Cleaning Marble Lemon Juice Stains

by Naomi

Window ledge with lemon juice stains

QUESTION:

Hello, we live in a house with marble or granite window ledges (I have no idea which!). We stupidly made preserves recently involving large jars of lemon juice and salt and sat the jars on the window ledge for several days (not realizing they leaked!)

Now there are large jar shaped white stains on the window ledge. The salt and lemon juices has eaten away the polish and into the stone.

Please can you tell me how we can restore the stone window ledge and it's polish to its former condition?

Thank you!!!
Naomi

ANSWER:

Naomi, Thanks for the picture! That really helps.

The ledge is not granite. It is a very rare granite that will react to acids like marble.

Looks like limestone to me, which is similar to marble in that it is a calcium carbonate based stone that IS reactive to acidic substances.

You have most certainly "etched" the stone... and it looks pretty severe. I'm not surprised that you can feel a depression where the lemon juice ate away the stone.

I'm afraid your only option in this case is to hire a professional stone restorer to come and physically grind down the stone surface until the etch marks are blended in and then re-polish the surface.

Not a do-it-yourself job. Get some recommendations from a local stone warehouse and check references.

Good Luck,
Ryan