Dear Maurizio, I am an interior Designer. Several months ago my contractor installed Ming marble in a client's shower, with pale green mosaic on the floor. The perimeter Ming wall tile now has brownish stains. i was told this was from the iron in the marble reacting with the water. HELP! How do we eliminate this problem. The client has not used the shower for two months at this point. Do we remove the perimeter tile at the base and do some sort of sealing. If so will it happen again? Please respond asap. Thank you so much.

 

Dear Susan:

 

“ I was told this was from the iron in the marble reacting with the water ”

 

That is correct, but incomplete. It is not the water hitting the surface of the tiles that does the deed, but the water that found its way behind and under them.

It is always a structural problem that causes that, nothing else. In other words, some of the grout and/or caulk has come off or is damaged (or maybe the installer set the tiles butt-joint – which is a big mistake) and the water found its way where it shouldn't have… L

What to do?

Replace them, that's for sure. But now the installer will have to pay particular attention to the grout lines and make sure that the tiles are grouted properly and deep. As a matter of fact, my very favorite “grout” is color-matching latex-based caulking! But you've gotta have a 1/16” grout gap (a round toothpick).

As for the sealing thing, it is entirely unnecessary: First that marble is to dense to take any sealer in; second, you should never seal stone in a wet environment; third, if water finds its way behind the tiles again, you will have exactly the same problem.

Finally, a very important thing is to learn how to take proper care of your stone. 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 z io Bertoli

 

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