Forum
« Looking for space/design planning Atlantic Ave. construction »
September 14, 2007
Marble cleaning
Has anyone successfully cleaned white marble mantles? Mine are unpainted but need to be cleaned and honed down some. Marble refinishers seem a bit expensive. Any suggestions. Thanks
Comments
It is possible to clean them yourself. I would avoid using a marble refinisher -- they tend to polish them too much, and with the result looking too glossy and new.
The question is, what's on your marble, and what will it take to remove it? Chemical strippers don't work -- they'll just dissolve whatever's there, and then it will soak into the marble. (Contrary to what you might think, marble is actually a soft stone, and is quite porous.)
For ours, which had various paint splotches and dirt, but were otherwise OK, I used a stiff 2" scraper to scrape off the little bits of paint (taking care not to gouge the marble), followed up with progressively finer grades of Scotch-Brite pads, followed up with finer grades of steel wool. For one mantle that I did the most work on I finished it with a couple of coats of Butcher's wax -- nice dull sheen, not too glossy.
If you let us know what's on your mantles, I might be able to offer more specific suggestions.
Posted by: guest at September 16, 2007 6:41 PM
My marble is not painted but deeply stained by ink? dirt? etc. I like that it is aged , I would just like to clean up some. Thanks for your help.
Posted by: guest at September 17, 2007 9:07 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.