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Make cultured marble shine again, Micalline invented cultured marble and perfected cultured marble showers, baths, and vanities. With over 50 years of experience in the production and installation of cultured marble and over 20 years of experience in the fabrication and installation of granite, marble, quartz, and other solid surfaces, we are ready to help you realize your dreams. Let’s renew a Scratched Countertop. INTRODUCTION Renew your bathroom vanity. Make a scratched, dull-looking cultured marble top look shiny again with an auto polisher and special cleaners and polish—and save the cost of replacement. TOOLS REQUIRED Buffer/polisher MATERIALS REQUIRED Cultured marble polish Medium-cut cleaner Sandpaper POLISHING CULTURED MARBLE I was disappointed by how quickly my cultured marble countertop lost its shine, so one day I took out my auto polisher and went at it. What a difference. Cultured tops are made of polyester resin with a clear topcoat (called the gel coat). This is the same material that’s used with fiberglass, and it buffs out beautifully. Removing the faucet makes it easier to buff the top. PROJECT STEP-BY-STEP (3) First, wet-sand with 1,000-grit paper (available at auto parts stores) to remove small, shallow scratches and surface stains. Don’t try to remove deep scratches or deep stains. You’ll risk sanding right through the gel coat. Rinse and dry the top. BUFFING Next, buff with Micalline or similar polishing compound (also available at auto parts stores). Cover the walls and floor before buffing. The buffing can be done by hand, but a small power buffer is much easier. PROTECT NEW FINISH Finally, protect the restored finish with a coat of cultured marble polish (available at home centers and bath specialty stores). Follow the label directions. You may think some home repairs are out of your league, but even beginner DIYers can handle many of these fixes—and save a lot of money in the process! Disclosure: This post is brought to you by The Micalline, who aims to highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether a product is featured or recommended. We welcome your feedback. Have something you think we should know about? Contact us, here.

Feb 28 (Reuters – By Deena Beasley) As a new coronavirus spreads quickly around the world, U.S. health officials say they are “aggressively” assessing how long it can survive on surfaces to better understand the risk of transmission. Based on what is known about similar coronaviruses, disease experts say the new outbreak of the virus, named COVID-19, is mainly spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing. Contact with fecal matter from an infected person may also transmit the virus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it may be possible for a person to become infected by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes. An analysis of 22 earlier studies of similar coronaviruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) published online this month in the Journal of Hospital Infection, concluded that human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces for up to nine days at room temperature. However, they can quickly be rendered inactive using common disinfectants, and may also dissipate at higher temperatures, the authors wrote. It is not yet clear, however, whether the new coronavirus behaves in a similar way. “On copper and steel, it’s pretty typical, it’s pretty much about two hours,” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, referring to how long the new coronavirus may be active on those types of materials. “But I will say on other surfaces – cardboard or plastic – it’s longer, and so we are looking at this.” The agency said there is likely a very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures. A CDC spokeswoman, in an emailed statement, said the agency is still looking into how contagious the virus can be when deposited on more common, everyday surfaces. The Food and Drug Administration this week said it has no evidence that COVID-19 has been transmitted from imported goods, but the situation remains “dynamic” and the agency said it will assess and update guidance as needed. “The important big take-home message is that this is probably a small proportion of the transmission of respiratory viruses,” said Dr. Timothy Brewer, professor of epidemiology and medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Out in the community, these viruses are probably not surviving for a long time on surfaces.” Brewer explained that such viruses tend to survive the longest in low-temperature, low-humidity environments, “that is why you see lots of respiratory viruses during the winter.” (Reporting by Deena Beasley Editing by Leslie Adler)