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Author Topic: cleaning indoor stone - advice please  (Read 21186 times)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« on: December 14, 2012, 01:36:53 am »
When we had our woodburning stove installed a few years ago, we bought a big flagstone of Caithness stone as the hearth.  I was advised to rub in linseed oil to show off the markings and to seal it......BIG MISTAKE  :tired:
 
The oil immediately attracted all the ash and dust from the stove which stuck to it and made the stone look like a lump of dirty concrete.   I scrubbed it with every product I could think of to no avail.  It still looks awful  :(
 
Does anyone have any advice on how to clean up the stone please, without damaging it?  Most of it is easy to scrub, except where the stove is sitting as it has only a fairly small gap underneath.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2012, 07:42:12 am »
we are doing just this job, to a very old sooty wall where a range once stood,  we invested 150 in some 'specialist' stone cleaner and it didnt touch it, then we tried an acid based etching cleaner, that didnt work either. so i went and bought some mr muscle oven cleaner and bingo jobs a good un!

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2012, 11:55:32 am »
Oh thank you Deepinthewoods  :thumbsup:    That's the sort of trick I was hoping for.  We even have a couple of offcuts we can try it on first so the stone doesn't get dissolved  ;D
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

happygolucky

  • Joined Jan 2012
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2012, 12:02:09 pm »
I may try that on the diry marble hearth.....I was told to use falsh teeth cleaner but not got any!!!!!! I love handy tips like that!!!  :wave:

lachlanandmarcus

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2012, 12:05:10 pm »
Once it is clean this is the stuff I was told to use as a one off treatment- several coats - to protect it and it has done a good job at sealing/waterproofing- it was my only concession to non eco stuff! It doesnt make it too shiny shiny but has a slight sheen and has survived 4 years of scrubbing so far with no issues. (We have Caithness slate flags so it is identical stone)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HG-Impregnator-Impregnating-re-formulated-manufacturer/dp/B000IU3VQC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355486637&sr=8-1
 

Brucklay

  • Joined Apr 2010
  • Perthshire
    • Brucklay Pygmy Goats
    • Facebook
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2012, 12:30:00 pm »
We have a limestone floor throughout our cottage and we used a impregnating sealer on it like the product used by Lachlanandmarcus, once laid and it's worked very well. Just use a mop and bucket and comes up like new.
Pygmy Goats, Shetland Sheep, Zip & Indie the Border Collies, BeeBee the cat and a wreak of a building to renovate!!

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2012, 04:00:46 pm »
 
Thank you L&M and Brucklay - another great tip  :thumbsup:   It looks as if the sealant will be best left until it's no longer so freezingly cold, as I don't fancy leaving my windows open for 12 hours to air the place right now  :cold: :cold: :cold:  or even having the fire unlit.   It does look the biz though.
 
Mr Muscle is on the shopping list for tomorrow  :excited:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2012, 04:43:21 pm »
and a wire brush! it took a couple of treatments.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2012, 01:29:44 am »
 
 
I've got a wire brush and OH has some elbow grease  ;D   I'll let you know how it goes...............
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Donald

  • Joined Dec 2009
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2012, 02:30:13 pm »
Hello,


Not that I doubt the linseed oil attracting dust and ash that got stuck on there, but I have to wonder more about the surface of the stone and what the method of application was because done right it is a good way to finish stone and would have given the promised effects. That has been my own experience and it is also a fairly  conventional treatment of stone surfaces.
Linseed oil is not really the same thing as fat deposits accumulating around the cooking area. It's reasonable to expect that oven cleaner would break down the fat but not necessarily have the same effect on linseed oil. So be aware of that. And then probably use gasoline or diesel or there are other solvents available that will break down linseed oil so you can wipe it off. Any of the oil that isn't lifted out in your cleaning, that remains in the porous structure of the stone may have an effect on another type of finish you might choose like the ones already mentioned and so will prevent good bonding. It might be worth considering redoing the linseed oil finish using the proper technique.

Greetings,


Don Wagstaff
« Last Edit: December 18, 2012, 02:57:43 pm by Donald »

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2012, 03:42:04 pm »
 
Thanks Don but....um...what's the correct technique?  I'm quite sure I can't have done it properly the first time around, so how should I do it?  It looked great for the first 10 mins  ::)
 
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2012, 04:47:01 pm »
Hiya,
 
Something 'caustic' will probably work best to remove the oil. In other words, Mr Muscle oil and grease remover is a good enough place to start!
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Donald

  • Joined Dec 2009
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #12 on: December 18, 2012, 06:56:54 pm »
Hello,
I'll be groping in the dark somewhat so if I begin to flail you'll let me know.
I'm guessing that it's a flat polished surface and the root of the problem was excessive oil left on to dry. I mean, if it was left on overnight, for example, and then you try wiping, it's to late.
So, initially it would have been ideal to maybe thin the linseed oil with a good pine turpentine, apply it with a rag so that the surface is well covered and then let it stand for some time, depending on how it seems to be going. Ten minutes is a sort of offhand gauge but it depends. It's difficult to say but you are safe to use a range of 10 to 20 minutes. Then wipe it off vigorously and make sure to change your rag when it gets saturated which is often with oil. You'll be leaving only a very little proportion of the applied oil behind. The rest gets wiped off and thrown away. That application has to dry - another subjective matter but lets say 48 hours but you could go a week between layers casually keeping the dust off on a regular basis. Initially you might have even a lot of dust accumulation but you will quickly notice that with each dusting it will be less and less. Linseed oil,  good linseed oil is slow and there is no way around that but it is worth it in the end because nothing else will give as good a finish, with good care. Tung oil is also good and dries more readily. Anyway three coast initially is good and only the first one thinned, each one applied as I describe. When wiping, or rubbing in you want to generate a little heat which will force the oil into the surface and bind the layers. Probably it seems like an ordeal from my poor description, but I'm sure it is worth a little effort and in truth it's not that bad and the oil and turpentine are pleasant enough to work with, as long as it's not boiled or something.


Greetings,


Don Wagstaff

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: cleaning indoor stone - advice please
« Reply #13 on: December 22, 2012, 12:36:13 am »
Heavens Don - no wonder I didn't do it right the first time  :o  I'm not able now to do all that polishing, although maybe once summer comes and the fire is not in use I will tackle it again.  But thank you for taking the time to explain the whole process to get a craftsman's finish  :)
 
We will experiment on some offcuts to see what works best for the initial clean, be it Mr Muscle's products or some sort of solvent.  My OH thinks we will need to move the woodburner, so that would definitely make it a summer job.  I think we will go with the sealant L&M has suggested - it sounds foolproof  :dunce: ;D .
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

 

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