My wife has left a large wax candle on a Bath stone ledge adjacent to the fireplace, which has melted and run down/flowed along the ledge, staining it a dark shade. All the 'lumps' have been scraped off, but I need to address the stained area, where the wax has been absorbed into the stone surface.
Can anyone suggest a product and/or process which will help?
A trick for wax on carpets is a warm iron and absorbant paper such as kitchen roll. Make sure the paper has no ink dyes in it. Don't know how well it would work on stone. Need longer with the iron I expect to get the stone up to wax melting point. Dyes in the wax may not come out.
heat gun or hair-drier might work better in place of the iron
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Without the paper pressed against the stain at the same time, they might just spread it.
Use a fresh piece of paper as soon as it's absorbed any wax.
In article , Andrew Gabriel writes
If there's any left at that point then a citrus oil based cleaner is good at getting wax out of porous surfaces. Then use a detergent to get rid of the citrus oil.
The most effective citrus oil cleaner I have found is snowboard base cleaner, expensive at about a tenner for 150ml, it's used to remove wax from the porous base. Buy from snowboard shops or online.
Candle wax is soluble in white spirit. I'd try that first
But white spirit is a bit "oily", so even if it lifts the wax it might leave behind a worse mess... As always experiment on a hidden place first.
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I had in my mind bath stone had a rough brick like texture an a iron would have little effect,it would ok on flat surfaces or cloth
It's a difficult choice whether to chose a solvent or a cleanser.
On a non absorbent surface I wouldn't hesitate to use a solvent but on a porous surface I would be concerned about driving the contaminant deeper and have it leech back out later. The benefit of a cleanser being that it absorbs as it dissolves.
Not authoritative, just another angle.
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