it is, seal it with the right coating and register it under a 10-year guarantee. Confirmed price before you book.