We all have a clear feeling that white marble is the most widely used of all marbles, not only for the wall and floor countertop projects, but also for many new tricks, such as light bulbs, pans, amplifiers, and even toilets, etc. penetrated deeply into our lives. At the same time, white marble is also the most troublesome variety, because, in terms of anti-fouling, white marble is hypocritical, fragile, difficult to serve, and especially prone to yellowing. To solve the problem of yellowing of white marble, we must first investigate the cause of the yellowing of the stone. What causes it to turn yellow?
off white marble
Internal reasons: the structure and composition of the stone itself:
Through electron microscope scanning, it was found that iron minerals with particle sizes ranging from 2 microns to several hundreds of microns existed on the surface of white marble, some were distributed on the surface of the plate, and some were enriched in the texture.
The iron minerals contained in white marble are oxidized to rust yellow, which is considered to be the main reason for the yellowing of marble. Because except for the texture part, the rest of the color is single, and the iron-containing minerals randomly dispersed in the marble are oxidized to form yellow or brown hydrated iron oxides, which form defects on the board surface, commonly known as yellowing, which is especially prominent for white marbles. If no protective measures are taken, this phenomenon of yellowing of marble will appear 8-12 months after the marble is placed. The phenomenon of yellowing is closely related to moisture. The yellowing phenomenon of white marble is the result of the combined action of oxidation and hydration on the ferrous minerals on the surface of the stone. These two conditions are indispensable.
carrara white marble top
There are more external reasons, including several aspects:
1. Yellowing caused by abrasion. With the wear and tear of the polished surface of the white marble, the dirt is brought into the pores of the marble surface with walking, and this dirt makes the surface of the white marble appear yellow.
2, caused by improper care. For example, mopping the floor with a dirty mop in home life. The dirt brought by the dirty mop accumulates in the marble, making the marble surface polluted and yellowed.
3. Yellowing caused by waxing. When the wax is commonly used to polish the marble surface, the thick wax layer turns yellow due to its own aging.
4. Yellowing caused by crystal face treatment. The steel wool used in the crystal surface treatment remains in the micropores of the polished marble slab with tiny fine powder, which is the root cause of yellowing, especially when the marble is subjected to the crystal surface treatment in a wet state, yellowing is more likely to occur.
5, caused by the installation process. Before installing the marble floor or wall, although the so-called six-sided waterproof treatment is carried out on the stone specification board, the bottom surface is waterproof and adhesive is used, and the four sides and the front are treated with a penetrating waterproof agent. If these are done very well, the used quality of the waterproof material is also guaranteed. In theory, the yellowing phenomenon related to water should not occur again. The fact is, even the six-sided waterproofing of the stone panel before installation is considered to be well done. The yellow phenomenon still occurs from time to time.
On the one hand, due to the installation size, the on-site cutting damaged the original waterproof treatment of one side; on the other hand, it may be due to the dirty construction environment, the cement slurry fell on the board surface during the construction process, in order to prevent the falling cement When the slurry dries up on the board surface, wipe the dropped cement slurry with a wet towel, causing the strong alkaline cement water to be smeared into some dark cracks on the board surface. It is impossible for molecules to form a protective film across the crack to shield the crack. When installing, scrape the side of the specification board with the cement slurry back and forth with an ash knife, which will also destroy the waterproof treatment that has been done.
carrara white marble slab
So how to prevent the yellowing of white marble?
Because the yellowing caused by the internal composition and structure of marble occurs through external conditions. This external condition is water and oxygen in the air, so effectively preventing water from entering the interior of the stone is the key.
An effective way to prevent water from passing through the interior of the stone is to waterproof the back of the board before the stone is installed. Penetrating waterproofing agent has a certain limit, and their waterproof performance will gradually decline due to the influence of the environment. Therefore, a penetrating waterproofing agent is only suitable for the board surface that can be repainted at any time. Such as the front of a floor or an outward-facing wall panel.
For the yellowing of white marble caused by external reasons, it can be prevented through reasonable use and maintenance, such as placing a fiber carpet at the entrance to remove sand or other hard particles from the sole before entering the marble paving area, reducing the impact of foreign hard substances on the Wear and tear of the stone slab surface; when cleaning the white marble floor, make sure that the mop is clean, the water used for mopping the floor must be clean, wipe the water on the ground after mopping the floor, use dry-wipe as much as possible and less wet mop, or use Marble cleaning fluid maintenance.
Floor waxing has been proven to be a method of maintaining marble slabs that does more harm than good. The wax-polished floor does not keep its luster for a long time. At the same time, most waxes have a blocking effect on the ventilation capillaries of the stone, so the marble normally changes with the weather. The regulated gas passage is blocked, and the accumulated wax layer turns yellow due to aging. A wax remover should be used, but its use will seriously affect the indoor air quality.
Crystal surface treatment is a commonly used polishing treatment for marble floors. During crystal surface treatment, if steel wool is used for polishing, the scattered steel wool fine powder must be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner. It should be noted that any steel wool fine powder remaining on the ground may become The source of yellowing on the surface of white marble.
absolute white marble
Finally, in terms of installation, practitioners must have a certain professional foundation, understand the specific reasons for the yellowing of the stone, have skilled installation skills, and keep the construction environment clean and tidy to avoid the yellowing of the stone caused by the installation. During the care process, use a good quality penetrating water repellant to regularly protect the floor to reduce the chance and time of water contacting the stone.
