Uba Tuba Stain

We had Uba Tuba countertops installed about five months ago. This week I noticed a small 3" diameter area near the sink that seems to be bleached to a bluish gray color. I'm not sure what could have caused it and I'm afraid to put anything on it for fear of bleaching it further. Is there anything you recommend that would pull out the stain?

 

Dear Kristina:

Kinda hard to understand what the problem could be.

You're talking about some sort of bleaching, but then you mention a bluish gray color…

I really don't know, and without having the possibility to actually see that discoloration, I could only fish in the dark.

Let's see if this can help:

A stain – a real stain – is always darker than the stained material. If it is lighter, it's either a mark of corrosion created by an acid (etching), or a caustic mark created by a base (bleaching). There are no known exceptions to this rule. In the case of natural stone, bleaching can't occur, and therefore they are etch-marks all the time: plain and simple surface damages, like shallow chemical scratches.

So then, are we actually looking at a stain or some sort of surface damage?...

You understand that while it would be possible to pull out a stain, it would be hardy possible to pull out a surface damage. In other words the two problems are completely different and the solutions are consequently different as well.

Your best bet is to get in touch with your fabricator and ask them to try to find out what the problem is and, possibly, a solution.

It could even be that, thinking that's granite, the installer applied an impregnator (what you may call sealer) to your countertop and if they didn't remove thoroughly every residue of the product from the surface of the stone before it had a chance to dry. So, maybe an invisible film may still be there and is reacting funny with some chemical that you may have spilled. But, like I said, I'm only fishing in the dark.

Now remember, it's never too early to think about the proper maintenance of your stone. 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 10-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 .   Among a well of valuable information, in there you will also find priceless tips on how to properly install stone in a bathroom.

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

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Thank you  

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri zio Bertoli

 

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