Written in Stone

Let’s face it. Water and stone just don’t mix well, but we can’t avoid this combination. Buildings have flamed granite driveways.  Homes have marble showers, and I’ve seen a good number of slate and flagstone patios.

Yes, sealing your stone does protect it and sealing helps prevents the water from penetrating into the stone, but what about the water that stays on the surface? What’s up with that white calcium build-up due to water sitting on the surface of the stone?

Let’s go from best case scenario to worst case scenario:

“How do I remove the light calcium deposits that build up around my sink and faucet area? And how do I remove light soap scum lines off my shower walls?”

Easy solution: We recommend Akemi Crystal Clean to remove these light residues. It is a neutral cleaner, so it won’t hurt marble, travertine, limestone, or granite, but it is strong enough to remove light build-ups.

“I have calcium builds up on my exterior granite fountain due to the constant water flow. How can I get rid of these?”

I’m going to get a little technical here, so bare with me: Igneous stones (such as granite and basalt) and Metamorphic stones (such as slate and Schist) are much harder than Calcite stones (such as marble, travertine, and limestone). Igneous and Metamorphic stones are generally not impervious to acids, but they certainly do not react to acids as much as marble does.

When you have heavy calcium build-ups on granite or slate, you can use a diluted solution Mineral Deposit Remover (MDR) and try to remove these white build-ups. The slight acidity of the solution plus a soft brush may be the answer if you want to remove water residues from stone surfaces, like fountains, that are constantly being exposed to water.

Coincidentally, MDR is a great cleaner for ceramic and porcelain tiles, but do not use MDR on marble, travertine, limestone or terrazzo, please! If you are unsure if MDR is the right product to use on your stone, call us and we would be happy to give you advice.

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Worst case scenario: “We have years of water and calcium build up on our stone surface and it’s really caked on at this point. How can we get this hard build up off the stone?”

Unfortunately, this is the moment when you need to turn over the project to us, International Stoneworks. There is no one product I can recommend to remove calcium once it’s hardened and caked on. We need to come in and grind or abrade this build-up off your stone surface. With this mechanical abrasion, we will be able safely remove the calcium, and re-polish or re-hone your stone surface safely.