Dark Stain on Marble Countertop
marble stain
QUESTION:My kitchen countertops are honed "Michael angelo" marble (white with grey and taupe markings) and about a year ago a dark stain appeared by the sink. It happened pretty suddenly - thinking something my cleaning lady or a friend spilled (I was out of town for a week). But don't know what it was. It has darkened a bit with time and even seems that it may be spreading. It looks as if it goes all the way through the marble (3/4" thick), can see the edge near the sink. Have read on your site and others about using bleach or peroxide, which I was going to try, but thought I would contact you first for any other insights. Would appreciate it!ANSWER:Using bleach or hydrogen peroxide as for cleaning marble is not recommended because it will etch the marble.Now you have honed marble, so any etching will not be as noticeable, but it still could be. But more to the point, neither bleach nor hydrogen peroxide will likely get the stain out just by scrubbing. Stains are substances that get into the pores of the stone, so you can't remove them by surface cleaning. You may see some improvement, however, it likely won't completely remove the stain... and it may leave an undesirable etch mark. I recommend you follow the steps outlined in the Removing Stains Manual for granite and marble maintenance. The procedure varies depending on what actually caused the stain. You said you didn't know, but the manual contains instructions for nearly every type of stain including if you don't know what caused the marble stain. Good Luck, Ryan P.S. Get all the facts, answers, explanations and simple solutions with step-by-step instructions for any issue, problem or question with our Granite & Marble Maintenance Manuals. |
