After grouting, white marble is yellowing

[tvlodek]

Hi,
My sister just had her bathroom floor tiled with white marble. Before gouting, my sister asked "shouldn't marble be sealed?" The tiler said "No", and grouted the floor. Now the marble has taken on a yellowish hue from the grout and she is losing her mind. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to restore the marble's original color? TIA.

[Sponsored Links]

[Davestone]

Hi, can you give us a name to call you?And a few questions....Is the marble polished...is the grout white...is the thinset white...did the yellowing start immediately after grout...how long ago was it grouted...are you on a well system...did anyone clean the marble with anything? :)

[doitright]

Hi tvlodek, Welcome! :)

Besides needing your first name, and everything Dave said, Can you post a picture? :shades:

[tjm]

Hi. What type of white marble - if its carra it will hard to reversed.Many whites stones contained iron and the stone can oxidize cause yellowing.Is there waxes or coating on the stone? Is there iron in your water? What type of mastic or thin set used?Tring cleaning the stone with an alkaline cleaner.I hope this help

[claycarson]

Everything Davestone, doitright and tjm said. We're just gonna put you through the 3rd degree, girl! Tryin' to help, though.

If it was high iron content in the stone, like one I saw last week, then it was not the fault of the contractor who grouted. The first person to use water on the tile would create the yellow/orangey look. You need to use water to grout. One way to tell - more water will make it worse. Try getting some tiles, samples that were from the same batch you installed and see if wetting them turns them yellow. If so, it's the iron content, not the grouting technique.

But if the grout was yellow, maybe there's some residue left. Try rubbing away a bit in an inconspicuous area. Don't use grout haze remover as the guy at Home Sleepo will suggest. It's acid based and designed for use on ceramic, not marble. It will kill the shine on the marble and etch it. Wet it and use alkaline cleaners only and mild, mild abrasion. If it improves, then it may be grout haze.

Some grouts have pigments that can discolor the tile itself. Not a fun notion, but that's why they asked about what type of grout and what color.

Some water has such a high mineral content that it can contain components that deposit on top of the stone, so it may be a local water issue. I worked in one shower that had such hard water stains, we could not get them out despite hours of scrubbing and industrial acid.