Are you ready for a quick overview?
You spread sealer on top of the stone, let it soak in and wait for a specified period of time and wipe away the excess, then buff the countertop clean.
Now for a more detailed version.
Selecting a sealer is not too hard. The Home Depot and Lowes home center near you sell it in the tile section of the store, as do most granite shops and tile stores. The available products fall into two categories, water based and solvent based.
For the average homeowner looking to re-seal an existing and previously sealed counter the water based sealer is going to be easy and safe to apply. If you looking installing countertops to seal a stone for the first time the solvent based products that I have tested perform better than the water based sealers. That is just my opinion.
Either way, protective gloves are recommended and in the case of solvent based sealers, adequate ventilation and awareness of open flames (Stoves especially) should be considered.
Shake well and spread a film on the surface following the manufacturer’s directions. For most of the available sealers using a gloved hand, or paint brush to spread the liquid is ideal. This is better than using a paper towel. The paper towel will soak up the active ingredient that actually does the sealing and defeat the purpose of applying sealer to the stone.
Dwell time is critical. You want to allow the sealer to penetrate into the pores of the stone and allow gravity to settle the active ingredient into the pores before you wipe away the liquid or “carrier”.
Dupont’s StoneTech makes a great product called Bullet Proof. It is water based and has very easy to follow directions as well as a great website to refer to.