After showering when the marble wall & floor dries, whitish mark appears on the marble surface. What are they? How does this happen?

Natural Marbles or Compressed Marbles are generally consist more than 55% of calcium carbonates natural. They are porous in nature and sensitive to acidic and alkaline materials. They required special care to maintain its shine and colors. Damages like lost of shine could occur from intermittent maintenance, improper cleaning methods and inappropriate use of cleaning agents that are not formulated for natural stones.

In a bathroom setting, residues from soap, shower foam, bath gel, shampoo and massaging oil should immediately clean away. Allowing these residues sit too long on the surface will form streak marks and eventually roughen the texture. The surface of the stone is seen dull with unsightly whitish looks. When these unsightly look appears, it cannot be removed by normal cleaning methods. They need to be re-polished.

How does this happen? Very often, people only use water to clean their bathroom marbles floor and wall. Not realizing that our daily use bathing soaps and shampoos are designed to suit our acidic skin but they are harmful to the marbles which is consist more than 55% of calcium.

How to treat the whitish appearance?

The whitish appearance is commonly known as ‘soap-scum’.

It can be treated with SCL Marble Polishing Powder. Sever condition (i.e. surface is a little rough), it has to be polished with Diamond polishing pad prior to use Marble Polishing Powder.

Can water alone clean just as good?

Water though does not harm the marble, it does not also completely wash away acidic and alkalinity residues because

• Water is a poor wetting agent – it prefers to stick to itself.
• Water does not lift dirt or oil-based residues from the surface.
• Water is not good at holding dirt in suspension.

This is akin to washing our hands. Water does not harm our skin, however, we required hand soap to wash a pair of oily hands.

Are You Experiencing Moldy Marble?

Efflorescence is a common problem to a newly installed stone floor due to using of excessive water during polishing.

This powder is a mineral salt that has migrated to the surface with water. When water enters the setting bed or the marble becomes saturated with water, the water dissolves some of the salt minerals in the stones. The water rises to the surface carrying the salts. When the marble dries and the water has evaporated, the salts are left behind.

It only takes an easy process to treat it. SCL-Stoneclean is a proven efflorescence stone cleaner designed to treat efflorescence while daily mopping the marble floor.

Efflorescence is neither harmful to the stone nor to us. If efflorescence is not treated, eventually it will stain the marble floor.

In most cases, efflorescence occurs to marble floor that is less than 6 months after wet polishing. Mopping the floor with SCL-Stoneclean will restore the condition back to original. If efflorescence has stayed on the floor for more than 9 months, usually the marble is severely stained with the salt minerals. In this case, polishing is needed. Immediately after polishing, use SCL-Stoneclean once a day or twice a day until efflorescence goes away.

TIP to treat Efflorescence faster
Ventilate your rooms as much as possible to release moisture that was trapped in the stones.

How long does efflorescence disappear completely?

Under normal condition, it will improve after 2 weeks of daily mopping with SCL-Stoneclean and completely subsized after 6 months.

Will "Efflorescence" reoccur?

Efflorescence will reoccur under circumstances such like re-polishing the marble floor using the conventional wet polishing method or houses that are house on ground level and waterproofing membrane has failed.

During the time of treating efflorescence, the mop has to be rinsed as dry as possible. After efflorescence has completely disappeared, wet mopping to the floor will not trigger efflorescence to come back.

Can we mop our marble/granite floor with the standard floor cleaners that are available in the supermarket after efflorescence has completely disappeared?

Yes, you may use the standard floor cleaners. However, we would encourage end-user to continue mopping the stone floor with SCL-Stoneclean as it is specially formulated to safely clean all natural stone surfaces without harming the natural crystalline structure of the stone.

SCL Stoneclean is formulated neutral and without wax formulas.

Can water alone remove efflorescence?

Mop and water will not pick up any dirt including efflorescence. You are simply pushing the dirt with your mop from one corner to the other corner.

Can standard floor cleaners available in the supermarket remove efflorescence?

Avoid using any standard floor cleaner that is not known to remove efflorescence, they may be alkaline pH cleaning agents. Alkaline solution will not neutralize, it will only contribute more salts mineral to the floor.

Under normal condition, in general, there is nothing wrong with using a dilute alkaline type of cleaner on most marble and granite surfaces, however the results are unpredictable as some solution may have a chemical reaction with the stones. The stones may change or lose their crystalline color over a period of time.

Is efflorescence harmful to the stone and to us?

Efflorescence is not harmful to the stone nor to us.

Can the treatment of efflorescence be speed up?

Yes, you can bring up the salt minerals to the surface faster by ventilating your rooms as much as possible to release moisture that was trapped in the stones or turn on your air-condition 24 hours for a few days and mop the floor with SCL Stoneclean more than once a day.

Remove all rags and decoration floor mat temporally.

Can we treat marble and granite floor with crystallization or waxing method?

Using crystallization and waxes will clog the stone’s pores and traps the moisture and salts inside the stone. Natural stone is a porous material that has small microscopic pores that allow it to breathe (exchange moisture with the atmosphere). When the stone becomes dry, it extracts moisture from the atmosphere through its pores and when it becomes too wet, it pushes the excess moisture out of the stone through its pores. When you put any kind of wax on the surface, it closes up the pores and the moisture cannot get out. This creates pressure within the stone.

Overtime this problem will become worse. Pressure from trapped moisture and salt cause the pores to expand resulting in small pieces of stone breaking-off and creating a hole in the surface of the stone. We call this condition pitting or spalling. If  pitting occurs, the stone has to be replaced.

What is "PITTING" ?

Click here to learn more about "PITTING"

What is "POULTICE" ?

Poulticing is a long process to introduce however this method is proven to be the most effective way to remove stains that have penetrated into the interior of the stone. Poulticing is to reverse the staining process. In other words, poultice powder with the appropriate chemical will literally suck the stain out from the stone.

Each application required leaving the poultice on the stains area for 1-2 days, depending on the age of the stains. Any stains occurred on natural stones are unpredictable. Some stains could have penetrated deeper and spread wider inside the stone. Identifying the types of stain is already half the battle won.

To Seal or Not To Seal A Natural Stone? This is the big question . . .

Natural Stones are very porous and act like a sponge in the presence of moisture and fluids. Liquids can be absorbed into the stone thus causing staining, corrosion and discoloring.

Coating is a film that lays on top of the stone acting as a barrier to prevent water, oil and dirt from entering the pores of the stone.  

Coating is generally economical, easy to apply and will provide stain proof and add shine to the floor surface. On the other hand, coatings are much softer than stone and this reason will scratch, scuff and mar very easily. This will require frequent buffing, burnishing and reapplication. They can also build up causing an unnatural plastic appearance. Poor quality coatings will yellow and can cause permanent staining to some stone types.

In order to determine whether you should seal with a coating or a penetrating sealer, you need to understand the definition of what sealing natural stone means. Sealers in the stone industry are called “impregnators” simply because that impregnate the interior of the stone with silicones or resins that funnel through the pores of the surface. The main objective of an impregnator is to protect the interior of natural stone or any porous material from staining. They help prevent fluids from penetrating through the pores; however, impregnators do nothing to protect the top surface of the stone. They do not prevent traffic patterns or scratches and they will not prevent etching from acid spills on polished surface marble. An impregnator will keep the acid out of the stone, but not off of the top surface.

Impregnators/ Penetrating Sealers are preventive measures that provide extra protection to the stone. Even though the stone has been sealed, it still needs to be maintained and cleaned with proper care products. It is just like taking care of the paint on your car, if you wax or seal the paint, you still have to wash it on a regular basis. In addition, sealers will last longer and work better when the stone is properly cared for.

Sealers need to be reapplied because they do not last forever. Overtime, the sealer looses its strength and bonding to the stone and eventually evaporates away. A good way to measure the strength of an impregnator/sealer is to apply moisture to the surface. Test for darkening of the colour. If the stone darkens, this means that the moisture penetrated in and a fresh coat should be applied.

The time it takes to break down an impregnator can be accelerated by certain conditions. For example, in a high traffic floor area the impregnator wears as the stone surface wears down. This is due to the fact that impregnators/penetrating sealers only penetrate approximately 1/16” of an inch or less. Some stones are more and less porous than others, therefore, the sealer may go in further or less. Some sealers require one application and others require two or three applications.

A fact to remember: Frequent high-pressure washing will cause irreversible damage to a stone surface because the power of pressure will break the bond of the natural minerals structure in the stone. If the natural stone is seal with impregnator/penetrating sealer, frequent pressure wash will also break the bonding tension of the impregnator inside the stone. Impregnator is designed to penetrate below the surface, it allows vapors transmission and stones to breathe. Since the stone is still capable of breathing, water can be forced through the stone by pressure. Impregnators in general cannot be used below grade to resist frequent cleaning by hydrostatic pressure. If pressure washing has to be used, should not exceed 1000psi and should only used a fan tip spray nozzle.

How do SCL Stain-X, SCL Stain- and SCL Water-Based Penetrating Sealers work?

Most of the standard impregnator sealers available in the market are a mixture of silicones, siloxane and usually a mineral spirit, which is a solvent. Some are water based depending on the manufacturer. The mineral spirit is added to the mixture, because it acts as a carrier for the silicones. The mineral spirit drives the silicone into the stone as a liquid form. The mineral spirit  evaporates out of the stone and leaves the silicone. The silicone now begins to cure into a solid form, forming a fluid repellant membrane in the pores of the stone. This all happens within five to ten minutes.

Stone Care Lab (SCL) products like Stain-X sealer  is the popular sealer available today and it contains orange fragrance petroleum distillate which carry the resins into the stone. The solvent vapour evaporates within minutes which makes it user friendly.

SCL Stain-X penetrating sealer does not contain any silicones because silicones are soft and not very durable. It is a unique blend of resins and co-polymers that dry to a very hard condition. When this sealer bonds, it cures much harder than any other sealer in the industry. SCL Stain-X  sealer penetrates into stone and does not remain on the surface, therefore, it cannot be abraded. It cures without changing the colour or the texture of the stone, yet it allows the stone to breathe and release moisture vapours.

Now that we know how sealers work and what they are supposed to do, the  question is do we seal or not to seal the natural stone.

The answer is ‘YES’. Seal the top surface of the natural stone is recommended to give easy maintenance.

SCL Stain-X Penetrating Sealer is applicable on Marble, Granite, Limestone, Sandstone, Terrazzo, agglomerate, homogeneous tiles, grout joints and all others natural stone.

Can an impregnator be used as a waterproofing agent?

No. The idea of a impregnator or penetrating sealer is to make the stone water resistant, not waterproof. If to make the stone waterproof we would need to completely block the pores of the stone. This would suffocate the stone and cause the stone to break apart.

Will application of an impregnator make stone more slippery?

Impregnator is designed to penetrate below the surface. There will be no effect to the slipperiness of the stone.

If apply impregnator to the back of the stone tile before setting, will this cause a bonding problem?

Yes, it may cause bonding failure. Since most mortars are water based they will want to repel the water. I would suggest using a fast curing dry adhesive setting material.

Can I use SCL Stain-X penetrating sealer on any other surface but stone?

Yes, Stain X sealer can be used on concrete, brick, terra cotta and most porous hard surfaces.

Does SCL Stain-X penetrating sealer prevent from acid etching?

Stain X does not make the stone acid resistant. A coating may prevent from acid etching. However certain coatings may block the breathing capability of the stone. Moisture can become trapped below the surface and lead to spalling and pitting.