Oh I was so sad to read this...I am sure you googled, but I did as well. and Came up with these links:

http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/stain-removal/how-to-get-rid-of-food-coloring-stains/

p://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-to-remove-hair-dye-from-granite-countertops/

Not sure if it will help or not! I feel so bad for you! good luck!

What a shame! I would be heart sick.

Last summer, I made strawberry freezer jam with my grandkids, and we had strawberry stains on our Bianco Romano. I just dabbed it with a little bleach, and it came right out. That might work for yours as well, because I'm assuming your green stain isn't from an oily substance.

I will tell you how I got a stain from soft soap, which does have oil in it. I made a poltice out of baking soda and acetone (finger nail polish remover). I mixed it to a paste, put it on the stain, and covered it with plastic wrap, and sealed it. My stain was small so I just sealed it by setting a glass on it upside down. For a larger stain, maybe taping down the edges of the plastic. I left it overnight, and in the morning the was gone. And now I seal that granite alot more ofen.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

We had the same problem... granite installed right before Christmas and then had the newphews over to make Christmas cookies.

It appear as if the green color (light kelley green) was floating inside one section of the granite. I was sick about it as well. We used a poultice of peroxide and johnson's baby powder. Covered it with saran-warp and blue painters tape. Left it on over night.

We had to do this several times, but it didn't draw all of the color out. That was two years ago. I can honestly say I can barely see the green, it seems to continue to fade.

However, we always thought that granite was tough. Now I'm nervous about things like marinara sauce and strawberries... and we use a table cloth when decorating cookies now. (sad I know) LOL...

Thanks guys, I knew that you would have some ideas. I am wondering if I should try the poultice thing that you have had luck with in the past, or just wait and see what the granite people have to say. On the one hand, I know it is better to treat sooner rather than later, but on the other I don't know if they have a special formula that might be more effective and trying to do our own treatment will just be making it worse. Shoot, it is most likely the exact same thing. I just don't know.

Bandjo - yep, I think we have almost the same thing happening. It looks like it is "inside" the granite. There are several "spots", fortunately none are huge, but a couple are pretty noticeable. Even worse is we have 4 different sections of granite (3 walls plus an island), and they managed to hit every single one of them, so it isn't like we could just replace that one section if we decided that it was just something that we hated living with. And really, green???? Any color other than lime green I feel would have at least had some semblance of being able to blend.

Well, I feel better doing SOMETHING rather than just waiting and hoping that they disappear. So, I emailed Stu Rosen, called my granite folks and am waiting for them to call me back to schedule time to come out and take a look, and applied a poultice of talcum powder and hydrogen peroxide on a couple of the smaller, less conspicuous stains, and hope for the best.

The more time that passes, the more upset I am getting about it. I counted, it has been installed now for 17 days, and the fact that it is potentially already ruined just makes me sick. The fact that a family member is responsible yet refuses to own up to it (not to ream him out.... just to know WHAT we are dealing with so we know the best way to take care of it) makes me even sicker.

There is a possibility that the nephew is not at fault. I noticed the following description of green spots on the Stone Advice Forum:
The day after it was installed, two lime (almost neon) green spots showed up on the face of the granite on either side of the seam. The spots were about 1" wide and extended the full face of the grantie (3cm).
and a fabricator's reply:
The green spot sounds like "green bloom" which can occur when you use ca activator in certain stones, it can easily be removed by applying a poultice which is covered in detail in older posts

There are some other posts on green bloom. Is it possible that the spots are near seams or repairs in the granite? One suggested poultice was a bleach soaked paper towel covered with plastic wrap. Another was acetone mixed with diatomaceous earth to a peanut butter consistency.

The Stone Advice site is a good place to get advice from fabricators.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to the Stone Advice forum post

Read your latest post after I posted. Your granite is probably not ruined. Most stains will come out with a poultice of one type or another. After it's out, you may want to seal again to prevent future staining and because some of the poultice materials might be hard on the sealer.

Thank you cloud_swift, I am reading up on it right now and really really hope that you are right. Like you said, the spots are all on or around the edges with a couple of "speckles" on the top of the island. Here is a picture if anybody is familiar with this sort of thing, I would appreciate if you could take a look.

Now I wonder if I should remove the poultice since it may not be the best materials.

Thank you cloud_swift, I am reading up on it right now and really really hope that you are right. Like you said, the spots are all on or around the edges with a couple of "speckles" on the top of the island. Here is a picture if anybody is familiar with this sort of thing, I would appreciate if you could take a look.

Now I wonder if I should remove the poultice since it may not be the best materials.

I had a similar issue with a large pomegranate juice stain on my kashmir white countertops. After calling my granite installer, I ordered a product called Mangia Macchia that they recommended. It took about 6 applications but it finally did work, much to my relief! This was after several applications of an acetone poultice that didn't help much.

As soon as I got the stain out I resealed the granite, :o)

Hope this helps, and good luck!

My Giallo Ornamental was installed three years ago. It was treated when installed. Then a while later, I don't even remember when, we used Rock Doctor granite and marble polish.
I was told that when water stops beading up, it is time to treat again. All stains have wiped right off.
I think that there are some granites like the above mentioned Kashmir White that are high maintenance, but for the most part, granite should be easy to care for. (And interestingly enough the installer told my husband, "It's granite, you can pour battery acid on it!" Not that I would.
Kellie, I hope you find a solution to your green stians. Keep us posted.

I'm also thinking I don't like worrying about my granite. I have both the light cream granite and a black pearl in different rooms in the house. The light one I worry about stains and absorbing water and the shedding it seems to do. The black pearl had a small puddle of water sitting on it for several hours and it etched!!! I was sick about that as it was only the first week. I was told that they have 15 year sealer applied but still this much damage? I do have products now that I use that says they clean and seal. I just never had to worry before about all the new concerns. I have it in the bathrooms too. I should just relax and get over it but it's brand new and so many things happened already! My coffee maker leaks sometimes and I'm very worried about it doing permanent damage. I watch it and keep it on the cooktop until after it brews but sort of a pain... I hope your little mean greenies come out!!! I know how you feel : (

Update, the poultice that we put on did absolutely nothing to remove the stains unfortunately. We have our granite folks coming out to take a look and (hopefully) give us some other ideas.

I talked to Stu Rosen, and the fact that he took time out of his busy day to speak to me and give me ideas just speaks volumes about the type of guy he is and business he must have. I wish I lived in NJ because I wouldn't hesitate to do business with him. Not sure if it was the green bloom thing, as he said that this typically will show up pretty quickly, and ours appeared a couple weeks after installation. Anyway, he gave me some other ideas that I will try while waiting for the granite people now that the poultice wasn't effective.

While wiping down my counters last night, I can see how easy it would be to miss wiping down the edges, it is an eased edge so the washcloth doesn't naturally just wrap around the side, it must be deliberate to make sure to clean that too. So this makes sense as to why the stains are mostly on the edges. So, I think I am back at thinking it was likely the nephew's party that probably did it. Disappointing.

So....we'll see.....

When you swim in the ocean, you risk shark attack. It's perfectly natural. You're in THEIR house.
And, when you install mother nature's material, a slab of stone that can be millions? of years old, you are using that material in your house and in a way mother never intended. It's beautiful, but not fool [or nephew] proof.
I recommend a poultice and I would put the responsibility for research and procedure on the nephew. It happened while he was there and he just might learn something in the process, even if it's not just the idea of stepping up to the plate.

Sorry to hear about the problem with your beautiful new granite. I don't have any advice but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be resolved soon.

SaraKat, black pearl is probably a gabbro according to the tables on Findstone.com. That shouldn't etch. Even if it was a stone that etches, I've never heard of a stone etching from exposure to water. It takes an acid like lemon juice or vinegar to cause etching. It is normally very low porosity like Absolute Black.

You might have the same problem that sometimes occurs with Absolute Black being sealed. When sealer is applied, it is suppose to sit on the stone for a bit and then any excess is wiped off. If they don't get all the excess sealer off it can sometimes cause something that looks like etching - the excess sealer needs to be removed with a solvent if that's the problem.

BTW - sealer doesn't protect against etching - it fills pores in the rock so that stains aren't absorbed but the rock can still etch.

If your light stone is absorbing water, why don't you call the people who sealed it to fix that. If they didn't seal it well enough, they should especially if you paid extra for a 15 year sealer.

Kellie, I hope that your granite folks can suggest a poultice that gets the stain out. If they aren't able to help you, you might try the stone advice forum. There are some poultice products for tougher stains. Once the stain is out, you might want to seal the granite again. I wonder if they didn't hit the edges well enough with the sealer.

Ohhhh, I would so love to make the nephew do the legwork (and pay to have it fixed too) but you don't know the lengths that my husband is going to that he doesn't have to blame the nephew. I am just letting him think that it was the green bloom thing (although that is unlikely) in order to keep the peace. Before that he was blaming the green dishtowels that we have had for about 3 years know leaving marks (in 7 different places) on the new counters, so he was happy to latch onto something a little less far fetched. Denial is a happy place to be. Oddly enough, even my own mother (who lives 1000 miles away and has never met the nephew) has been calling me with lots of far fetched ideas regarding things that it is likely to be instead of negligence by the nephew. So, therefore, you guys get to be my sounding board and place to vent.

As for me, I'll just keep my fingers crossed that something....anything will remove it. And maybe start looking at the green backsplashes that I like, but didn't consider because it wouldn't match anything.

What's the point of blaming the nephew? Even if he accidentally spilled something on the granite, it shouldn't have stained the granite if it had been properly sealed. Light granites are more prone to staining and really need sufficient sealing.

Would you feel any better if you accidentally stained the granite yourself at some other time? At this point see if the stain can be removed and if not, learn to love the color variation. There are more important things in life to worry about.

You bring up a very good point about the sealing on the edges. I checked when I got home yesterday, the water beads up nicely on the tops of the countertops, so I know that it was sealed. So now I am wondering if they just sealed the slab prior to cutting it, so the edges are more prone to the staining. I will certainly ask that.

Weissman - it wasn't so much of a matter of blaming the nephew as finding out what it could possibly be to best determine how to remove it. As you can see from my post above, we are beyond that now. At this point, I have told my husband and mother we just need to hopefully figure out a way to get rid of it and will never know exactly what happened so we're moving on. I have actually been the calm one throughout the entire scenario, but I am disappointed, very disappointed. There may be other stuff to worry about in life, but how can I not see fluorescent green in my brand new kitchen that I saved a lot of money (for me) for 8 years to do and not be disappointed. As I also said above, everybody needs a place to vent.

Now with that being said, do I wish that that my brand new many thousand dollar granite wasn't stained...yes. Do I wish the nephew wouldn't have had nightly parties that our housecleaner had to clean up after...yes. Do I wish that he would have taken the trash out and checked the mail like we were paying him to do...yes. Do I wonder if he even walked and fed our dogs....yes. Do I wish that he would have fessed up and taken responsibility to any of the above...yes. But live and learn. Next time we'll find somebody else to stay or board the dogs. But it is going to be a while before I don't look at the nephew (who is 24 by the way, not a kid) with some sense of disappointment. But that is just me.

I got a text the other day about a St. Patricks day "pub crawl" at Kellies.
I thought it was a bar.

Sorry K, couldn't resist. I hope you can get it back to normal.
Does granite really stain that easily? Surely other colors of food coloring has caused problems somewhere?
If it's just green with most everybody, maybe it is algea instead of something spilled.

(on a side note: Long ago, Back in the dark ages, I remember hearing about a kid that had a party at his aunts house while she was gone....and still denies it)

I was putting the onus on the nephew because knowing what it is might go a long way toward fixing it. If it's old fashioned water based finger paint, try hot water and a poultice. If it's a solvent based paint or ink, try the base solvent as a vehicle to bring it out. I've also heard of using a TORCH? to burn/cook out whatever the stain is, a method used if the stain is cooking oil based.
Why are we so afraid of the nephew? He should be able to accept an explanation as to why you need to know.

wow kellie, I have to say after looking at your pictures, I do notice a similarity to our "green food coloring" problem.

I wonder if it was the bloom thing.... ours looks a bit like yours AND it was near the edge. Our granite has a bullnose edge and if I feel along there, it feels a little rough on the seam right where the green color appeared....

hmm.... I may need to research the bloom thing...

but - like I said, I can barely see the green anymore... AND, maybe the poultice did nothing, and it was simply the passing of time that made it better.

I can tell you exactly what that green is, because I have a spot of it on my brand new granite island (Alaska White FWIW). It is caused by an activator the fabricators use when filling pits and the like. If the stone is not COMPLETELY dry, the activator reacts with the water, and creates that flourescent green color you see. They just sent me some premixed poultice to use. I've applied it twice so far, and it is toning it down so far.

I would be VERY surprised if it was food coloring from the nephew. And all signs (to me anyways) point to the activator reaction, not the nephew.

I'm back after researching the blooming issue. I feel quite positive now that it was our problem was and *not* green food coloring after all.

It makes me happy knowing that our granite isn't as porous as I feared, but I am surprised that none of the fabricators I called suggested the blooming. I guess it's a result of an accelerant in the epoxy or glue. One website I saw suggested using a product called Mangia Maccia.

Good luck!

Thank you Cloud_swift for the info on the granite. Good luck kellienoelle.

FWIW I'd like to help the nephew clear himself.
Have you ever seen "Lie to me"?
There is an involuntary movement in the forehead that occurs when someone is lying. They can't stop it from happening. It's like a little wrinkle that is split second fast. I took a chance on it with my daughter, whom I knew was lying - but she was so convincing otherwise that I was duped.
So I asked her again for the truth and watched her forehead-and there it was!! A little twitch-
So I said "You are LYING! go to your room!!" I was kinda scared I had made a mistake- and then she came out a minute later sobbing - "I'm SO SORRY Mom! it was an accident.. etc.."
I've used it other times- no wrinkle- it's the truth.
Like I said-FWIW.

Kelly,

Sorry I'm late to chime in. I had the same staining on my new slabs. It was a reaction caused by the sealer they used on my edges and it only showed up on the edges where it had been over exposed to the new sealer.

In my experience, the highlighter yellow was evident on the day of install. I immediately called the granite company and had him come out. They tried poulticing it and it didn't work. He immediately noted that they had used a new sealer on the granite we purchased and on one other customer and the over exposure was what caused the staining. They had only used it on the ogee island edge and we ended up getting a new island slab.

I'm sure this isn't what you wanted to hear, but the staining looks IDENTICAL to what ours looked like. This all happened on our white delicatus (looks like yours).

I appreciate the feedback so much. The granite folks are coming out tomorrow, and you all have given me (my husband actually, I will unfortunately be at work) a lot to discuss with them. I am back to thinking that it must have been due to the sealing process....and the nephew is off the hook. We have had a couple of other little spots pop up even now. When we found the first one, we went over the entire countertops with a fine tooth comb, so I know that they are "new" although fainter than some of the others. So keep your fingers crossed for me, I really hope they take responsibility to provide a way to remove the stains. My kitchen was pretty much "completed" this weekend (minus the backsplash), and I couldn't shake the let down feeling brought on by disappointment with the granite. The rest looks great though!

I also had new (light colored) granite installed in mid December. About three weeks after the install, we began to notice the green. After much time and effort researching the problem we found out we have green bloom. Our green bloom is around where the fabricator cut out the sink, faucet and soap dispenser. We have had both the stone distributor and the fabricator out to see the problem. Stone distributor confirms it is not a stone problem (no minerals in our stone which would cause green discoloration)! Fabricator insists he didn't do anything to the stone during fabrication that would cause the green! He assured us he does not use the products that cause the green bloom?????? We contacted the Granite and Marble Institute and they confirmed for us that our problem was caused by products used during fabrication. After all the discussions and denials we have decided to try to resolve the problem ourselves using a (recommended) product called Mangia Macchia. The last thing we want is to replace our granite (spending more $$$$ or suing someone and then dealing with the mess of replacement and the problem of finding granite we like again). As we move forward trying to remove the green bloom, it is our understanding that the product needs to be applied multiple times before you see results. We began the first treatment yesterday. We took before and after pictures so we can document the results of what the product does to the green bloom and our sealed granite! If Mangia Macchia does not work we have a bigger problem since our fabricator refuses to admit they are at fault! I will keep you posted as to our progress resolving our horrible green bloom problem. Hopefully, this posting will help others who have experience the same problem and have been told by their fabricator and distributor they never heard of or have seen this situation before!!!!!

Update on our green bloom. We are now on our second container of Mangia Macchia and have applied the paste at least 8 times!!!! The green stains have improved in some areas but the results are still not satisfactory. I am thoroughly disgusted. We have not been able to use our kitchen sink during the whole process because the instructions state the area must remain very dry. We are going to do one more treatment and then contact our fabricator, again, to come out and see the results. Our problem is that the area affected (faucet, soap dispenser and sink edge) is very visible from our family room (open area design) and the green in the granite truly looks weird. The light granite we choose was to be the WOW factor in our kitchen and having it turn green and trying to remove the green has greatly diminished our ability to enjoy our granite's true beauty. And, this problem has completely shut down our sink area (greatly reducing the functionality of our kitchen) and delayed for months our ability to complete our kitchen project. After the fabricator sees the results of the product he wanted us to try and we discuss our options ????, I will post the results or any next steps. Also, if anyone has used another product with success, please let us know. We, of course, would rather fix the problem than replace our granite!

Good luck to you, mjramont! Please do post what happens after your fabricator looks at it. I hope you don't have to replace your granite. I can only imagine how terribly disappointed you must be.

I wonder if treating the green spots with UV light would photo-bleach the green pigment. May be worth a try. They sell UV lamps for curing glues and artificial fingernails, etc. Google "uv curing system." A mercury-lamp based system would probably be best.

DONT BLAME THiE NEPHEW...we just had brand new granite installed and had the green bloom show up on the back splash when the room had not even been used and it was the next morning.....it is something something sometimes granite does......it is natural.....so I would feel terrible if it happened on my watch somewhere else...lol.....I am still waiting for installers to fix it.....

what ever happened??

jacrjacr:

Here you go.

Here's the follow up where they did get it out with a propane torch and oven cleaner.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2544821/green-bloom-on-granite-update

did the granite people get the stain out?