Clean fireplace stone

darrenheaphy

On my lovely fireplace there's a particular stone that's stained, it looks oily but feels the same as the other stones. To me it appears something was spilled there and subsequently darkened by fire heat (stain was there from before we bought the house). Any recommendations on how to remove? Rather lovely pic below for reference

sky6

You will need to use an industrial cleaner. Try using a Brick cleaner from a Building merchants. Make sure to follow the instructions on the Bottle.
Be careful to keep Children and animals away when using it as it's Chemical and acid based and could burn. It may need more than one application.

jack of all

Brick cleaner is worth a shot but I'd be careful with it, its pretty aggressive. Also worth trying an oven cleaner on it as the stain looks sooty. Spray it on, cover with cling film and leave to act. Wick up any of the mess with a sponge and clean down with sugar soap, rinsing with plenty of clean water.

darrenheaphy

Good tips, thanks guys. The oven cleaner I'll try first then and if that doesn't work I can upgrade to the acidic brick cleaner!

jack of all

Sounds like a good plan, best to degrease first with oven cleaner before using the brick cleaner. If none of these work a monumental stone mason will be able to provide specialist cleaning products that will work, I've seen an old stone stair case brought back to life with these.

slowburner

I'd be cautious with the brick cleaner.
If the stone is granite, the cleaner will not affect the stone, but if it is a carboniferous stone (limestone/marble) the acid could eat into it.

Oven cleaner sounds like a good bet.

keppler

You can buy natural stone cleaner available in most builders providers and diy shops. Tilers use this cleaner to remove grout and other nasty stains on natural stone floor tiles before they seal them with varnish. Its safe to use on limestone and its fairly powerfull tbh. Think its about €20 a bottle in B&Q

paddy147

This is what you want.
Safe to use on marble,limestone and many other tiles and stones.

It works a treat,but YOU NEED a breathing mask (very powerfull fumes) and you need to use proper Chemical Resistant rubber gloves to apply it (it will lift skin clean off your hands otherwize).

Dilute it,scrub it in,and let is soak in for a few minutes to make the most out of it.

Around 20-25 euro for 1 litre,from any decent tile shop or builders providers.