Q. What is the best way to clean a white marble bathtub? What is the best way to keep it clean? What shampoos and soaps should be used by people in marble bathtubs?   A. The shampoos, soaps, and cleaners you use can damage, stain, or diminish the... Read More

Q: We have a travertine dining room table. One of our cats got sick on it the other night. The next morning when we cleaned up the vomit, because of the acid in his stomach, it left a small stain about the size of a dollar bill. Is there a way to... Read More

Q. We have a stain on our granite top caused by a bag of peaches. The bag leaked and caused a stain in the granite. What do we use to make a mix to remove the stain?  A. The discoloration on your granite may be a stain, or it may be an etch. The... Read More

Q. I recently washed the mirrors about the marble or granite tiles with vinegar. Now there are spots on the tiles. Is there a way to remove these? It feels a little rough on the top of the spots as if the coating came off a bit. What can I do? A.... Read More

Q. What is the best cleaner to use on limestone floors? The floors in my bathroom are starting to look very dirty, with grayish marks and spots all over. A. It sounds like your floors have been etched -- probably by using an acid based cleaner. Many... Read More

Q. Is granite sensitive to acids? A. Unlike marble, granite is not a calcite based stone and is not generally vulnerable to acids. However, some stones, even though they are marketed as granite, may in fact have calcium in their makeup. Furthermore,... Read More

All minerals have a certain hardness. The hardness of a mineral is determined by performing a scratch test. A scratch test is based on the Moh’s scale of hardness. A German scientist invented this scale by taking several known, pure minerals... Read More

Q. What are those white dots on my white marble?   A. This article, by Frederick M. Hueston, Stone Forensics, provides the answer.Have you ever wondered what those white dots are on white marble? You sometimes see thousands of them in high... Read More

Q. We had travertine tile installed 1 1/2 years ago and I had a hole open up and it is gradually getting bigger and now a 2nd hole has opened up too. Don't know what has caused it? Need to know how to fix it? We had it sealed when it was done...... Read More