limescale removal Archives - Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

Limescale Stained Granite Kitchen Worktop Renovation Oxford

Removing Limescale from a Granite Worktop in an Oxford Kitchen

1 Comment / Oxford Tile Cleaning / Barry Woodward

A client from Oxford was in touch recently regarding their Granite worktop which was heavily stained with limescale build-up and she simply couldn’t get it clean. Oxford is a known hard water area with high readings of calcium carbonate in the water.

Normally granite needs little maintenance however the calcium deposits in the water (often referred to as limescale) are deposited on the worktop surface and over time this slowly builds up.

Limescale Stained Granite Kitchen Worktop Before Cleaning Oxford

There are several household products on the market that can remove limescale however you need to be very careful when using these on natural stone as they can make the problem much worse so wisely, we were asked to resolve the problem.

Removing Limescale from a Granite Worktop and Sink

Granite is not as acid sensitive as Limestone and Marble so to start I carefully applied Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up. This was rubbed into the limescale then rinsed off with water.

This was followed up with a set of six-inch Tile Doctor Burnishing pads applying them in sequence from coarse to extra fine over each part of the Granite countertop. The pads are fitted to a hand buffer and the soil generated by the pads was rinsed off between pads with water.

Granite Kitchen Worktop Aftercare

The granite worksurface does not require an actual sealer to be applied so to finish I sprayed on Tile Doctor Stone Patina Spray and buffed with a cloth to give it a high shine finish. This product is designed for cleaning stone worktops and contains a special ingredient that maintains the lustre so ideal for maintaining the worktops going forward.

Limescale Stained Granite Kitchen Worktop After Cleaning Oxford

Granite is an expensive material and makes the most beautiful and practical worktop you can install in a kitchen. In this case though the Limescale had ruined its appearance, once I had finished buffing the stone however I was pleased to see the kitchen had regained its wow factor.

Professional Renovation of a Limescale Stained Granite Worktop in Oxfordshire

Removing Limescale from a Granite Worktop in an Oxford Kitchen Read More »

Refurbishing 12 Marble Bathroom Worktops at Abingdon Science Park

This job required the cleaning of Marble Worktops in twelve toilets at a very nice office in the Abingdon Science Park. The building was occupied by a company called Sophos who you may have heard of and over a period of time the Marble had become stained through the build-up of Limescale from the water supply and the cleaning company servicing the office could not clean it off. I’ve seen a few horror stories of stone surfaces being damaged through the use of acidic Limescale removers so the cleaning company was quite right not to touch it.

Polishing Marble Worktops

To remove the Limescale it would be necessary to hone the Marble using a set of small six inch burnishing pads fitted to a handheld buffing machine. The process involves starting with the coarse 400grit pad with a little water which cuts through the Limescale and then moving on to the 800, 1500 and finishing with 3000 grit to hone the surface and build the polish backup. The water helps lubricate the activity and the surface needs to be rinsed down between each pad.

Sealing Marble Worktops

When the surface was dry I applied two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing sealer which impregnates the pores of the stone to protect it, it also enhances the natural colours in the stone.

There were twelve of these to do so as you can imagine it took me a while to get round.

If you are experiencing a similar problem with highly polished Marble do get in touch as we can achieve a mirror finish.

limescale removal