You spent a ton of money to get the perfect marble that you absolutely love.
Problem is, many times the sales person or designer who “sold you” on the stone has given you little or no guidance on marble maintenance.
You can easily “destroy” the marble with products you use everyday. Some of those products you can’t change, but many you can.
Knowing about pH is important. Why? Because anything acidic, which is a pH of 1-6, will make your marble look awful. It leads to “water spots” that won’t clean up. Technically, they aren’t water spots. They are etches caused by acidic liquids. The calcium in the marble neutralizes acid on contact, causing a loss of polish in those places.
We always carry a pH test kit with us to determine which products are giving our customers problems. Here’s a few examples:
So first we have the example of a dish washing detergent. In this case, Dawn.
This one has a red color, and it’s an apple scent. You may be thinking, “that’s got to be acidic”.
Nope. Look at the pH paper strip (bottom of photo). You see the pinkish blob next to it, which is extra soap. But the litmus paper is a nice dark green.
That dark green corresponds to a number 7 on the pH chart above the litmus paper. A pH of 7 is neutral.
So in this case, this apple dishwashing soap by Dawn should be safe for marble.
Now let’s see some that are not safe:
Hand sanitizer. Kills 99.99% of germs and will kill your marble too.
A whopping 3 on the pH scale. Ridiculously acidic.
So you should not have hand sanitizer in your bathroom. Of course, most people do not have this in their bathroom in their homes.
But many offices do.
Business properties with upscale bathrooms should not have hand sanitizer anywhere close to their marble counters.
If you really, really need to have hand sanitizer in your bathroom, have a separate stool for it far away. Or have a dispenser on the wall.
But keep in mind it is still a problem if you have marble floors.
Last example:
Moisturizing lotion.
This one is acidic. See the litmus paper indicates a pH of 6.
You may think, “Oh, only 6. That’s not too bad. It’s just a little less than 7.”
Wrong.
The pH scale is exponential. Meaning, 6 is WAY more acidic than 7.
So this lotion also can damage your marble.
It may not cause a bad etch mark as quickly as the hand sanitizer, but you should still avoid it coming into contact with your marble counter.
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