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lemon-yellow stain on granite (Colonial Cream)

11 years ago

We have a granite countertop (Colonial Cream, reportedly a very porous granite, but well sealed). We have kept a large soap dish on it, with a white towel between the dish and the countertop, for a couple of years. The dish was moved for cleaning the countertop, every couple of months or so.

Nothing happened until recently, when a bright, irregular lemon-yellow stain appeared under it.

Now I know that stain removal starts with identifying the source of the stain. In this case we don't have a clue. The towel was dry but could possibly have become wet in the past from water spilled nearby. The color is nothing like the reddish-yellow color of iron. The area is still waterproof (unsealed areas turn brown upon becoming wet; this area doesn't).

I have tried #40 hydrogen peroxide with ammonia (Windex) and also bleach (separately!). Perhaps there is no reason they should work if the area repels water, but anyway they didn't work.

Any suggestions appreciated.

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Comments (4)

kiko_gw
11 years ago
No idea, but I have bad a bright blue stain on our travertine bathroom counter. A bottle of Windex tipped over and was slowly leaking. I just kept putting water puddles over it. After a few days the blue went away.
rkb21
11 years ago
Yikes! We are getting colonial dream granite whenever we finalize things for the kitchen. I didn't realize this was a porous granite. What did you do to make sure that the fabricators sealed it properly since it sounds like it has been sealed correctly...just for future reference.

Sorry I don't have any suggestions...don't have granite yet.
I hope some others will give you a solution :)
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Photos a little washed out. This is colonial Dream, not Cream. Installed beginning of Feb and no real staining but we are careful. I did wake up one morning to see that someone had probably not seen that a drip from a juice bottle fell onto the counter and when I removed it there was a slight stain but now I can't even find it. In my house, the stone takes on an oatmeal background with grey-black and brown veining and raisin splotches here and there. The big deal for me are the icy highlights that show up in our kitchen's low light.
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We just finished our kitchen and have Colonial Cream. I did SW Dover White for the cabs and a grey stain for the island cabinets. My white is a warm white but still very white - not off-white at all. Do a search here for white paint and you will come up with several threads discussing what various people did several with pictures (not that pictures are that helpful for white though. It is just too hard to capture the true color so that is why you have to test for yourself.) Some people here have done: BM Cotton Balls BM Simply White BM Mayonnaise (I thought I had a list written down but I can't find it) I tried BM Marscapone but I think it has weird yellow or pink undertone. I can't remember which. Someone did BM Nimbus a while back - it is a very light grey. It looked great.
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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.
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SeeBuyFly
Original Author
11 years ago
Sorry, I don't have any experience with Colonial Dream, which is a much darker granite.
PRO
Granite City Services
11 years ago
could the color be dye bleeding from the towel? if yes it'll likely be very difficult to remove the stain.

when you tried the solvents did you make a poultice?

if no heres how to remove a stain:

make a poultice of the solvent mixed with diatamaceous earth or baking soda. should be wet but not runny.

put poultice over stain area and cover the poultice with plastic wrap. Tape down the plastic on 3 sides. (this allows the poultice to dry much more slowly, usually a co uple of days)

repeat if necessary.

if the stain is oil based it helps to warm up the stone.

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