Cleaning marble sink
We have one of our original sinkrooms, and the marble sink and counter are very darkly stained in places. I know my chances are slim, but does anyone have recommendations for removing 100 year old stains out of marble? Thanks so much!
nvdeowqycge
in General Discussion 3 years and 1 month ago
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19 replies
martinsny34 | 3 years ago
Try Oxyclean. I’ve used this to clean the deep-rooted stain of my marble floor and got satisfactory results. Use liquid Oxyclean and spray a coating on the entire surface. Please Turn on the exhaust fan and close the door to the room. Make sure on no else, especially pets or children. Oxyclean is concentrated Hydrogen Peroxide. Use waterproof disposable (vinyl) gloves when spraying and during clean-up.
Let it be an hour, then rinse away. I hope you will get good results.
BKALLDAY | 3 years and 1 month ago
Be careful with using Muriatic Acid. It can thin old stone out and then if you drop something on it, it may chip. However a 2-1 combo is killer at cleaning sidewalks if you are power washing. Good luck.
CHM | 3 years and 1 month ago
I’ve been able to lift stains off my marble mantle by making a poultice. Mix water and baking soda until you get a thick paste. Apply a thick layer to the stain. cover it with plastic and put blue tape all around so that the poultice doesn’t dry out. I kept my poultice on for a little over a day and it pulled out most of the stain. I’m going to try another round.
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago
The ph of that 1/10 solution must be less than the ph of urine. Why not just pee on the marble?
JohnHancock | 3 years and 1 month ago
Me 🙂
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago
Who uses glives with a 1/10 solution of muriatic acid?
JohnHancock | 3 years and 1 month ago
Actually Bob, to your point, I HAVE used muriatic acid on entry way tiles and the marble threshold with good results.
BUT started with a diluted solution, start with 1/10 ratio and don’t let it sit too long at first and see what it does. You can use a 3M pad and good gloves.
JohnHancock | 3 years and 1 month ago
Oxalic acid! NOT muriatic acid!
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 3 years and 1 month ago
There have been suggestions for muriatic acid, but I was under the impression that acid should not be used on marble.
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago
And to susan’s point, people hand compound cars. Its work. Polishing stone is very similar to compounding a car. Any one of these products, marble polish, cerium oxide, oxalic acid mixed with cerium might work the way susan decribes. Usually people with a lot of tools around skip this route because the elbow grease is too much for us.
Hand working this the way susan is saying is so much safer. If anyone wants to diy with machines, consider how much sanding experience you have on wood and then practice polishing a door saddle.
Also, are the stains in the sink or on a flat surface around it?
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago
to simpkins point, with porous stone like marble, those stains may go down deep. if they are superficial, a polishing compound might take them out, but if they run to 1/128″ or even less, that will be too much. heavier stuff will be needed. how deep does one want to go and how deep can the go before the ruin the product?
to what jeremy says, diyers can give this a go but if they do so without going in big they might be tempted try this with a drill and perhaps a felt wheel that spins like a tire. a wheel like that will create an uneven job. MOST fine sanding and fine polishing is done using the face of a wheel that spins like a frisbee, covering a large area to create an even surface. so long as one has an angle grinder, going in big is easy with these inexpensive polishing kits they sell on amazon.
to the diyers out there. this is how it starts: a customer had a metal apartment door rubbing on a marble saddle. i knew nothing about taking stone down and sanded that off using woodworking product. that was 12 years ago. a couple of years later, more of the same with harder stone and i bought a proper diamond stone wheel. some years later, i knew i could get through that and someone wanted one polished. so i read a little and bought the polishing equipment – on amazon probably for like $29.00. it works on the angle grinder. now i have my great grandfather’s grave stone in my yard and had to take it down pretty far to remove the damage from the acid rain – so far that i had to recut the letters. with a few smaller jobs where quality was less of a concern (door saddles), i moved to a gravestone. My point is, anyone on here can do this stuff.
i am not marketing myself for this job or others like it.
Jasperrose11 | 3 years and 1 month ago
You may have already done this, but if not I would do an initial cleaning yourself if you can to see how much general dirt you are dealing with and how large and dark the stains truly are. A bit of regular Ivory dish soap in warm water (not too soapy) and a soft cloth works wonders – I’ve used this in a co-op lobby and it was amazing how many stains turned out to be layered dirt that some elbow grease and a bit of gentle soap removed. I’ve also used a conservation smoke sponge to get rid of grime – it is a dry cleaning sponge so no water or anything else required. There are different kinds depending on the type of surface you are dealing with – TALAS on Morgan Ave carries them. If nothing else it will at least help you determine how significant the remaining stains are.
asaph718936 | 3 years and 1 month ago
These things tend to be finicky. I had a professional company clean marble in my apartment and they told me its a trial no matter what. Nobody is 100% sure what is going to work best based on several factors specific to each location
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago
I just checked, there are all sorts of marble polishing compounds on line. My thought is, for someone who may not have access to an angle grinder but might have a drill, there are all sorts of polishing wheels made of felt. I am not sure how aggressive or fine these are and putting them under a hard felt wheel that spins like a tire might leave tracks on the surface. Most ploishing wheels for large surfaces spin flat like a frisbee and the polishing is done on the face of it, like a sander, so less likely to dig in.
Anybody who has used a polishing machine to compound a car would have a good sense of what is going on here. Same process using similar fine polishing particles. I was going to suggest white automotive compound.
nvdeowqycge | 3 years and 1 month ago
All very helpful suggestions, thank you!!
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago
I wonder how the oxalic acid would work under a polishing wheel?
Guest User | 3 years and 1 month ago
I hired a GC to refinish a dark stained marble island. I wish they wouldn’t have sealed the only-slightly-less-dark-stain in after the $1k to $2k price tag. My super’s trick of dishwashing liquid and baking soda paste left overnight probably would have done a better job at a fraction of the price. Maybe start with one of these DIY type solutions before buying in big for less than exceptional results. These guys had too big of a minimum price for me to try them on a small bathroom job but I’m keeping their info around in case needed in future for something like this: https://www.sirgroutny.com/contact/
JohnHancock | 3 years and 1 month ago
You can try oxalic acid marble polish
andriywww1990 | 3 years and 1 month ago
I am wondering how deep they go and how deep you want to go. Only because i have polished old marble saddles in doorways do i know that yes, marble can be sanded like wood or plastic or metal and it can also be sanded fine and then polished out. Amazon has polishing kits that go on angle grinders. Start sort of fine, maybe 320 and see how it goes. Move a little heavier or finer if 320 does the trick. Polishing it down to 1000 or finer will make it look new. Water helps keep the dust down and on the finer grits brings out a finer polish.
I am not a trained stone person. I only picked this up in the last 10 or so years.