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Soapstone Stains or marks?

3 years ago

We just had our soapstone kitchen counters installed 2 days ago. The installers left the counters oiled. I just wiped them down with soap and water because I wanted to see them without oil and these marks are showing! What is this???Does not seem to be part of the natural stone. Was this in the fabrication or something we did? We barely used it in the 2 days since our kitchen isn’t finished yet so I don’t think we did anything to make this happen. What do I do it is quite unsightly???

Comments (5)

jad2design
3 years ago
Soapstone is so dense that nothing actually penetrates it, but oils will cling to the surface. Did you see the installed counters before the workmen oiled them? I would guess that those stains were there on the counters before they were oiled over. When you stripped off the top coat they would have appeared. Try scrubbing at the marks gently with a sponge (try plan side first, scrubby side second if nothing is happening) and Blue Dawn, or CitraSolv or Simple Green and see what how it goes. My counters are now two years old and have darkened, but the first month or so it seemed like they showed every cooking splatter or oil ring from a bottle of olive oil. I was able to keep them the natural color but it took a daily effort. Over time they and I reached an equilibrium, though it did take mineral oiling them a couple of times to form a barrier. After that they weren’t completely dark but oil didn’t cling. Be sure to give them a through buffing when you do treat them.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Pod marks again. Your stone slabs are often unloaded and handled in the shop by black rubber pods attached to an articulating arm. Fabricators clean the pods with acetone, it breaks down the rubber, the vacuum sucks the rubber into the stone, and it leaches out later.

If you want proof, measure the diameter of your circles and the distance between them and compare those measurements to your fabricator's handling equipment. The rectangle matches the pods on his CNC machine, I guarantee.

Try some denatured alcohol and Magic Eraser or some stone slurry and Dawn dish soap. Unlike engineered stone, you don't need to worry too much about ruining the finish on soapstone. Better yet, call your fabricator out and have him remove them. He knows what they are and what caused them, believe me.
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Looks like a natural variation in the stone to me too. When we purchased the granite for our kitchen, we went down after they had the template laid out on the slab so we could approve it. They worked with us to move it around to the extent it was possible to get the parts of the slab we wanted to feature and try to avoid parts we didn't like as much. Did they give you that option? You might see if to get them to cut another top from your leftover if they didn't, but I'd be surprised if they would without additional cost to you. When we purchased our bathroom stone, we did not go and approve the layout because there really weren't going to be any options. There was basically only one way to do it and get everything from one slab. One of the vanity tops has some areas where I notice some darker spots. In a perfect world, we would have worked around those areas but since that would have meant buying a second slab, I am going to accept it for what it is - a natural product with variations.
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Soapstone is non-porous, which means that nothing can stain it. It has been used in sceince labs for years because of it being an inert material. Oil on the surface of the stone turns the stone a darker color. This is why people talk of a patina with soaptone. Left alone the oil from cooking, and touching the stone builds up a patina on the stone which is only on the surface. Your main prep area's, cooking area tend to get more patina buildup. Many choose to oil the stone with mineral oil, or bee's wax/mineral oil combo, do so because it evens out the patina. Some prefer to leave it alone, others prefer the dark even look. So no it will not stain, if you do a search on this site for soapstone you will find alot of your questions will be answered. Do your reasearch first, but I must warn you stoners are a different breed. . .lol
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I agree with the comment about waiting for a bit. Since the area you used the Magic Eraser on is darker than the rest, it probably just needs time to allow the stain to evaporate. If you had sanded down to a rougher finish, it wouldn't be darker. I just totally sanded my countertops down (over-polished somewhere along the production process), and they were much lighter gray when I finished. I would say though that if you are already worried about trying to remove oil marks, you are going to be pulling your hair out trying to keep up with it, particularly with a lighter color of soapstone. The whole point of soapstone is not worrying about those spots, which is why I think most folks end up oiling or waxing.
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Linda Allgeier
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you! Yes I sent them pictures and they said I could try acetone or they will come out in 2 weeks and remove it! I just think it’s CRAZY that they left an $8,000 dollar counter looking like this! 😡
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
3 years ago
You don't use acetone for pod marks please. Denatured alcohol and Magic Eraser.
jad2design
3 years ago
just curious, are your fabricators soapstone specialists? If the marks were oil I could see them doing a coat of mineral oil, hoping or supposing that the underlying oil stains would merge with that top application. That would be a little sloppy IMHO. it would be preferable to clean the slab first, maybe with acetone if that’s what they use:) But @Joseph CorlettLLC’s explanation just makes more sense given the pattern of the under-covered marks. And that’s a puzzle. Anyone dealing with soapstone regularly should figure a smear of rubber/acetone wouldn’t go away on its lonesome or be hidden by the mineral oil for long. The first four or five coats of mineral oil evaporate or wear off new soapstone rather rapidly. Even if you hadn’t stripped your counters those dark areas would have shown up soon enough.

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