The plumber used regular plumber’s putty on the fresh marble counters and stained them.The marble is white. Is there something that will draw the oil out of the stone? I was thinking laquer thinner maybe, but also something like speedy dry, only finer. Baking soda or talc? Thankfully it’s not my problem, just trying to help out the contractor, we’re friends.
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Typically to remove stains from stone you use a poultice. You can use diatomacous earth or any convenient powder (even flour) mixed with a wetting agent that is an effective solvent for the stain. You mix it to a fairly wet consistency, plop it on the stain, and tape a piece of plastic over the top. Let it sit overnite and take off plastic in the morning. Allow it to sit uncovered until dry and scrape off with a PLASTIC spatula. You can repoultice it as many times as needed.
The most striking example of the effectiveness of pouticing was told to me by my local stone supplier. One of his customers had laid out marble tile himself to get the veins going in the orientation desired and then used a red ink marker to number the the tiles on the backside. They were installed the next day and shortly thereafter the red ink started to show on the top surface. The ink was allegedly pulled through the stone with a poultice and removed so that no visible trace remained.
I have heard that the staining caused by plumbers putty can be extremely difficult/impossible to remove. One of the gnarliest solvents for poulticing is methylene chloride (I think this is commercial paint stripper), maybe do a test staining a scrap of the marble and attempt to poultice it with the methlene chloride. You could also just try an acetone poultice first.
I have only had to do a poultice on one job where a red plum got dropped on the slab and sat overnite. I used diatomaceos earth and hydrogen peroxide poultice and it took two poulticings.
Beware that the polish on marble is very easily removed by any sort of acid so stick with ph neutral wetting agents and always test on a scrap first. I emphasized the use of plastic spatula above as it also scratches very easily.
Karl
You can find detailed poulticing instructions at http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/printthis/0,13588,202058,00.html
Karl
The contractor found something at the local tile/stone supply that is just what you prescribed, a poultice. Thanks much for your info and response
Dave