Problem: Acid Etching on Marble Shower
This is a Crema Marfil marble shower. Acidic cleaners, harmful to marble, caused a chemical process called etching to occur. Etching roughens the stone’s surface and ruins the finish. Consequently, we highly recommend NEVER using acidic cleaners on natural stone. The BEFORE images show the shower prior to any work, the way it looked when we first arrived.
Solution
We removed the shower glass and all the fixtures, and then completely masked the walls, floor, and ceiling in the splash zone. Masking and protecting surrounding areas is standard procedure for all our jobs to carefully protect the customers property. . We honed the marble using diamond pads to produce a smooth surface, ready for the polishing process. When removing shower glass doors, walls and frames there are screw holes and dark staining usually under the tracks and frames. With color matched acrylic we make the holes disappear and lighten or completely remove the staining. This way a customer can have new frameless glass doors and wall installed with out the ugly stains and holes visible from the old glass frame.
The AFTER images were taken when the marble was polished, cleaned, and the fixtures were replaced, but before we removed the caulking and grout at the base of the floor and replaced it with fresh caulk and grout.
To learn more about marble cleaning, repair, and restoration, visit our Natural Stone Services Page.
