I am a General Contractor and have over the years installed many many stone tops and other stone surfaces on my projects. Not until now have I ever been faced with a stain problem. On a multi-million dollar condominium project, I have encountered stains that look like simple water stains on the absolute black granite tops. Already I have completely replaced two of the tops because no amount of in-place polish or buffing would remove these stains. Last week my Superintendent discovered at least two other tops with similar stains. Replacement of these tops is very expensive not to mention time consuming and I am looking for some other repair method. I have heard about a black stain being used on some inferior stones in the fabrication process to enhance the color and appearance. Is there any method out there that I can employ to less expensively repair the discoloration spots in these tops? Help, I have already invested over $5K in two tops and appear to be on the way to more. Please respond soon

 

Harvey:

Is this soon enough for you?... :-)

I've got one good news and two bad news for you.

The first bad news is that your "granite" countertops are either maliciously doctored, or they are "mutt" stones. (Some black "granite" with mineral binders within, which react to acidic substances.) The "stains" that you have are not stains at all. In fact, a true stain is always darker than the stained material - never lighter. If it is lighter, it's a mark of corrosion (etching). It could be the doctoring agent (some sort of black "shoe shine" applied by the factory to make a gray stone look black) that's coming off (you know, the one that you would like to do?...); or it could be the type of stone that's sensitive to acids.

The second bad news is that even if I knew about some "magic black shoe-shine" to bail you out for a couple of months at best, I wouldn't tell you. Sorry, but I'm the creator, co-founder and major responsible of marblecleaning.org, and therefore I am a consumer advocate. Stone doctoring is right on our hit list, and a very high priority at that. Trust me, you don't want to be in our line of fire!!

I can't be part in any way, shape or form of such a despicable practice, which is a full-fledged criminal activity - sorry.

 

Which brings us to the good news!

You're not responsible for what's happening!

Well, you are in relation to the owners of the condo's units, but you can easly go back to the fabricator and the stone yard that sold that stuff to you and hold them fully responsible on consumer fraud charges. It's a pretty black and white case, and in this scenario marblecleaning.org would be only glad to help you.

 

And... FYI, there's no such a thing like black granite (all black granites are not granite by a long shot). And selling stones like that as granite is consumer fraud right there. If you add to that the fact that those particular slabs do not perform like black "granite" is supposed to perform...  

 

May I ask you now to please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?   :-)

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

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