How to Clean Stains From Marble Tile

LESLIE: Steve in Hawaii has a question about how to clean stains from marble tile. Welcome to The Money Pit.

STEVE: We’ve got this really nice travertine tile in our kitchen and some other parts of our home, too. But the kitchen is primarily the part that I’m bothered by. And you can see spots where things have spilled, drops of whatever. I think lemon juice happened – was one of the cases.

You look at the tile, it’s very nice. But if you look at it from an angle, you can see the gloss except for these random spots, about the size of a nickel, that are no longer glossy where something has spilled and basically taken the gloss off. And I wonder if there’s some product or some treatment that I can do to the floor to restore the gloss to make it look like it’s a nice, new floor again or at least look better than how it looks now.

TOM: Right. Well, certainly, marble does need a lot more maintenance than most other surfaces. Even though people think it’s really durable, it really does need cleaning and sealing and that sort of thing.

Now, if you have a professional clean stains from marble tile, they’re going to come in, they’re going to buff it and it’s going to look beautiful. But there are some do-it-yourself products to clean stains from marble tile. One of the most common manufacturers in that line is called Stone Care. And they have a number of cleaners and sealers and polishes that are designed for travertine. So I think that’s a good place to start.

Take a look at StoneCare.com. I’m sure their products are pretty widely distributed. And I think you might find the solution there.

STEVE: Do I want a sealer or a cleaner? What product am I looking for?

TOM: Well, you have cleaners, you have polish and you have sealers, right? And it really depends on the condition of the marble. I would certainly start with a cleaner. And if you’re seeing a lot of where you think the pores are really opened up, then you might want to add a sealer and polish on top of that. But it’s kind of a multi-step process and it is a lot of work. And that’s why, a lot of times, these solid-stone – even countertops that folks get and think that it’s kind of a one-and-done thing, they’re just sorely disappointed, especially the first time they spill coffee or tomato juice and have to clean stains from marble tile.

STEVE: Yep. OK. We’ll give it a try. Thanks for your advice.