Natural stone cleaning and sealing in Troon and far north Scottsdale

Pinnacle Peak north, Troon Village and Desert Mountain · built 1980s onward

The deck takes more abuse than the house

Properties up here are designed around being outside, and the travertine or flagstone around the pool is working harder than any interior floor in the building.

Four things act on it simultaneously. Chlorine from splash-out. Constant wet and dry cycling, which drives mineral into the surface as water evaporates. Calcium from that same evaporation, building in layers. And full sun, with nothing shading any of it.

Interior stone has a roof over it and a sealer that lasts. A pool deck has neither unless somebody puts one there, which is why sealing does more outside than it does inside. Full page on decks.

Faded travertine comes back further than people expect

The most satisfying result we get, and it happens most often out here.

A travertine deck that has been in full Scottsdale sun for a decade goes pale and chalky. Owners assume it is permanently bleached and that replacement is the only option.

Frequently it is not. A good deal of that pallor is mineral and soil in the surface rather than lost color, and cleaning takes it out. Add color enhancing sealer at $3.40/sqft after the discount and a faded deck can come back close to how it looked new.

We will tell you honestly which yours is. Genuine UV bleaching does exist and no sealer reverses that, but it is less common than people fear.

Seasonal properties and timing

Plenty of homes up here sit closed for part of the year, and that changes when rather than whether.

The best window is autumn, once monsoon season has finished and before the season starts. Everything the storms were going to deposit on your deck has been deposited, and you are heading into the months you will actually use the space.

Sealing also needs cure time before heavy traffic, which is easier to give it when nobody is in the house. We tell you the recommended wait based on the product used, and on a seasonal property that is rarely an inconvenience.

We can work with a property manager or caretaker on access and timing if you are out of state.

pH-neutral products, and no acid on stone ever

The single most important thing on this site, and the reason a stone floor needs a different company from a tile floor.

Acid etches marble, travertine and limestone on contact. Not over time, not with repeated exposure. On contact. It dissolves the calcium carbonate the stone is made of, and what you are left with is a dull patch where the surface used to be.

That damage does not undo. Cleaning will not lift it, sealer will not hide it, and the only route back is honing and polishing with diamond pads, which is refinishing work.

We use pH-neutral, stone-safe products. There is no version of this job where an acidic cleaner touches your floor.

It is worth asking anybody you get a quote from what they use, and treating vagueness as an answer. A great deal of the etching we find on Scottsdale stone was put there by somebody who cleaned it.

What cleaning and sealing cannot fix

Being straight about this up front matters more on stone than on anything else, because the damage is permanent and expensive.

Etching is the dull spot where something acidic ate into the surface. Wine, citrus, vinegar, and a great many store-bought cleaners all cause it. It is damage to the stone rather than a stain sitting on it, so cleaning does not lift it and sealer does not conceal it.

Scratches and worn finish in traffic lanes are the same category. The surface itself has changed.

Fixing either means honing and polishing with diamond pads, which is refinishing work and not something we offer. We clean and seal. When what your floor actually needs is a refinisher, we will tell you that instead of taking the job. Full explanation here.

How we do it

1. Identify the stone and check the existing sealer. Travertine, marble, limestone and slate all behave differently, and the product that suits one can damage another. We also establish whether there is a sealer on there already and what condition it is in.
2. Clean with solutions matched to that stone. pH-neutral throughout, lifting embedded soil and mineral out of both the stone and the grout without touching the surface itself.
3. Seal, if you have chosen to. Clear to protect what is there, or color enhancing to deepen the natural color, plus grout color seal on the lines if you want that.
4. Walk it together. We look at the finished floor with you before anything gets loaded out.

Cleaning always comes first. Sealing over soil traps it under the coating rather than protecting anything, which is exactly why these are priced as tiers rather than sealing offered on its own.

How often to reseal

Reseal every one to two years depending on the sealer and how much traffic the area takes.

There is a test that settles it without anybody's opinion. Put a few drops of water on the stone and wait five minutes. If it beads and sits there, the seal is working. If it soaks in and darkens the stone, the seal has worn through and the stone is absorbing everything else too.

Unsealed stone in this climate is the thing to avoid. Hard water leaves mineral that bonds into a porous surface, desert dust settles into it, and both get harder to remove the longer they sit.

Questions from Troon and far north Scottsdale

Elsewhere in Scottsdale

DC Ranch and Silverleaf · McCormick Ranch and Gainey Ranch · Old Town Scottsdale · Grayhawk and Kierland · South Scottsdale