There’s a good chance you just installed your new marble countertops/flooring or have moved into a house with existing marble and are wondering how you clean this beautiful stone. Good News, you’ve come to the right place! And like you suspected marble does take special care to stay looking its best. Marble is porous and a soft stone, that means any acidic spill can potentially stain your stone.
Clean As You Go
Things like red wine, orange juice, and coffee need to be cleaned up immediately. These highly acidic fluids if left uncleaned are certain to cause stains. Cooking spice powders also represent potential causes for stains. Curry, cumin, rose clippings, and mustard are all examples of powders/solids that can stain your new marble. Using a soft cloth and some soapy warm water, ensuring you clean up any water puddles takes care of 90% of the care necessary. With flooring a dust mop is a great solution.
Be Gentle
You don’t want to use sharp objects or harsh chemicals. Less is more, sharp objects can scratch you marble and harsh cleaning chemicals can create stains. If you marble is stained, you want to take a calculated approach. Since marble is a soft stone you can’t put back what you take off. If you do have a stain that you just can’t stand and you can’t wait for a professional, using a fine steel wool to lightly scrub the stain out is an alternative.
Is there a perfect Soap for Marble?
A 3:1 water to Dawn dish soap will have a pH very close to 7.0 (neutral) This ensures you aren’t etching your marble with any harsh chemicals. I prefer using a large microfiber cloth for countertops and a microfiber mop for floors. Use caution when mopping floors and limit the amount of water. Water is the enemy here, you want to use just enough to pick up dirt and dust. Drying marble with a microfiber towel will also create a nice shiny finish and eliminate the chance for water spots to etch the surface. I find it the most manageable when I clean 5ft x 5ft sections at a time.