Quick Tips

We love a shiny clean surface.  In fact, we subconsciously attribute shiny with clean.  Perhaps its in knowing that dirt will interfere with a naturally shiny surface.  The fact, is however, this affinity of gloss can be used against us, and is by many unscrupulous cleaner manufacturers.

If clean is the absence of dirt, then naturally we would be disappointed if someone told us a product that was sold to us a cleaner was actually depositing an oil or a wax to the surface.  It maybe shiny, but it is certainly not clean.

DID YOU KNOW…that 1 in 5 homeowners who thinks they are cleaning are actually waxing their counters?

Looks nice, clean and shiny…right up until the wax begins to look hazy and oily at which point the cleaner “does not work.”  Worse the honest to goodness cleaners don’t either, cause they are not designed to remove a coating.  They are designed to clean granite…not clean wax or worse yet to remove wax.

Now the poor homeowner has a bigger problem, but one they don’t even realize is going on, because they never intended to wax their counter.  They need to first remove this unwanted deposit before they will ever be satisfied with the “cleanliness” of their surface.  This either requires a professional stripping (no not stripper) treatment from a professional stone craftsman or a quick treatment of ammonia or acetone, it depends on the wax that has been deposited. A quick dab will tell you.  If you see a shiny clean surface underneath you are on the right track.  It only needs to be PRE-CLEANED once, after which the focus becomes how to keep it truly clean – MARBLELIFE GRANITE & QUARTZ CLEANER.  This product is wax free.  Its designed to clean you granite counters, not hide them.

It gets worse.  When a wax is deposited by a cleaner it builds up over time.  Being soft and heat sensitive it gets disrupted by day to day material and kitchen heat.  When it does guess what you have to use MORE “cleaner” and more frequently in order to soften and re-smear the wax around to get it to LOOK clean again.  Of course, what is really happening is we are depositing more ON TOP of what was on the counter.  The ingredients used to keep the wax in solution are able to soften and reflow the wax on your counter so that it “looks” clean again…ie shiny…right up until its too thick a coating.  So now we have to use more in order to keep this soft surface looking “shiny.”

It gets worse…Eventually, just like on a floor, the wax gets so thick that it becomes hazy.  A hazy surface will look like it has grease or oil on it, but it is resistant to a degreaser…because you guessed it, its not an oil or grease.

How often does this happen?  1 in 5 purchases of a cleaner are purchased because their granite is no longer “shiny” clean.

Now what do you do?  Particularly if you don’t know what you are dealing with.  If you don’t know you begin a review of cleaners…but none gives the result you want.  Why?  Because your counter never lost it shine, it’s just hiding behind the wax buildup.  We need to remove the wax.  In effect, we need to re-strip the surface to get back to a clean granite surface which can then be maintained in an honest manner without introducing oils and gloss to play on our desire for shiny, create an artificial need to over apply and over use the cleaner, as it continues to deposit more material.  Once we have removed the wax from the prior cleaner, the surface can be maintained in an honest manner, allowing the granite’s natural polished surface to shine forth.

So how does this happen?  Either the manufacturer doesn’t realize the problem they are creating, or does and just wants to sell juice.  Either way we have brought the wrong product and partner home with us.  What we really want is results from someone knowledgeable about what is happening (so they can save me time, money and provide a healthy easy to clean surface) and a product that can JUST clean, not make me believe its clean.

A little ammonia or acetone will quickly tell you if your granite counters are suffering from this malaise and can look better than they already do.  (Be careful not to do this on a plastic counter such as Corian as these solvents can soften plastic).  If not sure, call a professional craftsman.  MARBLELIFE® can assist you here.  You can pop the shine, with LESS, versus with MORE.

What you want is MARBELIFE GRANITE & QUARTZ CLEANER.  Help a friend.  Life gets a lot easier when we know what is REALLY going on.  Dispel the myths.  Then order the product that is designed to maintain these surfaces, was formulated by the largest company in North America focused on restoring these surfaces, and has addressed more of these problems than anyone else.  How are you going to know if the next cleaner is wax-free when the manufacture is using it to impart a false result?  You want a true clean.

Share your new found knowledge.  As you can imagine, this message was written after working with a client to reclaim their beautiful counters.

In defense of Men… The grout around the toilet is pretty disgusting.  All you ladies know what I am talking about, and you all know EXACTLY how it happened… Poor aim.

But wait a minute… while that can be a contributing factor, you may be surprised to learn that it is NOT the number one reason why grout gets so dirty.  Drum roll please…. It’s the cleaner!  No not the person, but the product.  Sure HE may be a partial culprit, but generally it is actually the cleaning agents used.  To make matters worse, the more energy and effort that has been put into getting this resolved often exacerbates the problem.  We know, we are the ones that eventually get the call to figure out what happened, how to fix it, and then how to prevent it.

This time … he’s right.  The most acidic material your toilet sees is the toilet bowl cleaner.  One drop of this acid laden cleaner can destroy the seal on your grout.  Once the seal is gone the grout is a big old sponge which absorbs everything.  So what can you do?

First, fix it.  This means getting your grout cleaned and resealed.  This time though, we can take advantage of our knowledge to solve this problem once and for all; by applying a colorized acid-resistant sealer.  Once cleaned and ColorSealed, the grout is clean, uniform in color, resistant to toilet bowl cleaner and yes -even to his misguided aim. And best of all, you can even change the color from white to black, black to white, or to a color that matches your new towels.  Or better yet, really surprise him: get new towels, color accent your grout, and see how long it takes for him to even notice.  (How are we sure this is the problem?  The first thing we have to do to restore a clean uniform appearance is to remove the old seal, and guess what we have to do — apply an acid).

Now that you have your beautifully restored and accented bathroom.  Caring for it is a breeze.  The FRESH & CLEAN BATHROOM KIT has everything you would ever need to keep that bathroom pristine and clean!  If just worried about your tile use MARBLELIFE TILE & GROUT CLEANER.  If you want to try to restore the damage for the short time MARBLELIFE MAXOUT TILE & GROUT cleaner is designed to help clean unsealed grout with this very issue.  That said, while it does a great job in cleaning (you will be amazed, check out the video where you can see the dirt coloring the cleaner and then the sand crystals sparkling back afterwards).

Call to MARBLELIFE to have your grout COLORSEALED will solve this raging debate once and for all, but more importantly you will have a fresh start with clean pristine grout, that is no longer acid sensitive.  Its like getting a new floor, only better, as the grout is now acid resistant.  Call 855-717-3555 to schedule an estimate, discuss your situation (we cannot help with husbands aim, but can fix everything else), or to place an order, or visit us at marblelifeproducts.com.

Remember Mom telling us “if you did it right the first time, you wouldn’t have to waste time doing it again?”  I certainly do.  Perhaps this is why we focus so much on understanding why we had to do it the first time rather than seeking to eliminate the root cause.  (Wait a minute though, we aren’t referring to getting rid of the pets, kids or even the husband).  Actually, we’re talking about how many cleaners result in a lot of wasted time.  It’s more prevalent than one might expect.  It’s akin to the planned obsolescence of the 1970 car market. Where cars were designed to fail, so you needed to buy a new one.  Cleaners are designed to be marketed versus functional.  We want shiny – so waxes are added to impart shine (But hold the phone! They also attract and hold dirt, but that’s okay they’ll buy more.) I very much hate that.  I want to be done fast and easy and in as little time as possible.  I want is done RIGHT so I don’t have to keep doing it again.

The study of cleaning has resulted in a number of MARBLELIFE innovations and advances.  (In fact, stay tuned as we will be launching a new product shortly, one that can actually turn your glass and metal into a self-cleaning surface – how great would that be?)  Today, half the battle is not removing the dirt, but removing the material that allows the dirt to stick to the surface.  Oil, wax and what we think of as dirt/dust, are completely different items.  Sand, mud, cat dander etc do not stick to anything by themselves.  You instinctively know this as we’ve collected it as dust.  However, when they encounter a wax (deposited by many wood and glass cleaners) or an oil (deposited by cooking splatters, fingerprints, bare feet, and pet noses) we inadvertently provide the glue needed to stick that dirt to our surfaces.  The most important factor is eliminating the glues (and not adding any new ones).

MARBLELIFE cleaners are wax-free and designed to lift-and-surround oils so they can be carried away in the cleaner’s water.  That may sound impossible as we all know oil and water don’t mix.  But like the magicians of old who used science to create magic, so has MARBLELIFE.  Our cleaners surround oils and allow them to be lifted free effortlessly.  With the oils removed, the dirt wipes away with ease.  With no residues we are not cleaning the cleaner.  We have a fresh, clean, healthy surface that will remain easy to clean versus suffering a gradual decline as waxes accumulate.

TIP:  If you can’t get your wood floors or granite counter back to a clean surface, the problem may be the gradual accumulation of waxes and residues.  MARBLELIFE can help.  A one-time professional cleaning can remove this build-up, allowing you to see and interact with your REAL clean surface.  Once done, maintenance is easy.  As MARBLELIFE products are designed to maintain a TRUE clean.  How does that sound for a time saver!

WILL YOUR MARBLE & TRAVERTINE CLEANER MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER, SAFER AND HEALTHIER?

OR WILL IT COST YOU THOUSANDS?

Marble is a gorgeous, natural looking surface characterized by elegant swirling colors and an elegant finish designed to accent a beautiful home.  Travertine is but one form of marble, most often displaying a tan to brown color, with spots of cream.   How you care for your travertine will make the difference between pride and horror.  Choose the wrong cleaner and a $10 investment could cost you thousands; not to mention the shocking realization you did it yourself and the frustration of realizing that no amount of “cleaning” will remove the dullness, swirls, spots and spill marks burned into your floor.  Now you need a restoration.  The restoration service industry’s phone calls typically surge following slick TV ads promoting effective calcium and hard water removing cleaners, or all purpose tile cleaners.  The only difference is how fast they will destroy your finish.  The good news is this mistake can be fixed, but not without a restoration.  All because the wrong cleaner was used.

A quick fact: your marble and travertine floors are made of the same material that is deposited on the surface as “hard water stains” or “calcium deposits,” Calcium Carbonate.  While a knowledgeable restoration expert can remove these deposits without damaging the original stone, the cleaning industry will promote or recommend various acidic concoctions to chemically remove these deposits, and in doing so will also dissolve pits into your finished floor surface.  A beautiful floor can be converted into a white-etched, streaked mess within one application of a hard water remover or gradually over time with the use of vinegar or a to a duller finish with a tile cleaner.  Like a dieter watching calories, it pays to read the label and avoid anything that contains a hint of acid- or does not specifically tout itself to be marble-safe.

IF YOU WANT CLEAN, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO REMOVE OILS
Water, while safe, fails to remove the other enemy, oil.  Oil collects on floors from a variety of sources. We walk it in: bare feet and pet pads deposit it, we splatter it as we cook, and deposit it with each spill.  What is clear is that dirt by itself will not stick to a floor, it needs an oil base to act as its adhesive.  Remove the oil and the floor can be cleaned with a dry duster.  much easier than pulling out the mop bucket, water just won’t do it.

Neither will an acidic cleaner like vinegar, or even a solvent cleaner.  They ride on top of the oil and do little but move it around.  A surfactant cleaner however is different, its half water-loving half oil-loving, nature allows it to surround the oil so that it cannot see the water while allowing the oil to be carried away by the water. It also has the benefit of doing the same with acids. So instead of simply diluting and spreading the damage when we wipe up with water, we can effectively surround and neutralize the acid, halting its damaging effects.

MARBLELIFE developed surfactant cleaning technology in response to a recognized gap in the market between water, vinegar, tile cleaners and calcium removers.  Optimized over years as a marble cleaner, it now offers a myriad of additional benefits.  By removing persistent surface oil contamination, it enhances floor safety by measurably improving anti-slip performance.  In fact, in a study of anti-slip treatments, more than 80% of the benefit was captured by simply using the right cleaner- something that could be done without any further treatments.  When it comes to disinfecting do you want to kill the bugs and leave the carcass? Or do you simply remove everything on the surface?  Optimized for ease of use, it will remove oil without streaking, making it suitable for far more than its initial mission as a marble and travertine cleaner.

When it comes to cleaner selection, it’s simple.  Get it right, and you get the benefits of having made an informed decision. Get it wrong, and the costs can reach the thousands; as the only way to remove acid damage is to grind the entire marble tile down to the depth of the deepest damage.

THE WRONG CLEANER WILL REMOVE YOUR SEAL
Acids have another dastardly feature. They reverse the chemistry of your stone sealer, allowing it to be washed away over time and leaving your stone and travertine susceptible to staining.  You don’t need to get anxious when your little visitor is walking across the floor with a blue kool aid- if your floor is properly sealed, that is.  Sealing is like an insurance policy.  You rest easy when you have it and have reason to be concerned when you don’t.  Use of an acidic cleaner can remove the entire seal in one application.  We know this because we utilize acids to remove grout sealers before treating the grout to restore its color, and we can do so in one application.  Therefore…so can you.

SEALING YOUR FLOOR…AND WHY YOU MAY HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN.
The second myth we have to manage is the need to seal your floor.  Marble is highly porous.  In its natural state it will absorb water on contact, darkening as it does.  The stone was likely sealed on installation. However, sealers are not permanent.  In fact, acid has the nasty habit of reversing the reaction the sealer went through when applied, allowing it to be washed away.  So applying an acid cleaner will literally wash away the sealer.  Acid spills such as tea, coffee or juice will do the same thing but on a spot basis.  Once destroyed, the surface is open and susceptible to being stained.  Now that blue Kool Aid in that little one’s hands becomes a source of anxiety.  In fact, anything with a dye could create a problem.  Once stained, you cannot guarantee it can be removed.  You are better off applying an ounce of prevention so you can sleep well and unconcerned.  Stone should be sealed every other year.  This is your insurance policy, and like all such policies, you are overjoyed to have it when you need it, but regret not getting it when you really need it.

So a non-acidic surfactant based cleaner and a penetrating sealer are the keys to caring for your marble and travertine.  Select an appropriate offering and your floor will be easier, healthier and more beautiful.  Choose wrongly, and you will have a dull, slip-prone, frustrating surface that is going to cost you a pretty penny to restore.

MARBLELIFE has been formulating, optimizing and developing Marble, Travertine, Granite, Tile and Concrete Cleaners, services and care processes for more than 25 years. Throughout this time, we have become the largest stone restoration company in North America.  For more information visit us at MARBLELIFE Product page or MARBLELIFE website

IF YOU HAVE MARBLE, TRAVERTINE, POLISHED CONCRETE OR GROUT (AKA TILE) THERE ARE HUGE REASONS NOT TO USE VINGAR.

Urban legend suggests vinegar is a good cleaning agent.  In truth, it has the incidious ability to attack your floors in three distinctly different manners.  In each case, the damage is done overtime.  Kind of like eating sweets.   One isn’t going to hurt you but eating the bag overtime can impact the eater’s weight.

1. Etching – Vinegar’s ability to dissolve CaCO3 will dull your marble, travertine, concrete and terrazzo surfaces.  It may “clean” the surface but it is also dissolving pits into the finish and effectively dulling it.  Overtime, what appears as wear on your floor may in fact be a broad acid attack resulting in an etched surface.  Wear is characterized by long shallow scratches created when a piece of sand or other debris is trapped under one’s foot and is scraped across the surface. An etch is characterized by pinholes in the surface where the acid has dissolved away the CaCO3 in the stone or grout. The difference can be seen with a magnifying glass.  This will affect marble, travertine, concrete and concrete terrazzo surfaces.
2. pH Shift – Vinegar’s ability to shift the pH of a surface due to its acid nature creates a condition which reverses the reaction used to seal your grout and stone surfaces- allowing the seal to be floated away while in its unreacted state.  At pH 7 your seal is like glass but at ph 1 it has been reverted back to its liquid raw materials form and can seal nothing.
3. Leeching – Vinegar’s ability to leech out grout dyes will lighten and eventually decolor grout over time.

WHAT’S IN VINEGAR?   Vinegar consists of acetic acid, a natural and inexpensive acid.  Its low cost is why it has become so popular as a cleaning product ingredient. In fact, we have been using it since Roman times, however this was not one of their great gifts to mankind.  They just happened to be the first to be tricked by this trickster “cleaner.”

GOT MARBLE OR TRAVERTINE?
As an acid, vinegar will react with CaCO3.  This is what hard water consists of.  Unfortunately, what many people do not realize is that their marble and travertine solutions are also made of CaCO3.  Whether using vinegar specifically to remove hard water deposits, or cleaning your entire floor, the acid reacts with your marble and creates a small pit disrupting the mirror like smooth surface that was capable of reflecting light for a glossy sharp appearance.  Overtime you can literally vinegar-wash the finish off your floor, or more accurately acid pit your floor.  The solution requires the floor to be ground and polished by a professional marble restoration craftsman.  The good news it can be restored to its original shine and luster.

Once restored, you will want to use a non-acidic cleaner such as MARBLELIFE’S MARBLE & TRAVERTINE CLEANER.  As you will find, this cleaner also does a remarkable job cleaning up oily, greasy situations.  Your kitchen will thank you.

Marble and some metals will show the damage immediately if pure vinegar is used. Lemon juice and most fruit juices contain sufficient acid that one can visibly etch a surface in a few minutes of contact. The resulting white spot, ring or lemon wedge may look like a smudge or dirt, but is actually missing stone. This type of damage requires the stone to be honed and polished in order to repair it.

So how do you get rid of hard water stains?  Try a razor blade… that may be all you need, otherwise call MARBLELIFE.  A professional stone restoration craftsman can remove surface build-up and restore your surface to a clean, glossy appearance.

GOT POLISHED CONCRETE?
Polished concrete is credited to being one of the least-expensive-to-maintain floor.  It can be colored and polished in a variety of finishes.  In fact, you will see this type of floor in big box stores around the country who also appreciate the fact that once densified it prevents salts from seeping up through the concrete which would then dry on the surface and become the largest source of dust in the building.  The shift to a densified, polished concrete occurred largely due to the time savings associated with not having to deal with dust, and the better perceived turnaround associated with products that “have not been on the shelf so long they are not covered with dust.”  So what is the biggest problem and repair?  A customer dropping a pickle jar in the grocery store.  The vinegar spill will literally etch its splatter pattern into the floor leaving a white ghost impression.  Fixing it requires the floor to be reground and polished by a professional.  If this can occur with a single spill of a product using a lot of vinegar, consider what is happening when you are cleaning consistently with a diluted solution of vinegar.  Exactly the same thing, just over a longer time and a larger area.  Better to clean your floor with a MARBLELIFE cleaner.  If you do this, your floor can maintain its appearance for years to come.

GOT CERAMIC TILE?:
Ceramic tile surfaces are impervious to acid. BUT, for the accompanying grout, it is NOT. In fact, this may be THE major reason why your grout has discolored and unable to return to a like-new appearance.  Don’t worry, once you understand what is happening, there are solutions that cannot just restore a fresh clean appearance, but will allow you to greatly simplify your cleaning going forward.  Think COLORSEAL and TILELOK.  Your grout has been protected with a penetrating sealer designed to fill in the pores in what is otherwise a concrete-like matrix- unsealed, and it would absorb liquids just like rain on a concrete sidewalk.  Acids and vinegars have the nasty affect of changing the pH condition of the grout in such a manner that it unzips the penetrating sealer’s chemistry returning it to its raw materials state.  The act of washing literally floats these materials out of your grout.  Over time your grout becomes unsealed and is now free to absorb dirt. Particularly dirt from your mop water as you clean the floor.  Once inside the grout, it gives a stained appearance and is extremely difficult to remove, particularly if it is an oil to grease based dirt, which of course will not mix well with the water in your mop bucket (unless you are using a MARBLELIFE Cleaner – but that is a subject for another article).

GOT GROUT?
If you have a tile floor you sure do.  In addition to breaking down the seal as noted above, vinegar has the ability to leech out the grout’s color and any dyes.  The fact that a floor looks lighter and whiter after its use is a major reason people have gravitated to it. However, the real reason this occurs is not cleaning but rather more closely associated with bleaching.  The grout is being robbed of its color.  Overtime your grout will trend towards a light cement grey color.  The good news is that the color CAN be restored to your grout using a process and technique called COLORSEALING.  This requires a colorized seal to be re-applied to the grout, where it will be absorbed.  The treatment is reapplied until a uniform color is obtained. Once completed, a color-sealed grout line will have greater uniformity in color than the original grout.  Hard to believe, but factually true!  This has to do with the grout’s loss of water over time during the short period the installer is installing it (another article).

Grout suffers a second issue in that many dyes used to color the grout can be leeched out of the grout using an acid, like vinegar. As such, the lightening that is perceived to be the acid cleaning is actually the removal of the dye and the grout’s color. Overtime continuous use can turn a colored grout back to its cementitous gray root color.

THE GOOD NEWS – EACH ISSUE CAN BE RESOLVED

SERVICE
The good news is that MARBLELIFE has developed service solutions that can repair the damage caused by an acid attack. Call 888-218-4616 for an estimate and guidance. Enter your zip code and you will be connected to the local MARBLELIFE service office in your area who can provide you with a FREE ASSESSMENT of your surface, info and education on what caused the problem, how to restore it, and then how to properly maintain it.

PRODUCT
Maintaining the investment made in your floor and counter finishes requires little education and cleaning products designed to safely clean and maintain your surfaces. This has been MARBLELIFE’s passion for more than 25 years. We are the only company that manufactures care products and provides restoration services. Our commitment has enabled us to consistently provide quality results. Our clients have rewarded us with their business and sufficient referrals to enable us to become the largest service provider in North America, with more than 45 locations.

Visit us at MARBLELIFEPRODUCTS.com to find a local hardware store in your area, or to place an order online.

CONTACT US – For more information about your particular situation. Do not hesitate to contact us at 888-218-4616