Everything You Need To Know About Interior Stone Care

Everything includes "How to Clean Interior Stone Walls", "How to Clean Interior Stone Floors", "How to Clean Interior Stone Countertops" and "What are The Best Products for Interior Stone Cleaning" 

Let's get you completely up to speed on how to care for all of these natural surfaces, what are the best products for you to do this with, do you need a professional to clean it, and resources on where to find those products or contractors. 

How do You Clean Interior Stone Walls?

There are a few different ways to clean interior stone walls, and it depends how dirty they are, as well as what type of stone you're dealing with. If you have a big stain removal to do, scroll down that info is further below. 

For general maintenance cleaning we typically recommend just plain soapy water for rough stone, followed by a clean water rinse. For smooth or polished stone, we recommend using Stain-Proof Botanical Countertop Cleaner which is meant to work with Stain-Proof Sealers extending their life and being completely stone safe. 

The most important part when choosing a cleaner for your interior stone walls, or interior stone of any kind is making sure that you choose a product made for use on stone like Stain-Proof's line of cleaners (Stain-Proof Daily Countertop Cleaner, Stain-Proof Daily Floor Cleaner, and Stain-Proof Alkaline Cleaner) or choosing a plain soap only cleanser. Do not go for spray cleaners that are "all purpose cleaners" or "multi surface cleaners" or any other spray cleaner that says it is for use on hard wood. Almost all cleaners in that realm have murphy oil, or a similar oily substance, to make the wood look brighter and shiny giving the appearance of clean. These oils when applied to stone, even if sealed, can leave a residue that actually attracts dirt and degrades your sealer performance, leading to dark staining and dirty messes regular mopping can no longer remove. 

When you need to do a more in depth deep clean, or restoration clean, we recommend having this done by a professional. StoneSealer Group has a nationwide contractor network of specialty trained and certified stone cleaning + care professionals, we recommend you call them for an annual deep clean or first time restoration clean followed by sealer. 
If you absolutely want to DIY an interior stone deep cleaning, no problem, we have stone specific cleaners that are professional strength and meant to help you make restoration cleaning easy. For most people, we recommend going with a GreaseGone MAX clean followed by an EffBOMB clean. You will need to rent a floor maintainer with a scrubbing disc, or do it the old fashion way with a deck brush on a pole. Agitation is the most important part of restoration stone cleaning, and helps you get down into those tricky grout joints that don't seem to be the same colour they used to be. Suck the chemical up with a shop vac, and dispose of the wash water down a sanitary drain or according to your local regulations, do this again with clean fresh water, scrub, and vacuum up, and you're on your way to having a well restored interior stone wall or floor. 

What Does Vinegar do to Natural Stone?

Vinegar is often brought up in DIY blogs or old wives tales of how to clean stone. We don't recommend vinegar for use on natural stone as its high acetic acid content can cause damage to many types of natural stone inside your home. There are many safe acid alternatives, and quite a few meant for cleaning stone of efflorescence, grout haze, or other acid cleaning needs without the risk of vinegar, we recommend reaching for stone safe EffBOMB cleaner. 

Vinegar can cause whitening / loss of shine / and spotty water marks known as acid etches on all of the calcite based stones (that includes marble, limestone, sandstone, and more) and has a very negative interaction with some volcanic stones like basalt. On certain types of dark basalt the acetic acid can have an interaction with the black stone that turns it permanently white, we don't recommend using acid cleaners on basalt in general, and like other specialty natural stones you should consult our contractor list to find a qualified professional near you to clean and restore your interior natural stone without vinegar. 

How to Rejuvenate Natural Stone?

There are a couple different definitions to rejuvenation. This largely depends if you are looking for more shine, or the surface is just not quite as nice of a colour as it used to be. The first step for any homeowner wanting a natural stone rejuvenation should be to check the StoneSealer Contractor Network: Here, and get booked in for a deep cleaning service of their natural stone. This professional deep cleaning by a trained professional with access to eco friendly professional grade chemicals, will reveal the true surface of your interior natural stone. When you can see the true surface, then you can inspect for scratches and reflectivity, and decide if you want to polish and restore the floor, or if it was just dirty from every day maintenance cleaning not working as well as it used to. 

StoneSealer Group recommends the average homeowner with natural stone in their home, sealed or not, get a professional deep cleaning once per year just as you would for carpets. This professional cleaning will make it so you can keep your home clean for the rest of the year with normal cleaning methods, and increase the life span of your stone and sealer. 

Is Dawn Dish Soap Safe for Natural Stone?

In short, absolutely yes, but the long answer is there are some better options for you to choose when cleaning your stone. 

Dawn is a gentle, surfactant based cleaner, with no oils for shine on wood, in our books this is a perfectly good cleaner. It is however, quite foamy, and hard to rinse away all the residue. Soap lifts dirt by attracting it and attaching to it, in the same way it attaches to dirt when you're cleaning, its residue attracts and attaches to dirt in the air, so high foam dish soaps that are hard to rinse aren't the best option for natural stone. 

Dawn and other dish soaps also likely won't remove some deeper stains, these soaps are great for little touch up cleans of the kitchen, and if you spill some on the counters while doing the dishes theres little to no risk to your stone, but if you want to keep your natural stone sparkling clean all the time here's some options we would recommend you to check out.

For Countertops: Stain-Proof Daily Countertop Cleaner (made for daily kitchen and bathroom cleaning, PFA and PFOA free, botanical recipe thats safe for stone, your family, and your pets. It contains a touchup sealer to keep your Stain-Proof Sealed countertops at peak performance all the time)

For Floors: Stain-Proof Daily Floor Cleaner (made for daily mopping as well as heavy duty cleaning, this enzyme based stone safe floor cleaner is a concentrate which can be mixed to multiple dilutions based on your cleaning task. It is tough on oils and grime making cleaning easy, while also being PH neutral, safe for all stone, unscented, and safe for use in houses with children or pets.)

For Heavy Duty Cleaning / Stain Removal: Stain-Proof Alkaline Cleaner (this cleaner is a powdered concentrate made for interior or exterior use, leveraging the power of hydrogen peroxide and multiple natural salts for heavy duty oil removal. We recommend this cleaner for a first time reset clean when getting into a stone safe maintenance plan, or making it into a toothpaste consistency paste for stain removal)

How to Remove Stains / Oil Stains from Natural Stone?

The easiest way to have a high chance of success from any natural stone is to make whats called a poultice. There are a few DIY recipe's to make a poultice, but the most effective and easiest way is to make a paste using the Stain-Proof Alkaline Cleaner powdered concentrate. 

What you'll do is make a toothpaste or slightly thinner consistency paste out of the alkaline cleaner powder, and water, then spread it over the oil or organics stain you're trying to remove. After you've generously spread and coated the area with the stain, you'll want to cover the area with some cling or saran wrap plastic, pressing it down so there is no air left and no gaps for the solution to dry out. The minimum working time for this is 4 hours, we typically recommend going for 24 hours as with this cleaner there is no risk to going longer. 

After you let this sit, it may have dried out, you'll want to apply some clean fresh water and wipe up all the cleaner and area, then clean with your normal dish soap or Stain-Proof Daily Floor Cleaner to remove any residue and left behind contaminants. If the stain persists, repeat the steps above one more time, if after the second full run the stain has not been removed the problem will likely need professional intervention, and you should contact one of StoneSealer's nationwide approved contractors who have the specialty training and certifications to care for your natural stone. 

How Much Does Stone Cleaning Cost?

To get a professional who's trained specifically in the care, cleaning, and protection of natural stone is not cheap but it is an investment in making your natural surfaces last longer and look their best. Natural stone requires specialty care, specialty equipment, and specialty chemicals that your local carpet cleaning company typically don't have. If you're looking to have your natural stone interior or exterior of your home professionally cleaned and cared for, you should consult the StoneSealer Group National Contractors Guide: Here. All those contractors have been specifically trained and certified to care for natural stone and other specialty surfaces. 

Down to the brass tacks, what does interior stone cleaning cost? That varies around the country, but the general range is a maintenance cleaning goes for $1.25 to $2.75 per square foot, and then deep cleaning plus sealing stone and grout goes for $3.00 to $7.00 per square foot depending where you are and what level of sealer you choose. Stone sealing is one of the instances where "you get what you pay for" is completely true, and the more expensive options are typically less total cost when spread over time. For example, someone using big box hardware store sealer that lasts 2 years and charges you $2.5 a square foot every two years, compared to a StoneSealer Approved contractor installing Stain-Proof and charging $5.00 a square foot every ten years with a ten year warranty. The choice over time there is very clear, just make sure you do your research into which sealers last the longest to ensure you're getting the best protection and best value over time, not just the cheapest up front price.