Stone Technologies Inc review and comparison to Foundation Armor. The products being compared: Stone Technologies Inc. Concrete Sealer X-1 (and the Stone Technolgies Concrete Sealer X-2) to the Foundation Armor concrete sealer (one, professional-grade sealer).
Case # 1: Customer Service
I don’t know how large Stone Technolgies Inc is, and I don’t know how many people they employ. I don’t even know who they employ. I can say we have had a lot of our customers call us frustrated with how their conversation just went with Stone Technolgies Inc – but we can’t complain because those types of experience are good for our business. I can tell you how different we are. Our hours of operation are 8AM -5PM EST. The owners of our company however realize that customers usually have jobs so when they apply sealers or repair cracks, they do it outside of our hours. Our owners forward all inbound calls to their personal cell phones and since they have been in operation, have picked up every call – from 5 AM to 11 PM. Sounds crazy right? We thought so too but our owners believe that true customer service means being there for your customers – when they need you. If you are curious about the type of customer service you will get with Stone Technolgies Inc and the type of customer service you will get with Foundation Armor – just call the two companies.
Case # 2: Concrete Sealer
On paper, the Foundation Armor concrete sealer and the Stone Technolgies Inc concrete sealer appear pretty similiar – but when you look a little deeper, there are two very large differences. First, the Stone Technolgies Inc Concrete Sealer is made up of 20% sodium silicate (with an unknown percentage of “proprietary blend”, and 80% water. The first thing you should notice is you are paying for 80% water – the same water that comes out of a tap. Not only are you paying for the water in the sealer, you are paying to have the water shipped to you. Another thing I like about Stone Technolgies Inc is the “proprietary blend” part. It is false – made up for marketing purposes. That’s like saying my wife’s muffins are proprietary because she buys blueberries from a local market when our neighbor buys her blueberries from a supermarket. Also, if the proprietary ingredient was a chemical, they would have to state what that chemical was for shipping, transportation, and health reasons. Now, I don’t want to make any conclusions but if the MSDS sheet doesn’t mention any additional precautions, the “proprietary blend” is more than likely water or something harmless that hasn’t actually been proprietary. I’m over analytical about everything so that was of course just my thought – but I will let you come to your own conclusions. Foundation Armor is a little more simple, we provide you with 100% sodium silicate in concentrated form. You add your own water. I guess that makes us proprietary too right? Afterall, we are the only company who sells it in concentrated form.
The second largest difference is Foundation Armor requires you to add 3 parts warm-hot water. The warm-hot water opens up the capillaries in the concrete which allow for an up to 4-6″ penetration. Without the warm water, you can’t penetrate that deep into concrete – no matter what you are using. Stone Technolgies Inc sells you a pre-mixed solution which is made up of 80%+ water. You can’t warm up the Stone Technolgies Inc solution because that is just dangerous. The amount of penetration you get depends on how porous the concrete is – the Stone Technolgies Inc sealer literally has to drip down into the concrete. Now this is fine for a floor – you might get a 1-3″ penetration if you apply multiple heavy coats, but if you try to seal a vertical wall you might be lucky to get a 1″ penetration. Again, their “proprietary blend” doesn’t allow for a deeper penetration. Concrete has been around for a very long time and technicians and chemists have carefully studied concrete. The only way to make concrete absorb more liquids than it could naturally is to open up the capillaries. The only way to open up the capillaries is to use warm water. For that reason, I can proudly state that with Foundation Armor, you get the deepest penetrating sealer on the market.
