*
In Sicily (where marble is cheaper then wood) they often clean it with water and vinegar. It might be worth a try. Also, it might be worth trying to polish it and get the yellow stuff off before tearing it all out.
Frank
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Performance improvements for the prized homes of an influential developer who wanted us all to be able to own one.
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
*
Jjmcgoug,
Sicily is full of elegant homes with very well done masonary. They take extodinary pains with their workmanship.People for years have been using very dilute vinegar solutions to clean marble.
Sorry if you don't like my opinion. It hardly gives you the right to make offensive generalizations about a wonderful people or insult me personally.
FB
*
With my experience in polishing an existing marble surface is your opening up a can of worms if not at least wasting time. As far as tobacco I once had to tear out one of my own newly installed tile floors inside a tile shower ,so there may be some truth to that. Keep in mind that once marble has been installed it takes a few days for moisture to escape and truly see the shade especially in light marble. If the repair must be done, hand pick your replacement tiles before beginning the repair. I normally use a right angle grinder with diamond blade followed closely behind the wheel with the nozzle of a shop vac (clean filter). First cuts are about a half inch in from the perimeter of the piece to ease the pressure from the surrounding tiles. In any case better more cutting than hammering. Peter Yost Tile & marble Portland OR
*Creature: see if this sites solution will work in your situation:Cleaning marble
*Thanks everyone for your tips and advice. Did the tearout today....the tearout of 4 led to the tearout of four..which, led to the tearout of...OK, at least I didnt end up tearing out them all!! And...I am getting full coverage with my thinset..yeeha. The technique which worked best was an angle grinder with diamond blade followed close by with a shop vac. And like Peter said more cutting is good. If I held the hose at the start of my cut I could get most of it shooting out the saw kerf. Found it easiest to take the Durock and all. The kicker will be getting paid for my effort. What do you guys think...should the tile distributor pay for it? Or is this something that "could be expected?" I havent set alot of marble but I've never run into this before. It wasnt a huge job to tear it out, but it could have been. I do all the GC's houses, and I'll send him the bill, but I don't think he is responsible for the cost either.At any rate I'll try and send a photo when its all done. Thanks again.Dave
*Water will also leave permanent yellowish stains possibly from condensation from a toilet tank, you may want to avoid wet curing your grout. Peter Yost
*The marble is an inlay in a maple floor in the front entryway..no wet curing going on here. Marble tearout is enough for me, I dont want to do hardwood floor tearout at well!! I wish I would have read your post prior to heading out this morning, it would have saved some experimentation on the tearout procedure. Do you have a tile and marble studio, install, or both?? Thanks for the advice.Dave
*"Installation constitutes acceptance." In other words, you put it in, you bought it. But if you ask the tile store real nice...Many times when working with light colored tiles the color variation is not noticed until after grouting. Perhaps this is the case here.
*
Creature;
You didn't mention what color the tiles are but I have noticed that white ceramic is easily stained by tracking asphalt residue (asphalt driveway?) in on the bottom of your shoes - for what it's worth.
Will
*
Creature:
Sorry to hear about the trouble. What a bitch. IMHO the tile supplier should bear at least some of the burden. I've seen your work posted here before, and it is top notch. You're not some weekend hack (like me)struggling just to keep things level and square. This sure doesn't seem like an intallation problem to me, it's too isolated to specific tiles. Is this your normal supplier? If so I gotta think he values your patronage enough to cut you some slack that he wouldn't cut somebody like me. That being said, I still wouldn't hold my breath.........
FWIW, I gotta get some grout from my supplier next time I'm in the big town, I'll ask around if they have seen this problem before.
*Thanks for the compliment wedge...no, not my normal supplier. The tearout and replacement are done...yes a bitch, but hey some days are like that. This may be the easy way out but Im just going to eat the cost. Like Rich said, installation is acceptance, not sure I totally agree but no one could have predicted the bleed. I do enough work for this GC that is fairly high end that its not worth complaining about. The worst part was the number of unintentional chips that occured along natural veins in the marble. Once the trim is on and things are cleaned up I'll post a picture of it. Dave
*Spoke to my tile supplier yesterday, and got some puzzled looks and guesses much the same as here, but nothing solid. Gotta see another supplier for some slate this week, so I'll ask there. I got my marble from them cause they sell a lot of it, maybe better luck there.
*
Anyone have any tips for tearing out a some 12x 12 marble tiles? I did an inlay in a wood floor and four of them are turning yellow. (Before the critics jump in, the marble and setting materials were supplied, and the thinset was rated for marble. Dont know it the tile sales folks have a track record with this type of marble/thinset combo..Im guessing no.)
Anyway, joints are tight, set on a 45 degree angle. Setting is about 7'x7' surrounded by finsihed maple floor. Marble over Durock with Hydroment Single Flex. New construction. Im planning to go at it with a grinder and chisel bit in my hammer drill as I would ceramic tile. Think I can get them out without screwing up too many of the adjoining?
Im assuming the yellow is a reaction to the portland in the thinset. Is there a possibility that it may go away? Id like to get at the tearout as soon as possible, figure the longer I wait the harder it is going to be.
Thanks...
DAve
*Hi Dave,I wouldn't be in a hurry to remove the discoloured tiles until I knew what caused it and if they can be cleaned.Why do you beleive that the tiles were stained from the thinset and not from spilling something on them? Normally when its a chemical reaction, its all over and not just a few out of the group.Once they have set and dried removing them today or next month won't make much difference.If you decide that you do want to remove them, start by drilling a small hole in all four corners about 1/16 from the edge to make sure your corners are weaker than the grout against the other corners to be protected. Remember, marble is grained and can have weak edges that will be damaged by your working on the adjacent tiles.Then you use the cutting wheel to partition the tiles.Finally, you can chip them out.Don't envy you buddy,Gabe
*Many type of stone are treated or doctored with sealers. Over time they leach out living a less than desired look. Im with Gabe check for surface stains, and wet tiles to see if they achieve a uniform appearance. If they do you may just need to use a penetrating sealer. David
*Here is something I left out. The marble turned this color overnight. It is in four random pieces, Im sure no one spilled anything on them. I did wet them down a couple times while I was grouting another area in the house and the yellowing did seem to go away in two of them but then came back once dry. I havent grouted the marble yet.Thanks for the advice.Dave
*Ah yes, the good 'ol yellowing problem. So, this is a new installation, right? Various solutions have been proposed over the years, none really repeatedly supported by hard evidence. Most fall in the category of installer error. Some say it is because of the nicotine in tabacco. Didn't you one time past say you use your thinset bucket as a spittoon? Or maybe it's the hard tap water. Given that it's a natural stone, who's to say just how mineralized water will react with the stone, eh?What I say, though, is you should look more closely: do you discern the face of the Christ in the yellowed spots? Don't be so quick with that hammer and chisel.
*Damn..I knew I should have given up the Red Man long ago!! Unfortunately its not the face of the Christ I see in the yellowing but the face of a GC who is already behind schedule!!Yes, it is a new installation. Looks pretty nice too except for those four damn pieces of marble. My question is...couldnt it happen to some others in a few more days, or weeks. Do we know it is done? At first I thought maybe it was agglomerated stone...not the real stuff (says Made in China on the boxes...like I said before, I didnt pick the stuff out.) But its highly polished so Im assuming its real. Dont you need quartz to get the high polish?So, Rich, are you saying I should let it sit and maybe the yellow will pass??Dave
*In Sicily (where marble is cheaper then wood) they often clean it with water and vinegar. It might be worth a try. Also, it might be worth trying to polish it and get the yellow stuff off before tearing it all out.Frank
*This could get very interesting.Never spit your Copenhagen on the thinset. Especially with a light colored stone.Poultice or naught. Take up the offending pieces, replace, call it a day and never look back!Jeffty
*You are a complete idiot Frank. Advising one to clean a polished stone(calcium) with an acid could be totally wrong and potentially more costly than curing the original minor problem.It is true however that marble is cheaper than wood in Sicily BUT the expectations of the client who purchases these materials and the related labor to install the same is much different in the US than the reduced expectations of the typical Italian consumer.What could you be thinking giving advice such as this without knowing/seeing the actual material/situation?Just goes to show, everyone with a keyboard can be an expert on the internet.Jeff
*F'kn A Jimbo, got to hand it to you for your smooth talking. How do you do it? ROFLMAONow hold on here, ya hear? Now it seems Creature don't know what he got. Well, is it the phoney balony or the real deal? It's only been a coupla' days, I say hold on with that hammering. Keep it moist with a poultice of white vinegar--yeah, ya retard--and cornstarch. Don't let it dry out and wait a 3 days or so. Neutralize with baking soda and clean water.Aint none of us here seen the spots, so how we really know? Creature, you can narrow it down to the real stuff in a jiffy. Get some HCL and put a drop or two on some scrap cutoffs. No effervescing, it's not real. BTW: you can buff poly resins to a high gloss; you don't need quartz to get that polished face.