Spilled Lemon on Granite - Can I fix the Etch that was made?

[GranJunky]

I have Black Pearl in my house. We rented it to people for a weekend and they had a few drinks. Were told that they had vodka and lemon, some was spilled and now my granite is stained and etched. You can see the ringmark left by the glass and the wiping direction of the spill. Some stains is just discolouration and some actually etched the material. Ruff is you scratch it with your nail. Is there a way I can save my tops?

[Mark D.]

Yes.
Remove the stains with a solution of caustic soda and water.

Repolish with Diaglo for dark granite - see notes below, then seal with Hydrex.


Get a variable speed grinder, a backing pad, a felt wheel and some Diaglo polishing compound. Here are the links:
http://www.defusco.com/bosch-variable-speed-angle-grinder-p-2515.html
http://www.defusco.com/flexible-backing-pad-velcro-p-1939.html
http://www.defusco.com/alpha-felt-wheel-velcro-back-p-2360.html
http://www.defusco.com/diaglo-dark-granite-1qt-p-1453.html
http://www.defusco.com/tenax-impregnator-and-sealer-liter-p-2095.html


The first thing I would do is treat the spots with an alkaline solution to make sure all the acid is sucked out of the stone. You can use either caustic soda and water solution, or if it is a small area and you have Drano, use that. Drano is a great alkaline solution, I don't recommend it for large areas as it is a lot more expensive than the caustic soda. Put the solution on your stone and lay a paper towel over it to keep it moist for 30-60 minutes, then clean the stone thoroughly with water.

Now put the felt wheel onto the backing pad and screw the backing pad onto the grinder. Turn the RPM down to position 1 or 2. Sprinkle some of the polishing powder over the areas you need to repolish. Mist over with water. Use the felt wheel to turn the powder/mist into a paste. Buff paste over the area (similar to buffing a car) until you have the desired result. Remember to keep the paste a little moist. You may have to do this process more than once to get the desired results. It depends on how high a polish your slab has and how much the stone was etched.

When you are finished with the polishing, wipe on the Hydrex sealer to impregnate the stone. This will stainproof it and prevent citric acid (and other acids) from etching it.

Glad to be of service,
Mark