Verde Green Marble etching marks

Verde Green Marble etching marks I have a Verde Green kitchen counter top, when I first bought it, I tested for acidic solution such us coffee, orange juice spills etc. and did not notice any etching marks during the five years. now the counter top has develop scratches, and needed to be restore. I used a company in Florida to restore the counter top. now every time a place a cup with orange juice, or coffee and spills it leaves a etching mark. Prior to the restoration of the stone it never happened. What can be done to stop this from happening, what process needs to be done to avoid the staining or etching marks from taken place? As far as i know there is no sealer that will stop the etching marks. My understanding is that all Verde green marble stone are resistant or do not etch. What remedy do you recommend? thank you.

 

Well, as you already realized, sealing has nothing to to with any protection this side of a dramatic reduction of the natural absorbency rate of the stone to help prevent stains - which doesn;t seem as ever being a problem with your countertop.
So the claim reportedly made by the stone restoration company that they did not seal it because the stone is already naturally acid-resistant (even if it were not, sealing would not help one bit), doesn't make much sense.

That duly said, the problem the way you're reporting it puzzels me quite a bit. When I read your first posting my mind immediately raced toward the conclusion that, perhaps, they had "crystallized" your stone. But then, when you so specifically mentioned that they used 5 X yellow powder, the riddle became, well... a riddle.

On the other hand, how could they possibly polish serpentinite with 5 X? If your green marble is serpentinite (and that is what I obviously assumed by the fact that in 5 years you did not have any etching), 5 X should have not even tickled it. If it did, it must be ophicalcite instead. But then , ophicalcite would have etched in 5 years and never passed your pre-purchase test!... Hmmm...

The only conclusion that I feel like venturing is that, while your stone is in fact serpentinite, it did react chemically, somehow (and strangely) with the potassium oxalate of the 5 X powder and created a Beilby layer that's sensitive to acidic substances.

It doesn't make sense, but... it's the only possible explanation that make sense!...

What to do?

Have the surface of your stone professionally re-surfaced and polished with either a "cold" polishing powder for granite (5 X is a "hot" polishing powder), or with specific dry diamond pads. In that way, there could not be any chemical interaction, the polishing would be strictly mechanical and the Beilby layer on the surface of your stone would strictly be the stone itself. I do know that in the factory they never use "hot" polishing elements to polish green marble.

 

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Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

 

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