Ditto gardengal's information, but I have a bit of a qualifier that comes from experience having done this myself. While some trees are indeed sensitive to having some of their roots covered, and all trees would probably be sensitive to having all of their roots suddenly covered, a lot of these big trees are tough survivors who will shrug off a little insult to a portion of their roots by growing more where conditions are better. And in terms of root growth, the trees I've had experience with are flagrant opportunists. Every time I have tried to make a flower bed near a big tree, the new soil has been infiltrated by tree roots, usually a mass of them, within two years, with the result that any plants I put in that bed are outcompeted for moisture and nutrients by the tree, and never thrive. So while you may be right that the myrtle didn't take off because they soil stays dry, I'm going to guess that another reason might be that it could not get established as fast as the tree was able to send rootlets into the new soil. All this to say that when you scrape away that soil, you will likely be disturbing roots yet again. So if you value the tree, you might remove the soil gently, just raking it away, and maybe not fixate on returning to right to the original soil level but more on smoothing things out. Remember that a tree naturally mulches itself with leaves or needles, so soil level does not necessarily stay constant. I'm assuming you didn't bury a portion of the trunk, but if you did, that should also be gently re-exposed to the extent that seems possible. KarinL

I just did this....6 fish oil caps in my sweater pocket. I have been running loads (my clothing that was affected and towels that were not in the same load) all week ((5 times so far) with hot water, bleach, baking soda, and then drying them with multiple dryer sheets. I also washed the inside of my dryer with diluted bleach. The clothes still stink, but definitely less. The towels, which got the smell either from the washer or dryer, are finally almost ok. I read that someone put lemon essential oil and on guard essesstial oil in their washer and that worked. I'm going to try that next. ....other things I've read but not tried: Soak in tub with baking soda over night, Natures Miracle odor and pet stand laundry detergent from Petco, BTW, it's nice to know I'm not the only person to have ever done this!!!! Good luck everyone.

My soapstone has been in for about 18 months now. You can have a lot of fun testing but in the end putting lemon, ketchup, wine, mustard are just messes to clean up. They won't teach you anything since soapstone will not stain. It just won't. It also won't etch like marble. It will ding, however so if you really want to test it, take a can of soup and let it slip form your hand. Or a large can of tomato sauce. That's one that would cause my blood to run cold, for sure. Drop your can opener on it. These will likely leave dings either large or small. Many dings don't just magically disappear with a quick oiling. Hand sanding is one method of getting rid of scratches, but if you have one of those salt&pepper soapstones that sort of looks spotted- you'd find that after a hand sanding, there would be an orange peel texture- not completely flat. This is because the softer spots wear away faster then harder spots when sanding. Of course, that orange peel texture itself will be sensuous and wonderful, but it won't be strictly flat. These are the real tests for soapstone. They'll answer whether the patina of soapstone is really for you. It's also fun to see how different treatments darken the stone. As another scientist on this forum, I will advise not to use olive oil. No it's not horrible to let it get on your counters. But to use it to oil them over a long period of time would potentially be a big mistake. I went 20 years with not dishwasher. My handwashing of my pots and pans focused more on the INSIDES. As consequence, the outsides have a sort of a glossy almost sticky deposit. This is 20 years of incomplete removal of olive oil. It's fine on the outside of my cherished pans, but not on my counter. It won't build up fast enough to notice. But once it's there, how do you plan to remove it?? it does not come of with a good washing, or even a tough scrub. Another scientist suggested that it is not even soluble in acetone, which would normally be the way to remove your dark coating on the soapstone slabs. Why use this gimmick when there are better options? I have a dark hard soapstone. After 18 months, I still have stuff left in my first tub of Bees Oil (Mineral oil plus beeswax) from William's sonoma. My counters have stayed dark for a really long time. I'm sure I only really oiled them for the first couple of months. After that, it's only when I want them to look especially pretty for guests. They always look gorgeous really, and never show rings or faded spots except perhaps under the espresso machine which has had fewer passes with the oil/wax. I keep the same cloth in a baggie and reuse it with no washing every time. It's ok since I wipe my counters before oiling. You need no special cleaners of any kind for soapstone- I clean with a warm wet cloth. Harsh soaps will remove more of the residual oil deposit and lead to white rings happening more often (like around a soap dispenser). Personally, I have a squirt dispenser of dishsoap on the counter. I keep it full of 1/4 strength dish soap, which is more environmentally friendly, lower cost, and certainly just effective as "ultra concentrated" soap. It also makes my soapstone look not quite so mangey where the soap dispenser sits. good luck!

After reading so many good things about Joshua I contacted him in the hopes he might be coming out to PA in the near future. As luck would have it he was coming out in September and agreed to stop by and take a look at my soapstone counters. We just had these installed and were a bit disillusioned with the feel and the constant dealing with water marks. When we were in the showroom the sopastone felt silky. Ours had somewhat of a mat finish and just was not what we were expecting. We had some issues with the company that we purchsed the stone through and who also did the installtion. After reading all of the wonderful things about Joshua I contacted him and he came out last week. He did a fabulous job! Our countertops are now EXACTLY what we were hoping for. He is not cheap, especially considering we just had these installed, but it was worth the cost to get what we wanted. Thanks Joshua!!