Colonial Cream Granite

15 years ago

My new home has colonial cream granite installed. When picking out the slab at Arizona Tile, my wife and I did not notice any "stains" around the iron deposits. In fact, the reason we chose the colonial cream granite is because the slab looked quite white (compared to most other colonial creams we've seen) and has a warm, light yellow overtone. We thought this would go very well in a modern kitchen with espresso-colored shaker style cabinets.

With the installed product, there are some areas where there appears to be "rust-like" orange color stains surrounding the iron deposits. While this appears to be normal, the reason it is bugging us the most is because of its location (it is in various places, but the most noticeable is the front of the sink).

Do you guys think the stains can be poulticed out? I know there are certain types of poultice, when combined with a product called Iron Out, that can remove many rust/rust-like stains. I should be clear that these are not stains made by anyone, but rather the natural process of how the granite was formed.

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Comments (9)

breezygirl
15 years ago
Pics?
cardamon
15 years ago
Trancemission, I can't help you with an answer if they could be poulticed out but I think I have a few of the orange like color marks you are writing about. I did notice a few of them when I picked out my slab but there are few and far between them. But there is one in back of my cooktop and I always scrub it because it looks like a spaghetti sauce spot.At first it bothered me but now I don't really notice it. Overall my granite reads cream, it is called Vintage but it does resemble White Springs but on the lighter side. Colonial Dream was a slab I loved too. I'll be looking to see what is posted so thanks for posting.
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trancemission
Original Author
15 years ago
I'll have to wait until I get back home to post pics.. My work blocks every imaginable picture hosting site...
trancemission
Original Author
15 years ago
Here are the pics of the original slabs (unfortunately I didn't remember to take a pic of the installed countertops up close):

Left Slab

Right Slab

As you can see in the left slab, there is indeed some "rings" surrounding some of the iron deposits, but visually it is a lot more orange and noticeable in the installed countertops.

Strange enough, the right slab, which is supposed to be the bookmatched slab, has a lot less of these "rings".

What do you guys think? I'm not looking to get the fabricator/installer to redo the whole thing. Instead, I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this and if they've tried using poultice.
trancemission
Original Author
15 years ago
(by the way, click on the pics to see the full sized versions)

Thank you in advance to anyone's help/comments! :)
trancemission
Original Author
15 years ago
Any opinions? :)
MCMesprit
15 years ago
When my DH and I were choosing our granite, we ran across many slabs with rust stains. According to DH (a geologist) these are caused by the oxidation of the iron in the stone while the slabs are stored for months in damp conditions at the mining site. He says they can't be poulticed out; however, if the staining is just a few millimeters deep, they can be polished out. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing simply from looking at a slap how deep the oxidation goes into the stone.

Some feel that the rust stains (particularly in darker granites with lots of movement) enhance the stone. (My SIL feels this way about hers) The granite we ultimately chose for our recent kitchen remodel (a variant of "golden rod") also has a few oxidation stains. We were able to template the slabs so that they are in inconspicuous locations for the most part.

Hope this helps.
trancemission
Original Author
15 years ago
MCMesprit: Thank you!! Your comments are definitely helpful. The most noticeable spot is in front of the kitchen sink, so I'm wondering if it can be polished out, since the cross section (the part where the kitchen sink goes -- we have an undercounter sink) appears to suggest that perhaps this may work.

What does polishing involve and can I do this myself?
MCMesprit
15 years ago
I would contact the fabricator or installer of your granite for advice. I don't know if polishing is a DIY project. The one concern I would have re: polishing areas in an installed countertop would be the risk of creating depressions in the granite. But, depending on your granite and the location of the stain, that might not be noticable or it might be preferable to the stain itself.

Best of luck with this!