I too have seen that recommendation on both this site and again over at John Bridge, so I am surprised.

I guess one cannot account for natural substrates and how variable their compositions can be!

I can see that the old adage that one should test in a small inconspicuous area first goes a long way.

On the plus side, marble is such a natural looking thing, I can't see from the photos- it's hard to capture, doesn't look terrible, but I could imagine that the effect may lessen over a little time and just become part of the patina??

Why not wait a day or two before you totally panic, and maybe try posting over at JB...

I can't tell what the damage is from the pictures, but was wondering if the marble was sealed, and if so maybe only the sealer was effected?

The damage looks like large, cloudly bubbles. That's the best I can do to describe it. I find it very apparent in the photos. It reminds me of something I would have seen in Chemistry class

It's been a few days. This all started because I was going to reseal, but there were pink stains on the tile. I wanted to get rid of the pink before resealing. I didn't want to seal over the stains.

I'm sorry this happened! I know how you feel about saving for your bath and doing your homework!

I've had good luck with a poultice of talcum powder and beauty supply strength peroxide removing stains (my stains were brown from water and the cardboard box when a dumb employee left them out in the rain!). My marble tile is honed. The poultice will etch though and that will be more evident on polished marble.

I try to use Ph neutral personal care products (Kiss My Face is one brand) in the marble shower and do the regular cleaning with Miracle's natural stone cleaner (I got it at HD).

Is your tile honed or polished? If it is honed, I wonder if the peroxide poultice would even out the look of those bubbles?

Did you scrub the whole shower with the stuff and these 2 tiles "bloomed" or did you just do these 2, or did you confine the mix to the grout joints and it migrated to these two tiles?

You could always just break out these two tiles (carefully) and replace them.

Did you do a test on some scraps before hand?

Using recs from people is taking a lot on faith when you don't know if they have the same exact marble as you do or if it came from the same place and even if it did it's a natural product and will vary even from the same ground source.

I don't know what happened in your case, but I've used, and seen used, Oxyclean on carrara marble, and never saw any adverse reaction from the stone.

I believe you said you made a paste out of it and let it sit on the tile?

Oxyclean is a strong alkali, But so is the base of the marble. I would imagine using the paste is why it was strong enough to hurt the stone. The strongest I've ever recommended using it was mixing it twice the strength shown on the side of the tub. I'm sorry you've gone through this, but I appreciate your posting your predicament. Hopefully it'll help someone else avoid the same problem.

I actually didn't see any recommendations about lessening the strength of the mixture. Well, I sure hope this thread shows up when people do searches in the future.

For some, this is just a minor thing, but I'm in my first home (a small condo) and have scrimped and saved to make improvements. The bathroom was the first project I did, the one I saved longest for.

Given the natural variation in Carrara, most people will not see this as a flaw. However, I understand how disappointed you are. For your own happiness, why not just plan on replacing the affected tiles whenever you can?

I see the bubble, but unless you'd told me you caused it, I would assume that it was part of the natural variation of the marble. Honest, it doesn't look weird to me.

I totally get why you are upset, but I think this is like the first scratch on a new car-sickening when it happens but a few years later, totally forgotten.

Your bathroom is STILL beautiful.

Jeaninne:
I understand how upset you are. Based on my own experience with marking the natural stones (marble & limestone) in my own home on more than one occasion with over zealous cleaning, I suspect this will become much, much less noticeable -even to you- in a matter of about two weeks of regular use. This has been my experience & I hope it will be yours as well. Most of my "oops" are completely unnoticeable after a month or so. The natural stone patinas in such a way that I think this will blend or disappear completely.

Are. you certain the bubbles are not the older sealant popping up? it sounds really strange to me that the stone would do that... maybe after scrubbing the sealer out and resealing it the bubbles might disappear.

@tcaraujo seeing this was 10 years ago I doubt it much matters and probably no one still here to answer.

I solid that condo in 2012, so I'm not sure how the tile is doing today.

I clean all my marble with diluted bleach now. A Turkish friend convinced me after telling me Turkish women have been cleaning with diluted bleach forever...and some of their marble surfaces have been in use since before our country existed!

BEFORE using a cleaner suggested on any forum, be sure and read the question and pay attention to the "kind of tile" OxyClean has been suggested for. OxyClean is very safe for porcelain & ceramic tile. Never assume it is great for everything.

What bleach to water mixture do you use? Struggling to keep my Carrara shower looking clean... :(

Never use bleach on marble. Please look for ph neutral cleaners recommended for natural stone. There are many. Bleach is not one of them.

I'm sure the quality of the old marble found in Turkey is nothing like the quality of the cheap Chinese marble sold in many discount tile stores these days! Buyer Beware.