We’ve talked a lot about the different challenges you can expect to face when investing in natural stone for your home or business.
From granite countertops to Saltillo tile floors, you know you can count on us for excellence and know how.
So today, I wanted to touch on an issue that is seldom addressed in stone maintenance circles:
Why are your marble surfaces yellowing, and what can you do about it?
In your time reading our blog, you’ve learned how to protect your marble surfaces from acids that etch and stain, as well as from tools that can cause dents and chips. But perhaps even as diligent as you have been in caring for your marble, you are still facing one unexpected problem:
It is beginning to turn yellow!
There are several reasons you might be experiencing it, and the good news is that if you’ve been diligent in your care for the marble, it may be reversible.
These include:
- The accumulation of dirt
- The application of poor quality wax
- Moisture rich environments
Dirt Accumulation
Over time, as inferior sealers wear down and dirt begins to collect in the pores of the marble, it will build up and give your marble a tinge of yellow. If your marble has been improperly maintained, you may experience this much more quickly.
The good news is that, on the spectrum of reasons why your marble might be yellowing, this is the easiest to deal with.
A poultice in tandem with a good alkaline marble cleaner, and a little bit of elbow grease, will often be good enough to do the trick.
For a more neglected surface, you may need to re-hone, and/or re-polish the surface of the stone.
Cheap Wax Surface
It is also possible that cheap or poor quality waxes have been used to protect the surface, and over time, through general wear and exposure, the wax surface itself has begun to tinge.
In this case, the waxed surface will need to be stripped, a task which is better suited for an experienced professional than taken on on your own. The abrasive pads used for this type of work could cause irreparable damage if done improperly!
Moisture Rich Environments
On the other end of the spectrum, however, is rust damage due to moisture. You see, many white marbles, such as Carrera, Calcata, and Venetino, are rich in iron.
As a result, if your marble is constantly exposed to moisture – in the bathroom, for example – minerals will cause the iron to rust, which will make your marble appear yellow, or even brown in some extreme cases.
In fact, improperly sealed marble or stone, may change color almost immediately if saturated such as shower basins, which are exposed to a lot of water.
Unfortunately, remedying rusting marble is much more difficult to rectify, if it is possible at all. There are some chemicals which, when applied with a good poultice, have shown some promise in dealing with rust damage.
But the process may cause etchings in the marble which would also need to be rectified, and as such, this type of damage requires a much more expensive, labor intensive, and specialized solution.
Conclusion
So when you’re thinking of investing in marble, steer clear of restrooms and other places that experience regular amounts of hard water and other moisture.
Give us a call today and we’ll help you find the right solution for your stone and please refer to our proper sealing of stone blog to help avoid a lot of the issues discussed.
