You’re making breakfast in your brand new kitchen, marvelling at your newly installed Carrara marble worktop. It’s Sunday morning, so you have decided to treat yourself to a post workout smoothie – delicious! You are very aware that fruit juice can be fatal to your beautiful new stone due to its acidic nature. Carefully using a large chopping board, you manage to avoid any mishaps. Phew! Your brand new marble worktop is protected.
Then it’s time to wash up and clean everything down. You’re very proud of your new kitchen and you want to keep it looking it’s best. You spray your usual detergent liberally and wipe down with a damp cloth. Leaving it to air dry, you head off to enjoy your delicious smoothie.
Later when you return your brand-new marble worktop looks dull and scratched. It looks as if someone has scrubbed it with wire wool. But what happened?
The surface has been etched. Most common household cleaners are ‘secretly’ acidic and this reacts to the surface of the stone. Etch marks are basically acidic burns and cannot be cleaned away with wiping or scrubbing. The best thing to do if you have natural stone in your home is prevent this from happening. You can do this by ensuring you are using pH neutral cleaning products. Athena Stonecare is here to share some expert guidance on the best stone cleaning products to use to maintain all your natural stone surfaces.
‘Fila Brio’ is an all surface cleaner which is also ideal for natural stone. Spray this cleaner directly on your stone to kill bacteria and break down grease, just as you would with any other surface cleanser. You should then use a soft, dry cloth to wipe down your worktops. As it does not leave any residue you will not need to rinse and the surface dries very quickly. As the detergent is very mild, you can use this detergent on a daily basis and multiple times a day.
We recommend you replace all surface cleaners in your house with ‘Fila Brio’ as it is just as effective as other surface cleaners on all surfaces, not just stone. This includes porcelain tiles, leather, laminate flooring, steel and glass. Replacing all cleaners in your home with a stone safe alternative removes the possibility of accidentally using the wrong type on your stone surfaces.
‘Fila Cleaner Pro’ is a concentrated cleaning detergent, ideal for diluting with mop water to clean all hard floors. This concentrated stone cleaning product is great for emulsifying dirt and easily lifts it away. When using, you should make sure that you dilute this cleaning fluid as directed.
We recommend the best mop for stone floors to be a Kentucky mop in combination with a ladybug bucket. This mop and bucket system prevents water from being left on the floor after mopping, as the ladybug bucket will ring out all excess liquid from the mop head. We also suggest that you invest in a small wet vacuum. You should use this after mopping to remove water that could pool into the stone’s pores and grout lines. It’s best practice to leave your stone completely dry after mopping. This helps to prolong the life of your stone’s sealant.
‘Fila Refresh’ is the perfect product for cleaning for natural stone bathrooms. It can however also be used on natural stone worktops. This stone cleaning product has been designed for stone surfaces that have been treated with waterproofing products, to clean and reinforce stain-proofing protection. This product is designed to be used once or twice a week to restore the shine of your natural stone surfaces. For daily cleaning in the bathroom, continue to use ‘Fila Brio’.
It is important to note that there is no ‘one-size fits all’ when it comes to natural stone cleaners. Please remember this is just a generic guide, and the best thing to do is to consult one of our experts to determine the best products you should use as part of your bespoke maintenance programme.
One thing we recommend for all stone surfaces, however, is to ensure that you have a natural stone sealer on hand to top up where necessary. The type of sealant and how often you top it up definitely depends on a number of factors, including the type, the colour and the finish of your stone.
If you are currently in the same position as the person in the beginning of this post, all is not lost. Your brand new Carrara marble worktop can be restored. Athena Stonecare can use specialised equipment to resurface the worktop. We can grind out the etch marks and restore the surface of your stone. It would be as if nothing ever happened! Then you can maintain your worktop using our suggested stone cleaning products and methods and maintain your stone for longer.
As experts in natural stone care, we want to make sure that your stone continues to endure elegantly within your home. This doesn’t just mean restoring your stone when things go wrong, but also helping you to maintain it.
We are always happy to hear from you if you have any questions about your natural stone. However, we want to make sure you are equipped to look after your stone without being an expert.
In order to support you with this, we are delighted to present our new Athena Aftercare guide. Packed with tips and advice for maintaining natural stone, the guide was created to help our clients to care for their stone as part of a bespoke maintenance regime. We would also like to share it with anyone who is lucky enough to have a limestone floor or any natural stone in their home.
If you would like a copy of Athena Aftercare, simply contact us here.
Ahead of Decorex 2024, we are exploring the hot topics of the show that so naturally throw stone into the limelight.
Read MoreTake a look beyond the sample to explore how different types of limestone can be used in your home.
Read More