polished to honed marble

Dear Lou:

I don't need to break you the news that polished marble does not belong in a kitchen, since you already found it out by yourself…! :-)

Yes, the acidity of wine (and any other drink, for that matter, including sodas) etched the surface of your stone.

I appreciate you sense of humor, but while turning the finish of the stone from polished to honed is the best possible solution, I do not recommend acid-honing (white vinegar, for instance, or a mild solution of water and muriatic acid). It would be best to have the entire floor honed professionally with a good-quality honing powder. The finish would be more uniform and smoother, which translates in easier cleaning of the floor.

Once the honing is done, the application of a good-quality stone impregnating sealer like MB-4 is recommended.

But remember: The issue of what you'll be doing day in and day out to your stone is – as it should be intuitive – vastly more important than its sealing (if and when possible and/or advisable) and it's all too often neglected. As you can tell by reading many of this site's postings, you're not likely to get good information about routine care from your dealer or installer. Don't become another statistic! By logging into the Helpful Hints section of our website at:  http://www.mbstone.com/HH_promo/helpful_hints.htm, you will be able to get the short version of our maintenance guidelines at no charge. The full version of it – a 7-page document considered by many as an industry benchmark – is available in pay-per-download format in our Educational Literature section at:  http://www.mbstone.com/literature/literature.htm.  

And remember, every single penny of the cost of the literature will be used to support this site and its cause: your cause.

While you are in the “Helpful Hints” section, do spend some time reading all of the interesting FREE articles you'll find in there!

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Thank you  

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

www.marblecleaning.org – The only Consumers' Portal to the Stone Industry Establishment!