Vinegar is one of the best all-around cleaners and chances are you already have it sitting in your cupboard or kitchen cabinet. Although the vinegar is such a good all-round cleaner, it’s one of the worst things you can probably put on your marble. In this article, I’m going to show you 3 reasons why using vinegar on marble is not such a great idea.
So is vinegar bad for marble? Using vinegar on marbles will do a lot of harm and is not good for your marbles. One of the main destructions an application of vinegar can cause on your marbles is the occurrence of etch marks. Vinegar can cause etch marks to appear on marbles within a matter of minutes and this can lead to several other negative effects on the marble.
To learn more about how using vinegar on marbles can cause the marble to etch, keep reading this article. Also for the remaining parts of the article, I’m going to give you a lot more details on why you wouldn’t want to use vinegar on your marbles plus the kind of things you can use instead of the vinegar. Keep reading to find out more.
1. Vinegar Will Etch The Marble
A lot of cleaning DIYs and hacks will usually include cleaning items with a solution of white vinegar. While this is such a potent cleaning solution in most cases, the same cannot be said when it comes to cleaning marbles.
One of the marbles’ biggest weaknesses is vinegar and when used to clean marbles it can cause the marble to etch. Etch marks on marbles are marks that appear on marbles when a corrosive acid chemical like vinegar gets into contact with it and eats away the calcium carbonate in the marble stone.
How serious the etch mark is will be determined by how long you allow the vinegar to sit on the marble. But generally, etch marks will appear on your marbles in less than a minute and will be less obvious on light-colored marbles.
Pro Tip: If you mistakenly get vinegar on your marble, it’s important to clean immediately avoid the appearance of the dreadful etch marks on your marble.
2. Vinegar Will Cause You Marble To Stain Easily
Most people are usually confused when they see the effect vinegar has on their marbles. While some will say their marbles got stained when it came into contact with the vinegar, others will not know what to call it.
The effect vinegar has on marbles is technically not a stain. Instead, the parts of the marble that gets eaten away by the corrosive acids in vinegar tend to accumulate a lot more dirt making those spots look more like stains.
It will also cause the marble to develop grease and oil stains that might be extremely difficult to remove. This can also make parts of the marble that came into contact with the vinegar to be a lot darker than the rest of the marble.
A typical example is the very common Carrera marbles which are usually installed on kitchen counters and tabletops. These will often have more oil and grease build-up in the etched portions of the marble and will tend to attract a lot more dirt – causing those parts to be generally a little bit darker than the rest of the marble.
3. Vinegar Will Make Your Marbles Worse Even After Cleaning
The very first set of complaints you will often hear when people use vinegar to clean their marbles is how the marble looks a lot worse than when they set out to clean it.
This is because when you apply vinegar to your marble and it etches the parts of the marble that develops the etch marks will absorb more water as you clean and make those etch spots look darker and dirtier the more you try to clean it.
Often when this happens, your first instinct will be to clean more and you might end up experimenting with different cleaning solutions that might even make the problem worse.
While most people at this point begin to panic thinking they have actually made their precious marbles worse, it’s always shocking and confusing to them when they see the marble gradually returning to the original etch mark they were trying to get rid of as the marble dries.
4. Vinegar Can Cause Discoloration On Marbles
White discoloration on your marbles is probably one of the first things you will notice when your marble comes into contact with vinegar.
How? On dark-colored marbles, you will often see a very visible white-ish discoloration on parts of the marble that is applied with vinegar. This sort of discoloration will often look very light when the vinegar first gets onto the marble.
But subsequently, it may become worse if proper care is not given to the marble. And by worse, I mean very bad ugly Discolorations.
5. Vinegar Will Make Marbles Porous
A single-use of vinegar or any acidic substances on marbles will make your marble even more porous. Marbles are natural stones and as a result, they are naturally very porous materials (no pun intended).
When vinegar is applied on marbles, the protective layer gets etched off leaving the marble unprotected. This will then makes the marble a lot more susceptible to any kind of liquid stains including water.
6. Vinegar Can Lead To Permanent Rust Stains On Your Marbles
Using vinegar on your marbles can also pave way for yellow, brown, and/or orange rusty stains on your marble. When vinegar is applied and the marble is rendered highly porous, this can allow water to get deep into the marble.
The reason why you wouldn’t want this to happen is marbles contain large amounts of iron as part of their natural ingredients.
When water is allowed to seep deep into the marble constantly without fixing it, it can lead to a reaction between the iron and the water and the result is usually the yellow, orange, or brownish rusty stains you will often see especially on white marbles.
7. Vinegar Makes Marbles Rough To Touch
Most people think that by mixing vinegar with water, its potency is reduced so it’s safe for them to use on things like their marble. This is highly false and you will still cause serious damage to your marbles regardless.
Vinegar is strong. A bit too strong for marbles. When you apply vinegar to marbles, another thing that can happen is that the vinegar can remove the thin layer of the marble protectant and also remove a thin layer of the marble stone.
This will cause a nice and evenly polished marble surface to dull up and roughen up a little when touched.
Best And Cheap Alternative To Using Vinegar On Marble
The Natural Stone Institute, strongly advises against the use of acidic cleaning substances like vinegar on marbles. Most experts in the field recommend using the following to clean your marble surfaces;
- Mild soap and Water
- Warm Water
- Non-Abrasive Sponges or Cleaning Cloths
- Spray Sealant (At least once a month)