Polished Granite Worktop Stains

[MULLY]

Hi there,

We recently got a new granite worktop but have noticed that it seems to be taking ring stains from cups \ glasses etc really badly.

For some reason I thought that a granite surface would not suffer from this kind of issue ?

Anything we can do about this ?

Thanks,
Mully

 

[MULLY]

Update...

I have since been informed that a treatment / care kit should have been left with this worktop but was not. Now we know it was never sealed correctly.

Surprised that granite and stone surfaces need this treatment apparently they do though, oil and grease being especially bad offernders at marking them, so watch those greasy pizza boxes !

 

[JohnD]

you can get a cleaning material called Barkeepers Friend in some supermarkets and hardware stores, try it on an inconspicuous area.

I can only afford a reconstituted stone sink, but it takes the tea stains off that very well.

 

[Scrit]

Barkeepers Friend is a very fine abrasive and is actually gound pumice stone, a commonly available French polishing material. If you buy it from someone like Chestnut Products or Mylands in a plastic bag it is often considerably then the "real thing". Unfortunately what it can't do is take out oil/grease stains which have sunk into the stone, so overflowing chip pans are to be avoided at all costs!

Scrit

 

[MULLY]

Cheers for the feedback. Is there anythign short of repolishing which can remove these stains now ?

 

[Jasonb]

Polishing won't remove stains as they go into the stone. For oil stains you need a paultice type cleaner, this is usually in the form of a powder that you leave on the surface and it sucks the oil out, several applications may be needed.

Also watch out for lemon juice, the acetic acid marks stone

Jason

 

[MULLY]

Cheers for feedback, am I right in thinking that even when coprrectly treated if something like lemon juice is left on there for a few hours it will stain ?

Trying to gauge how carefu we need to be once we get this fixed around any potentially damaging things like this or hot oven pots or those types of things ?

Thanks,
Mully

 

[NickStone]

Mully, I can only speak from experience but I have just sold a house in which the kitchen granite surface (rosa porino) looked as good as it did when it was first laid, twelve years ago. Nothing - and I mean nothing - either soaked into this stuff or damaged it in any way. And by the way, I love lemons and use them a lot. The supplier was a company called Norlostone in Wiltshire. Maybe they'd give you some help if you contacted them.

 

[MULLY]

Yes this is exactly how I thought the stone should react, whichever brand we have though seems to need some care.

The stone masons came out in the end and actually burned the stains out of the surface which seemed to work by and large. They also left us a kit with which we need to treat it every four months or so.

I thought it would be less hassle having granite than a regular surface, turns out its more !!

 

[Scrit]

I thought it would be less hassle having granite than a regular surface, turns out its more !!

Surprising, isn't it? The oft maligned composite laminate top is really quite a good bit of industrial design, and much lower maintainance than any other type of worktop

Scrit

 

[NickStone]

I thought it would be less hassle having granite than a regular surface, turns out its more !!

Maybe there's granite and granite, Mully. The stuff I had was mottled, so even if it had stained, you wouldn't have been able to see it. In fact, about the only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that someone could cut bread on it, leave the crumbs and you wouldn't even notice. I decided then I'd have a plain granite next time - but if it's a toss up between losing crumbs and seeing oil stains, I think I'd prefer the the former.

 

[Moz]

NickStone
You are quite correct there is granite and granite.....different grades etc A1, AAA, premium or select...

 

[NickStone]

NickStone
You are quite correct there is granite and granite.....different grades etc A1, AAA, premium or select...

If price is a guide, I'd guess we got the good stuff then, Moz. I never knew there were different grades - thanks!