[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Admired for centuries as the stone of artisans and architects, marble is an excellent choice for your kitchen or bathroom countertops. Whether you’re set on using marble for your counters or you’re still shopping around for stone, read on to learn about how marble is formed, how it can directly benefit your home, and how much work goes into preserving marble countertops so that they last decades into the future.

Before we go into why marble is coveted by home buyers and how it can serve as a practical surface, it’s helpful to have an understanding of exactly where the stone itself comes from. Marble is a metamorphic rock that forms when limestone is subjected to extreme heat and pressure, and can be found all over the globe; primarily composed of calcite, marble often contains impurities that give it its recognizable streaking pattern. Once the stone has been mined, it’s cut into a more manageable slab and polished to a mirror shine, then sealed to protect the newly polished surface. The streaking present in many varieties of marble is due to the combination of other minerals present in the limestone during the metamorphic process; this means that marble can vary greatly from region to region, and is often priced based on this variation.

Not that you have a background in the formation and processing of marble, let’s discuss the practical benefits that it can offer in your home.

• Marble is both distinctive and valuable; a marble countertop makes an immediate impression, and should you sell your home, helps to differentiate the property from other spaces.
• Few other stones offer the same level of brightness that marble brings to the table; a marble countertop brings light to a darker space, and helps to open up a room and make it more inviting.
• Marble is naturally resistant to heat, and is rated to be durable enough for use in the kitchen or the bathroom; a properly sealed marble countertop can last for decades.

At AA Marble & Granite, we’re dedicated to being as transparent with our clients as possible, and post-installation maintenance is no exception; as with any investment that you make in your home, there’s a certain amount of maintenance to be expected when you have marble countertops installed. Luckily, the maintenance that we recommend is infrequent and can usually be performed by the homeowner in-house.

• A properly sealed slab of marble will last much longer than an unsealed slab; all of our stones are sealed before they’re installed in your home, but we recommend that you reseal your marble once a year. The resealing process is quick, easy, and doesn’t require much more than the sealant itself.
• In addition to resealing your counter, we also recommend that you clean up spills and messes on your countertops as soon as possible. Acidic substances in particular will wear away at the sealant and damage the stone beneath.
• If your marble has sustained mild to moderate damage or chipping, call a stone repair specialist; repaired countertops are visually indistinguishable from new stone, and the repair process is much cheaper than investing in new counters.

If you’re in Metro Atlanta and you’re interested in investing in a new set of marble countertops, then AA Marble & Granite is more than happy to help you get started. To request a free quote for your countertop job, call us at (770) 872-4066, email us at info@andrewsassociates.net, or fill out our Quick Contact Form.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]