CLEANING MARBLE

[Robert Lambie]

have you tried tar and glue remove? ive not seen anything that cant break down. you can buy it from most good car valet suppliers and the like.

[Peter Normington]

First spray with an anti fungicide, available from garden centres or B & Q
if you don’t the fungus/mildew will only re appear.
leave it to do its job, can take a week or more, read the instructions on the can…

Then use a stiff brush to (manual or mechanical) get rid of the residue.
A quicker way, use oven cleaner, but try on a small area first. as some are too caustic/acid based and will react with the marble.
then brush off with a stiff brush or A brass wire brush.

be very careful though, marble can be soft and because its a chalk, it will react with any acids, so stick to alkaline cleaners,

Peter

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote Harry Cleary:

Could anyone advise on cleaning very badly mildewed and dirty white marble.
Thanks in advance

i thought marble couldnt be cleaned…..cause its very porous, i could be wrong though 😕

[Warren Beard]

Don’t put any lemon or products with lemon as it is corrosive to marble.

This might be obvious, then I’m sorry.

[Harry Cleary]

thanks all,
I wondered would caustic soda be too harmful for this, it is quite badly stained. Maybe it would be too risky. Will try the tips here.

[Peter Normington]

sugar soap would be ok as a cleaner, less aggressive than caustic soda. again though try a bit first, but if you have a biological growth, then unless you treat it, chances are it will come back.
I am no expert, but had a few similar experiences in the past.

and as Nik has pointed out if the stains are subsurface, then may be impossible to remove

Peter

[Harry Cleary]

Thanks a million for the advice everyone, I need to redo the letters(carved) on this project as well, are there any handy ways to do this? It is just black lettering but it is quite small.
Thanks again.