Limestone

[Perri Morgan]

This seemed the most likely newsgroup for such a question, for which I've been unable to find an answer on the net.

I have been in my new house for about a year. In the master bathroom, I splurged and installed beautiful Jurassic limestone everywhere. In the walk-in shower, the floor tiles are starting to look much darker than the walls and other areas -- and I noticed a similar thing happening on the countertop next to the vanity sink. In addition to the discoloration, those areas appear to have lost their matte luster, but I'm afraid to apply anymore sealer until I figure out this discoloration problem.

The fact that it's happening both next to the sink and on the shower floor leads me to believe that the discoloration may be caused by something in a soap or shampoo I'm using, but that's just a guess. The discoloration extends about half an inch up the wall in the tile, so if it wasn't a soap I was using on myself, perhaps the softscrub I was using on the shower floor did it.

In any event, I'm seeking some idea with regard to what I've done wrong (so I won't do it anymore) -- and if there is any way to restore those tiles back to their original color and luster.

I don't understand this! I wasn't warned about using limestone in those areas -- and in fact, I've seen it used in bathrooms for years (and in Europe, for centuries!). Any limestone experts out there?

Thanks in advance,

Perri

[EXT]

Limestone and marble, which it is related to, are very porous and can absorb many cleaners, skin oils and/or dirt. Acidic products can also dissolve some of the lime and change the surface making it more receptive to soils. Personally, I wouldn't use limestone in areas subject to staining and/or requiring much cleaning with cleaners.

[Richard J Kinch]

You should have been warned. Limestone has a water absorption of several percent. It will not stay pristine like a porcelain ceramic. It will absorb and hold contaminants, like the dyes in soaps and shampoos, which accumulate to a dingy stain.

Consider it part of the charm of this ancient material, and get used to it.

[Perri Morgan]

Richard J Kinch wrote in news:Xns97ECB22BC7AE2someconundrum@216.196.97.131:

But it doesn't look charming. It looks dirty.

It seems like there must be *something* that will fix this. Home building and decor publications are loaded with limestone bathrooms and even high traffic areas like master baths & kitchen countertops -- none of which appear discolored.

Does anyone else know of a solution? Telling me that I should have used something else really doesn't help at all -- the house is already finished, and the choice can't be changed.

[m Ransley]

The dark in the shower is probably mold, regular laundry bleach will kill it and not hurt the stone, to clean exterior Lime stone I use Muriatic acid and bleach, but never use the acid indoors, it fumes to much. The bleach should do it, im betting its mold.

[Richard J Kinch]

Real houses, like real women, don't look like the photos in the magazines.

[Perri Morgan]

[e-mail] (m Ransley) wrote in news:21874-449DC702-622@storefull-

3133.bay.webtv.net:

I'm 100-percent positive it's not mold -- I've been sponging off the floor tiles with Soft Scrub several times a week. It's an open shower, well- ventilated, cleaned regularly, and only a year old. I think that a reaction to something in one of the soaps I'm using -- or possibly even the Soft Scrub -- might be the problem.

Also, I once set the sponge that I use to clean the bathtub and other fixtures with Comet on the shower floor to dry off and it bleached out the tile in the shape of the sponge -- so I'm afraid to use anymore bleach with this particular limestone.

[Perri Morgan]

Richard J Kinch wrote in news:Xns97ECEFD8675BDsomeconundrum@216.196.97.131:

But I look EXACTLY like those women!! ;-)

They must be doing something in those houses, then, to make the limestone appear pristine, since most of them aren't brand new. Do you know what they could possibly be using?

[m Ransley]

If Comet with bleach made it clean it IS mold, and bleach is what you use to get rid of it. Bleach and acid dont make stone any cleaner or whiter than it is, You have mold, use bleach.

[George]

He gave you the answer. The product is called "Photoshop" and is so commonly used that it is both a noun and a verb.

[Eigenvector]

The black stuff might be manganese or a copper oxide? Just a thought, its entirely possible the limestone had those particular minerals in it when it was quarried and it just might not be coming out. Just passing out some random thoughts

[Perri Morgan]

"Eigenvector" wrote in news:15SdnQ1vCI44WAPZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Oh -- it's not black. It's just turning darker than the rest of the limestone -- almost like a stain.

Your idea has some merit -- I was told that some rust might become apparent over time (and they showed me what that would look like -- this isn't that). But if it was one of those minerals, why would it only be coming out on the areas that get soap dripped on them frequently?

Thanks for your response.

[Perri Morgan]

George wrote in news:k8Sdnc9VNPRhJwPZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Oh no. If that's what it is, I'm going to become homicidal. Is there any way to restore it, then?

[Perri Morgan]

[e-mail] (m Ransley) wrote in news:3466-449EBA44-859@storefull-

3137.bay.webtv.net:

I know mold, and this is NOT mold. It looks like a stain that covers the shower floor, which is scrubbed down several times a week. There is also a place on the countertop next to the sink where soap drips every time I wash my face in the sink that has developed the same stained look. Both surfaces have been cleaned regularly with Soft Scrub, which contains bleach. I recently discovered on some of the stone sites on the net that I'm NOT supposed to use bleach on limestone -- a lesson I should have learned when I left that Comet-covered sponge there to dry

-- so have been using stone cleaner for the past couple of weeks.

Another reason I think it's connected somehow to the soap is because the area right in the center, where the shower water hits the floor constantly when it's on, is not stained -- but in the corners of the shower, where the soap doesn't always get washed away immediately or thoroughly, are stained. That leads me to believe that it has something to do with the soap lingering on the limestone.

[Perri Morgan]

Also, I wasn't using Comet with bleach on the limestone -- I was using it on the sink, bathtub, and toilet.

[Eigenvector]

I can't really say, it is probably not iron, more like copper or manganese - assuming my comments aren't a red herring anyway. I'm really just talking from the hip here.

As to why only the soap spots - soap is a basic material, that is it is the opposite end of the spectrum from acids. So I don't know maybe the limestone minerals are reacting to the basics in the soap while they are simply dissolving in the pure water and being washed away. Manganese is pretty common in most lifeforms and I would expect it to be present in limestone as well as your water supply

Anyway take my comments with a grain of salt, I'm no chemist.

[Goedjn]

You don't have any scrap peices to experiment on, do you? Toothpaste and a stiff brush would probably work.

[m Ransley]

You learned on the internet not to use bleach on limestone, well I guess I have been doing it wrong on our limestone house and patio since 73, and all the other homes and commercial buildings ive cleaned, gee if only I had checked the internet then. What you know perry is little.

[Eigenvector]

Does this look like what you're seeing

[Perri Morgan]

[e-mail] (m Ransley) wrote in news:16454-449EE30C-934@storefull-

3134.bay.webtv.net:

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful response. Pray tell me then, with all of your exhaustive expertise, why a sponge with bleach on it bleached out the limestone when I laid it on the floor of the shower stall to dry? And why only the areas of tile on which I have used a bleach-based cleaner are stained?