Marble Damage from Wrong Cleaning Products
- Home Case Studies Marble Damage from Wrong Cleaning Products
Client used a cleaner that seeped into the stone edges making them dark. It actually etched the stone which then needed grinding to remove.
See the darkened edges where the chemical seeps into the stone discoloring it, this is classic etch damage along the grout lines.
Although a popular cleaner cleans well it may damage stone because of acidic content.
Six hours later of grinding merely about 200 sf the etching is removed.
Once the cleaner sits in the grout lines it seeps into the marble edges making unsightly marks.
Here is the overall picture where the cleaner solution soaked & etched the marble.
After hours and hours the marble etching is ground off and the stone is brilliant again!
All the ugly etch marks are gone and the floor is polished and brilliant again.
- Location: Jackson, NJ
- Problems addressed: Etch marks on marble tiles created from acidic cleaners; delipped uneven edges somewhat between tiles; restored shine to marble
Marble Damage from Wrong Cleaning Products| Jackson, NJ
Damage Caused by Improper Cleaning Product Repaired
Thinking it works well on his porcelain kitchen floor, this owner-contractor decided to use his favorite “go-to” cleaner to clean the grout lines on his marble floor too! MISTAKE!
Don’t do it! I can’t tell you how many times people get into trouble with their marble and stone surfaces when they mistakenly use acid cleaners to clean their floors and grout. This situation is no different.
Unfortunately, he called in a panic after using the cleaner etched his marble.
Although cleaning the grout it actually seeped into and etched the stone tiles along the edges. When this happens you see a dissimilar darkening that looks bad and sticks out like a sore thumb!
The Home Situation
This homeowner and loving breeder of Rottweilers has 8 of them living in the home. Beside breeding and showing them they also have movie and tv credits that are impressive . And while it was fun to help this owner, we had to maneuver very carefully, being escorted in and assisted while not getting attacked along the way. Only thing separating them was a small baby gate and 2 chairs (pictured left).
The Problem
The dogs lovingly have the run of the house. This means they commonly can be found laying comfortably on the marble balcony area. The marble, a cool spot overlooking the family room atop the stairs is just the right spot!
The trouble is the oil from their coats discolors the grout lines between the marble tiles.
So our client, not shying away from a cleaning project took it upon himself to try and clean the grout joints. He has a favorite cleaning product he loves because it works great on many things. But, he didn’t realize the high acidity of it would burn, or etch (if you will) the marble tiles. Although he was cleaning the grout lines the solution infected the marble tiles when he applied it.
Commonly these things will cause the etching:
- Vinegar
- Highly acidic common household cleaners
The Work
The client, admitting his mistake knew he needed professional stone restoration to correct the problem. After conversations back and forth we were hired to do the job. We described what would need to be done, as follows:
- Determine the depth of the etching (or penetration of the damage if you will)
- De-lip the uneven edges between tiles as needed
- Diamond grind and rinse between grit passes of resins and or diamond encrusted pads
- Rinsing of the stone surface between each grit pass
- Polish with a lux pad
Now as we got started Chris tested for the appropriate grit that would ‘get below” the etch mark. Etching is removal of the polished area that looks kind’a like a burn or scar. Another way described, it had to be wet sanded removing the damaged layer entirely to fix it. Working pads in a rough to fine sequence this is not a do it yourself job. Then after removing the damaged layer he could rinse and polish the stone back to a brilliant shine.
Along with removing the etch marks he also had to “de-lip” the uneven edges from tile to tile.
With his schedule of sanding (grit pads) and grinding, Chris also was forced to use the right pads to de-lip. De-lipping is a grinding down from edge to edge to remove uneven highs and lows between one tile to the next. First off, this can be a major trip and fall hazard, but this was fairly minor.
However, if there is a height difference between the tiles our machines will skip and bounce across the surface unevenly. And that was the case during this job. It makes it harder to control the machines, and more taxing on the person using them.
After a long hard vibration slog of a day’s hard work of grinding, he got the floor under control. Then he repolished the marble back to its brilliance minus the etch marks!
The results
The etching is corrected and the marble looks brilliant and polished again. The grout joints look clean and crisp as they should. No more ‘gobbily goop’ along the edges that looked wonky! So overall the floor is back in shape.
All but a couple of spots in the corner were corrected. The lingering problem area is where the solution followed the grout joint against the wall. The solution was left on to soak in and damage that area too. But our machine, a heavy weighted floor buffer will not fit smack up against the wall, so that is something they will probably have to live with.
All in all the floor was rescued. The client is happy. And he now intends to us every six months to clean his grout, clean, seal and polish his marble.
