Carrara Mosaics turning brown (oxidizing?)

[Mosaicos]

Hello guys. Was wondering if ANYONE could help me out on this one... We installed some carrara mosaics on a steamshower floor and after about a year it started to discolor. We've tried so many things... 'Rust out' (because I read a thread on here about these mosaics and how they might have a bit of iron in them etc). I hired a stone restoration guy to make a poultice and try and take it out leaving it to work overnight...... Nothing. These clients are friends of mine and I want to take care of them so any advice would help. Don't really want to rip out a bunch of the floor and replace but we'll do it if we have to...

Thanks,

[TileArt1]

Hi Stones (if that is your real name ), welcome to the forum.

That looks an awful lot like an issue our friend Bill Vincent had in a shower a couple of years ago. Read through this and see if it's similar: http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/...floor+discolor

[Houston Remodeler]

Yep, time to start shopping for new tiles. I'll save this pic for when I try to talk folks out of using marble inna shower.

[Shpedly]

Roger, Thanks for providing that link. I just finished reading the whole "saga".

[Davestone]

Yes Carrera and other light limestones are susceptible to darkening with their inherint iron content,but not all do this.Travertines would be an option.

[Mosaico]

Nobody knows a solution???? other than ripping it out.....

[Houston Remodeler]

You can't make the stones have less iron in them without a magic wand. Well you can take the iron out but that would involve crushing the tiles to a powder, separating out the ferrous bits and re-molding the tiles. Its a lot easier to get new tiles.

[cx]

Mosaico/Mosaicos, Stones/Yotam, please pick one of those registrations and use it for all your threads and questions or we'll never know who's posting to what, eh?

[Miracle Sealants Tech]

Carrara as well as other natural stones do contain iron and there really isn't any corrective measure to fix it. Unless you can take the iron out of the stone or have an 1-800 MOTHER NATURE contact to do it that is a very common and unfortunate occurance.

You can see around the drain where that metal is leeching into the sides of the stone, as well as having the metal on the shower door possibly creating it in that area.

We have used Naval Jelly in the past to take out rust from stone, but that was superficial rust. Not iron content in the stone. It can at times also discolor the stone from the color of the Naval Jelly (purple) so be careful to test it in a small area first or a spare piece you might have laying around.

Robb

[doitright]

Hi Robb

Do you really think metal from the drain is leaching into the stone?

I never heard of that happening before. Most drains are PVC, Stainless Steel, or brass. None of those materials would leach into the stone (that I'm aware of).

For the stone in the pan shown, there is no amount of Naval Jelly or other rust removing agent that will correct Mosaico's issue. That stone needs to be replaced.

Great suggestion to make sure people to TEST first.