Old stained fire surround
by Liz
Marble Fireplace Surround
QUESTION:Hi, firstly; great useful site you've got here. Secondly; I have just moved into a Georgian era house with marble fire surrounds in several rooms, all of which are quite yellowed in placed; especially on the insides, towards the fire and on the top of the mantelpiece.Can you provide any tips for whitening them up again? I don't know much about marble but given the age of the house I'd assume it's genuine and not the re-constituted stuff. Photo attached may shed some light... Many thanks. ANSWER:Thanks for the compliment! The photo is very helpful and that is real marble.The methods you might use cleaning marble this stained/dirty vary depending on if the marble is polished/shiny or honed (non-reflective, matte finish). It looks to me like it is polished, which is more difficult to deal with IF you want to maintain the polish. You can't be as aggressive when trying to protect or maintain the polished finish, thus may not get the stains out. So, you may need to hire a pro if ultimately you want a shiny polished finish. But if not, give this a go... First, use a soft bristle brush to clean off all debris. Spray with bleach solution (1 part bleach to 16 parts water) and scrub. Now, bleach will etch (dull) the marble unless heavily diluted... even then repeated exposure will etch. It would be better if you could find a marble-safe cleaner locally (look for a mildew remover) instead of using the bleach. (Our products become very expensive when shipping outside the US.) If repeated scrubbing with bleach doesn't remove all the grime, then you'll need to sand the marble with 120, 240, 400 grit metal sand paper to remove the stained marble and then smooth out again. Of course, sanding will remove the polished layer. But as noted... probably unavoidable in this case. However, honed or non-polished marble would still look very nice... you may even prefer it. You'd need to hire a pro to maintain and/or re-polish the stone after cleaning to make it shiny. But that's expensive and long-term it will be easier to keep these clean if not polished so you can bleach/sand soot, etc. You'll find a more complete discussion of this very issue along with everything else you need to know about protecting, cleaning, problem solving and general marble maintenance in Cleaning Marble Secrets Guide. 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.
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