Cleaning Brownstone Suggestions
So after spending A FORTUNE redoing our front stoop, I dropped a bottle of oil which smashed everywhere and seeped into the new brownstone stairs. it looks awful, and scrubbing with soapy water did nothing. any ideas?
So after spending A FORTUNE redoing our front stoop, I dropped a bottle of oil which smashed everywhere and seeped into the new brownstone stairs. it looks awful, and scrubbing with soapy water did nothing. any ideas?
thanks for the great recommendations – will try a few this week and let you all know what happens. biggest issue is that it happened the day before we all got iced in earlier in the year, and so we are only able to get to it now. and the oil spread all over about 7 steps, so its just a mess. good times…
The question is:
Can you clean the Oil stain without ruin the Brownstone?
Is it smarter to have the mason who refinished your stoop redo that one step?
I guess I would have the damaged step redone.
Poultice Plus Powder
Get some Barkeepers Friend, mix in some water, let it sit on the stains for a bit (instructions are on the can), scrub it with a brush, and hose off. You may need to do this a few times.
Oil Dri and some of the other suggestions are basically poultices, and as the tinker says, that is what you want to get a stain out of a porous stone. You need to get the oil out of the stone, and water and detergent won’t do that (might work on slate, per stonergut, but not likely on brownstone/cast stone). Follow the directions, but generally you want to put the poultice body on the stain and let it dry. That is what draws the stains out.
I am not sure how deep these cleaners will go in getting the oil out. A poultice would work better. A poultice is placed on the stain and allowed to sit over night. It will pull the stain out, particularly oil based stains. I think HD carries a product like this.
(I cannot tell you much more as I have never used one. Some years ago we had to clean some grease off limestone and we hired a contractor and that is exactly what they put on the stone).
Steve
I’ll come scrub it out, as long as I get free access to stoop sitting whenever I want.
I’ve used Dawn and extremely hot water on sidewalk slate with pretty good results. Didn’t get rid of it 100 percent, but after time the mark was gone.
Oil Dri and other brands