My son is having a new wood burning stove in his lounge and chose some
sandstone as the new hearth. This more or less matches some stonework in
the garden, so it looks like a good choice.

It is in smooth sheets , which have been fitted and some slight bows
sanded out to give a smooth surface at the joins. As delivered the
sandstone had one or two small surface marks and a couple of small
blackish discolourations. Sanding with very fine wet and dry appeared to
remove these.

The first coat of sealant, which I believe is "Thompson's Sandstone
Seal" has been applied. When wet the sandstone was a lovely deeper
orange-red, but has dried patchily, and the small black areas are
showing and also a small 1" -ish place where the sealer has drawn a
white discolouration to the surface.

He also has an unopened tin of "Lithofin MN Stain Stop", which says on
the tin that it is "invisible".

Are there any suggestions for the best coating to apply to seal the
stone and make the deeper redder colour permanent? Also, he will sand
away the white (presumably salts that the sealer has brought to the
surface) and black patches, but we would prefer any further coating not
to draw


























out any more salts or whatever.

--
Bill