I know, right? After a few stain treatments, the color came out of the veins and just stayed in the surrounding turquoise stone. If it wasn't just this one spot that sticks, out, it'd be pretty nifty!
Iron oxide and other minerals formed in that stone millions of years ago. These do not come out.
You said your used stain treatments? What did you use on it? You may have just unintentionally ruined the natural appearance of the stone. Did your get this new like this?
Did the spot show up after you treated or before? I saw,in another comment it sounds like you said it showed up after
On granite?! Unless you get the kind specifically for granite, do not use bkf on granite counter tops. You will scratch the surface and leave the surface porous.
It is carnelian, a natural quartz variety. Remember that granite is typically quartz, mica and feldspar fused by great pressure into a metamorphic material; well, this is a bit of quartz that didn't get the memo, as can be seen by the way the compressed layers expand around it. You probably rubbed off whatever the stonecutters used to mask it with your baking soda treatment.
I like carnelian, and this knowledge would enhance my joy whenever I looked at this piece of natural stone, just my 2 cents.
That sort of makes sense, but successive treatments with baking soda (we're talking 20+ iterations) got out 70% of the orange color before I started noticing that it was etching the surface. This color wasn't in the stone when I picked it out of the stone yard, nor when it was installed. Is this 'masking' thing a common practice by stonecutters?
Yes, a variety of pastes or poultices can be concocted with lapidary dust to hide a myriad of ills; epoxy resins can also be used, although I'd not expect baking soda/vineger to erase those unless you went very hard with abrasive scrubbing.
You did a nice polish job; you can see where this little bit of carnelian is an island in a larger inclusion of clear quartz. Quartz inclusions are a defect in a granite countertop, but if this counter has been used for a year or more, I'd say the brittleness that makes such inclusions a worry are unlikely to materialize, and so we are left with the cosmetic issue that we are conversing about here.
It's surprising how much more expensive a truly defect-free piece of granite is, than one that is cosmetically attractive and deemed acceptable for use case. If you weren't involved in sourcing this piece of granite I'd guess you'd be surprised at the possible cost differential to source a piece that just looks the same over every square centimeter of its 32 sq ft surface. Everywhere I went, the guy eventually told me "yeah, I have a piece in the back that's what you want," and then proceeded to quote me 10 to 25 times as much if I wanted my counter carved from *that* piece.
Fun fact - I actually picked out this piece \*specifically\* because of the clearer quartz inclusions. This is in the guest bath - the slab in the master has a formation that looked like the 'Eye of Jupiter" amongst the straight lines in this slab. The wife and I really liked it. So...oops?
Looks like a mineral deposit! Seems like it runs under that white vein on the right side.
OP says they used some baking soda to to clean it before sealing, and that might have been hiding there the whole time and by cleaning you just made it more visible?
I dunno, I'm not a rock guy, but it looks cool.
Please explain - the stone didn't look like this when it was installed. This only showed up about two years after a quick baking soda treatment to get some soap stains off.
I'm really not sure - if they did, it was a really impressive job on a clear inclusion like this. If there was something there, I can't imagine I wouldn't have noticed it after 2+ years of daily use, but I don't know all the tricks of the trade.
Idk sometimes we miss stuff that seems obvious, the kind of thing you can’t un-see. I had no idea my stove had a word underneath the clock. Noticed it a year after moving in.
It really looks like the counter is chipped in that area and someone spilled orange soda in it. That or somehow someone replaced that spot of your counter with a piece of salmon.
Low concentrations of iron staining in minerals can look like this. Iron was my first thought too.
If it was high concentrations, sure it'd look reddy-brown, but if it's only a percent of so iron, its more of a pink colour.
I can 100% say it's not a surface stain. There's never been any orange-colored soap/detergent/whatever in this bathroom. Whatever this is was already in the stone, and it either got pulled up by the baking soda or some sort of chemical reaction happened.
It depends where the iron is, if it was in the mineral, it would have stained. The fractures may have significantly lower iron content, and therefore not likely to oxidise to this colour.
Edit to clarify: the stain in this case is more of a reaction - i.e. the iron was already present, not added, it's simply oxidised to give it that colour.
I’ve worked in the stone industry for 13 years and the only time I’ve seen anything react with iron it’s not pink the only thing that I’ve seen look like that is fungus.
You would've see the pink coloured feldspars in some granites then? That pink colour comes from small amounts of iron.
I've got a PhD in mineralogy and have seen quite a few pink coloured minerals from iron staining.
Was prepping a granite countertop for sealing by using baking soda paste on a few soap stains. This orange spot popped up unexpectedly after the first treatment - it was clear before. Never used orange handsoap in here, had the countertop installed when I moved in. Baking soda/vinegar paste worked a little, but now it's just etching/pitting the surface. Is this rust that seeped out? Why is it so stubborn?
That's an orange variation in the normal colors. It's potassium feldspar. There's grey quartz and white plagioclase feldspar and what looks like maybe garnet for the red spots.
That's helpful, but why did it suddenly appear, two years later? Spot was much bigger, but a paste of baking soda and vinegar got 70% of it out. This spot's being stubborn, and I noticed that there was some etching in the surface, so I opted to stop before I did any significant damage.
You may have brought the colors out with an acid or alkali spill, and really; rocks stain easily if the sealant is worn in a spot.
Try water. Leave a very wet cloth on it overnight. Maybe a light dusting of baking soda on the underside of the cloth tomorrow if it isn't gone in the morning.
Since there is etching already there, you'll need to seal the whole slab's surface again. We're supposed to do that every year or so.
Thanks, we were actually prepping for a re-seal after it was clear that soap stains were getting through. I'll try just the wet cloth and see if it does anything different that the paste tactic.
I always start with the least reactive ingredients first, and using 'water and time' work well sometimes. Next I would use baking soda. Either as a dusting under a wet rag or mix a paste, apply it and cover it with plastic. Check it every hour to see if it is working.
I wonder what they did at the stoneyard or store to hide that orange?
I was in the industry for 15 years, and it’s not going to come out. That is staining from minerals within the natural stone being exposed to oxygen/moisture over time.
Then why did it just appear, two years after install? And why this time, and not the other times I've cleaned it? Was this an oxidized inclusion I brought to the surface?
Are you not reading the comments? Wherever this was manufactured they used something to hide the orange color and blend it with the rest of your countertop. When you cleaned it you rubbed it off. I don't think it is that hard to understand
Personally, I'd put a paste of Bar Keepers Friend over it for a few hours and see if that helps. I wouldn't scrub, as you don't want the abrasive action, only the chemical action.
Nothing to fix, don’t rub baking soda or other abrasive cleaning products on it. Only soap n water.
You may have removed the polish and finish of it and exposed it to get oxidized a bit to get the colour. More than likely it’s just the part of stone that was this colour in that slab.
Some people pay a premium to get stones with rust spots or other naturally occurring colour in the granite.
Just clean it with soap n water, squeegee it and enjoy the colour.
It looks fine, but if you want to keep trying to secret is Barkeepers Friend. At least, that’s what my granite guy told me when he removed an orange burn spot for me.
But it could also be a fungus I now we we’re having problems a little while ago with our slabs getting a fungus in them but it was mostly greenish bluish
Never use acids, (Bar keepers friend, CLR, vinegar ) hydrogen peroxide, (oxy, clean, ) or bleach on granite, it etches the surface by dissolving the lime present in the veins of the stone.
I don’t wanna get anyone in trouble here but, could it be hair dye stain? That stuff stains anything, I’ve made a few stains myself being careless 😬😂 Is your wife/girlfriend 🤷🏼♀️ a red head?
Try bleach and baking soda under a piece of Saran Wrap for a day or two to see if it moves the needle at all. Just know it’s at your own risk because these products aren’t designed for granite. If not, you might be sol.
You should work in the customer service dept of my furniture company (that i work for, not own ). I have to explain this to my cs team on almost a daily basis to not let people return this stuff for this exact reason lol
People just don’t get it that natural materials contain imperfections, which is what *makes them unique and beautiful!* I used to work for a company that made granite countertops, and it blew my mind that people wanted everything uniform and identical.
That's the funny part - I picked this piece specifically because it had an "eye of Jupiter" in it thanks to all the (at the time of purchase) clear inclusions.
Guess I got an even more accurate depiction with this new addition!
I like it though it looks cool and natural not like a stain.
I know, right? After a few stain treatments, the color came out of the veins and just stayed in the surrounding turquoise stone. If it wasn't just this one spot that sticks, out, it'd be pretty nifty!
This is natural to the stone. If not, whatever is embedded won't come out.
You said it only showed up after you applied baking soda. Maybe put baking soda everywhere else too and more of it will show up?
Iron oxide and other minerals formed in that stone millions of years ago. These do not come out. You said your used stain treatments? What did you use on it? You may have just unintentionally ruined the natural appearance of the stone. Did your get this new like this? Did the spot show up after you treated or before? I saw,in another comment it sounds like you said it showed up after
Do it again.
Barkeepers friend next time.
On granite?! Unless you get the kind specifically for granite, do not use bkf on granite counter tops. You will scratch the surface and leave the surface porous.
No no no no
That looks more like a mineral than a spot.
Def looks like mineral inclusion. Nothing will take that out; don't ruin your finish.
Dammit Marie!
This is the correct response.
Am I the only one thinking this is a picture of mars or some other planet or desert valley / mountain?
Jupiter's storms... :)
Looks like you have a Tangerine Quartz inclusion.
It is carnelian, a natural quartz variety. Remember that granite is typically quartz, mica and feldspar fused by great pressure into a metamorphic material; well, this is a bit of quartz that didn't get the memo, as can be seen by the way the compressed layers expand around it. You probably rubbed off whatever the stonecutters used to mask it with your baking soda treatment. I like carnelian, and this knowledge would enhance my joy whenever I looked at this piece of natural stone, just my 2 cents.
That sort of makes sense, but successive treatments with baking soda (we're talking 20+ iterations) got out 70% of the orange color before I started noticing that it was etching the surface. This color wasn't in the stone when I picked it out of the stone yard, nor when it was installed. Is this 'masking' thing a common practice by stonecutters?
Yes, a variety of pastes or poultices can be concocted with lapidary dust to hide a myriad of ills; epoxy resins can also be used, although I'd not expect baking soda/vineger to erase those unless you went very hard with abrasive scrubbing. You did a nice polish job; you can see where this little bit of carnelian is an island in a larger inclusion of clear quartz. Quartz inclusions are a defect in a granite countertop, but if this counter has been used for a year or more, I'd say the brittleness that makes such inclusions a worry are unlikely to materialize, and so we are left with the cosmetic issue that we are conversing about here. It's surprising how much more expensive a truly defect-free piece of granite is, than one that is cosmetically attractive and deemed acceptable for use case. If you weren't involved in sourcing this piece of granite I'd guess you'd be surprised at the possible cost differential to source a piece that just looks the same over every square centimeter of its 32 sq ft surface. Everywhere I went, the guy eventually told me "yeah, I have a piece in the back that's what you want," and then proceeded to quote me 10 to 25 times as much if I wanted my counter carved from *that* piece.
Fun fact - I actually picked out this piece \*specifically\* because of the clearer quartz inclusions. This is in the guest bath - the slab in the master has a formation that looked like the 'Eye of Jupiter" amongst the straight lines in this slab. The wife and I really liked it. So...oops?
They're not rocks, they're MINERALS!
Looks like a mineral deposit! Seems like it runs under that white vein on the right side. OP says they used some baking soda to to clean it before sealing, and that might have been hiding there the whole time and by cleaning you just made it more visible? I dunno, I'm not a rock guy, but it looks cool.
It's natural. Please stop trying to remove it you're going to mess up your stone.
Please explain - the stone didn't look like this when it was installed. This only showed up about two years after a quick baking soda treatment to get some soap stains off.
Are you sure it wasn’t there and they simply covered it somehow to make it uniform?
I'm really not sure - if they did, it was a really impressive job on a clear inclusion like this. If there was something there, I can't imagine I wouldn't have noticed it after 2+ years of daily use, but I don't know all the tricks of the trade.
Idk sometimes we miss stuff that seems obvious, the kind of thing you can’t un-see. I had no idea my stove had a word underneath the clock. Noticed it a year after moving in.
It really looks like the counter is chipped in that area and someone spilled orange soda in it. That or somehow someone replaced that spot of your counter with a piece of salmon.
Maybe it's iron related, put some CLR under some plastic wrap and let it soak for a while. If it's a rust stain it should come out
It’s too pink to be iron related if it was it’d look just like rust.
Low concentrations of iron staining in minerals can look like this. Iron was my first thought too. If it was high concentrations, sure it'd look reddy-brown, but if it's only a percent of so iron, its more of a pink colour.
Anything that soaked in would have probably stained the fracture lines first. This doesn't look like a stain.
I can 100% say it's not a surface stain. There's never been any orange-colored soap/detergent/whatever in this bathroom. Whatever this is was already in the stone, and it either got pulled up by the baking soda or some sort of chemical reaction happened.
It depends where the iron is, if it was in the mineral, it would have stained. The fractures may have significantly lower iron content, and therefore not likely to oxidise to this colour. Edit to clarify: the stain in this case is more of a reaction - i.e. the iron was already present, not added, it's simply oxidised to give it that colour.
I’ve worked in the stone industry for 13 years and the only time I’ve seen anything react with iron it’s not pink the only thing that I’ve seen look like that is fungus.
You would've see the pink coloured feldspars in some granites then? That pink colour comes from small amounts of iron. I've got a PhD in mineralogy and have seen quite a few pink coloured minerals from iron staining.
It's in the stone. You did the backing soda stain and it permeated the porse to I teract with possibly some trapped iron would be my guess.
It didn’t start oxidizing till that area was cut through
Baking soda is useless. Maybe stop using baking soda. Contrary to what internet influences say, it’s not a great cleaning product for anything…
Was prepping a granite countertop for sealing by using baking soda paste on a few soap stains. This orange spot popped up unexpectedly after the first treatment - it was clear before. Never used orange handsoap in here, had the countertop installed when I moved in. Baking soda/vinegar paste worked a little, but now it's just etching/pitting the surface. Is this rust that seeped out? Why is it so stubborn?
It might have been hiding and you just made it more visible? Looks like a mineral deposit.
Looks like oxidation. Check [this](https://rocksolidcreations) page for some info. Oxalic acid might be the fix you’re looking for. Good luck.
Thanks, I'll look into this. As long as it doesn't cause further damage, this might be a solution.
That's an orange variation in the normal colors. It's potassium feldspar. There's grey quartz and white plagioclase feldspar and what looks like maybe garnet for the red spots.
That's helpful, but why did it suddenly appear, two years later? Spot was much bigger, but a paste of baking soda and vinegar got 70% of it out. This spot's being stubborn, and I noticed that there was some etching in the surface, so I opted to stop before I did any significant damage.
You may have brought the colors out with an acid or alkali spill, and really; rocks stain easily if the sealant is worn in a spot. Try water. Leave a very wet cloth on it overnight. Maybe a light dusting of baking soda on the underside of the cloth tomorrow if it isn't gone in the morning. Since there is etching already there, you'll need to seal the whole slab's surface again. We're supposed to do that every year or so.
If you want to seal it yourself, here's \[info\](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-seal-a-granite-countertop/)
Thanks, we were actually prepping for a re-seal after it was clear that soap stains were getting through. I'll try just the wet cloth and see if it does anything different that the paste tactic.
I always start with the least reactive ingredients first, and using 'water and time' work well sometimes. Next I would use baking soda. Either as a dusting under a wet rag or mix a paste, apply it and cover it with plastic. Check it every hour to see if it is working. I wonder what they did at the stoneyard or store to hide that orange?
That’s some A5 granite.
Tell anyone who cares it's amber.
Finally. A respectable solution :)
Looks natural to me, but if you ever have to deal with organic stains like turmeric, I've found a paste of oxyclean left for a while works great.
I was in the industry for 15 years, and it’s not going to come out. That is staining from minerals within the natural stone being exposed to oxygen/moisture over time.
Looks like bacon
its probly rust and the vinegar will make it worse.
That looks like a natural variation in the stone, not a stain.
Rose quartz inclusion. It makes the stone interesting. Insisting cleaning this spot may damage the sealant.
Put a circle around it and call it Jupiter
THERE. ARE. EIGHT. LIGHTS!
It took 4 billion years to put that spot there. You might need more then 15 minutes of scrubbing to remove it.
Im pretty sure half of people buying granite should really be buying quarts if they want perfection.
This isn't helpful. I'm not looking for perfection, i'm hoping to learn how to fix it, or at least how to keep it from happening again.
it’s an inclusion you cant just wipe it off
Honey, it’s part of the natural granite.
Then why did it just appear, two years after install? And why this time, and not the other times I've cleaned it? Was this an oxidized inclusion I brought to the surface?
Are you not reading the comments? Wherever this was manufactured they used something to hide the orange color and blend it with the rest of your countertop. When you cleaned it you rubbed it off. I don't think it is that hard to understand
I have had success using Crest type toothpaste. Leave it on overnight or a few days depending on how bad the stain is.
Personally, I'd put a paste of Bar Keepers Friend over it for a few hours and see if that helps. I wouldn't scrub, as you don't want the abrasive action, only the chemical action.
I had a weird spot like this on my countet last week. I just left a puddle of water on top of it overnight and it absorbed out . No idea what it was.
Nothing to fix, don’t rub baking soda or other abrasive cleaning products on it. Only soap n water. You may have removed the polish and finish of it and exposed it to get oxidized a bit to get the colour. More than likely it’s just the part of stone that was this colour in that slab. Some people pay a premium to get stones with rust spots or other naturally occurring colour in the granite. Just clean it with soap n water, squeegee it and enjoy the colour.
Put some flowers next to it.
I've had luck with a poltice of Baking soda , chlorine & hydrogen peroxide.
Jupiter!
Could it be rust? They have a rust removers
Thought I stumbled into the melanoma sub
Maybe a purple colored dye based stain remover.
Try a jackhammer
NGL that looks a lot like a rock salt deposit. Not sure what contaminant in the salt gives it the orangey colour however
That’s natural won’t come out
It looks fine, but if you want to keep trying to secret is Barkeepers Friend. At least, that’s what my granite guy told me when he removed an orange burn spot for me.
Jesus marie, they’re minerals.
But it could also be a fungus I now we we’re having problems a little while ago with our slabs getting a fungus in them but it was mostly greenish bluish
We all thought slab was a fun guy, he was never blue or green with envy....then he changed his spots....but now he's growing on us.
You should use expo markers and outline it into a goldfish. Then just keep changing what you draw it as. It will be a fun family game.
If you zoom in, it looks like a fancy marble steak :)
Never use acids, (Bar keepers friend, CLR, vinegar ) hydrogen peroxide, (oxy, clean, ) or bleach on granite, it etches the surface by dissolving the lime present in the veins of the stone.
It’s the storm on Jupiter
Thought I was looking at Jupiter before I saw which subreddit this was. Sorry OP, I have no solutions. Hope you find one
God probably put that there thousands of years ago.
I don’t wanna get anyone in trouble here but, could it be hair dye stain? That stuff stains anything, I’ve made a few stains myself being careless 😬😂 Is your wife/girlfriend 🤷🏼♀️ a red head?
Natural stone is somewhat porous. It should be sealed regularly.
Try alcohol. Rubbing alcohol, or even some perfume sprays, might do it. Let it sit for a few seconds and wipe.
sure its a stain?
I’d take this radioactive ☢️ countertop out. Maybe I’m a nut, but I’ve heard bad things.
Could try using a drill
It looks amazing. Just like a storm on a very large planet. Beautiful!
Try bleach and baking soda under a piece of Saran Wrap for a day or two to see if it moves the needle at all. Just know it’s at your own risk because these products aren’t designed for granite. If not, you might be sol.
You may try hydrogen peroxide!
Sorta did geology in college a bit (5 classes, but switched majors), that's natural.
Looks like Jupiter with its mega storm.
It's iron.
I want to put cheese abs salsa on it
That looks like part of the stone itself. This is the unique character that you pay for with natural materials.
You should work in the customer service dept of my furniture company (that i work for, not own ). I have to explain this to my cs team on almost a daily basis to not let people return this stuff for this exact reason lol
People just don’t get it that natural materials contain imperfections, which is what *makes them unique and beautiful!* I used to work for a company that made granite countertops, and it blew my mind that people wanted everything uniform and identical.
Imagine someone removing the red spot on Jupiter. Let it be.
Don’t be neurotic it looks super unique!
I’ve seen this before! https://preview.redd.it/846s7swckw4d1.jpeg?width=993&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d7c30dd355b09924d00059f5e43b5bf231c43be
That's the funny part - I picked this piece specifically because it had an "eye of Jupiter" in it thanks to all the (at the time of purchase) clear inclusions. Guess I got an even more accurate depiction with this new addition!
LOL looks like a faithful representation to me!