Common Natural Stone Problems & Solutions
When you have natural stone surfaces in your home, bar, restaurant, hotel, or superyacht, marble polishing and other natural stone restoration services are often necessary to keep your floors, bar tops, countertops, and other surfaces looking their best. These materials are beautiful but require specialized care to maintain their natural shine and structural integrity. The heat, humidity, and moisture in South Florida can accelerate stone damage if not properly managed. That’s why choosing expert-level marble polishing services South Florida residents trust is essential for long-term surface protection.
1. Loss of Shine or Dulling
Over time, natural stone can lose its shine due to wear and tear on countertops or in high-traffic areas on floors. Since marble is softer than granite and other natural stones, it’s especially prone to dulling.
To help protect your marble or other natural stone floorings, you can place mats in high-traffic areas. You might also ask everybody to remove their shoes at the front door to help prevent the scuffing and friction that can dull your flooring. Keeping marble flooring and countertops clean also helps prevent a loss of shine. Just Call Classic can help you with kitchen, living room, and bathroom marble polishing and restoration.
2. Efflorescence
New stone installations and stone that have been exposed to massive amounts of water (like flooding), can suffer from efflorescence, a white powdery residue on the stone’s surface. Buffing the stone can help remove efflorescence until the stone is completely dry, which may take as long as a year. If efflorescence persists beyond this period, it may be a sign of deeper moisture issues that require professional natural stone repair services.
3. Cracking/Chipping
Chips and cracks in stone can happen in the settling process, during installation, or due to outside forces. For example, a shifting sub-floor can cause stone tile to crack. Additionally, any force with another object – like dropping a heavy pot on your countertop – can lead to chipping or cracking.
Luckily, small chips and cracks can often be repaired without the need to replace the entire slab or tile. Typically, polyester, epoxy, or another material is matched to the stone’s color and used to fill in and bond the crack or chip.
4. Staining
Unfortunately, all stone surfaces, especially marble, may be easily stained, and stains can be difficult to remove. Many drinks, foods, oils, inks, or rust can stain stone countertops or flooring.
To prevent stains, clean up spills as soon as possible by blotting them with a cloth or paper towel. You should also get your stone surfaces regularly sealed to help prevent spills from causing stains.
If it’s too late to prevent a stain, Just Call Classic may be able to help remove your natural stone stains.
5. Yellowing
Several different things can cause natural stone surfaces to turn yellow, such as age, oxidized iron (especially common with white marble), waxes and coatings turning yellow over time, and embedded dirt or grime.
To prevent yellowing, make sure your stone is properly sealed and keep it as clean as possible.
Yellowing caused by wax or dirt buildup can be cleaned using a wax stripper or an alkaline cleaner. Learn to love natural yellowing caused by oxidation or age – even the expert technicians at Just Call Classic may not be able to do anything about that.
6. Spalling, Pitting, and Flaking
Spalling (small pieces of stone flaking off) and pitting are common on stone exposed to large amounts of water. While efflorescence is caused by mineral salts affecting the surface of the stone, spalling and pitting are caused by mineral deposits getting under the stone’s surface and causing pressure to build up.
Sadly, spalling, pitting, and flaking are nearly impossible to repair. We recommend you replace the stone, instead. This is especially important for outdoor applications or yacht marble polishing, where water exposure is constant and requires proactive monitoring.
7. Etching
Etching – a dull spot in the stone – is caused by marble, travertine, limestone, or onyx reacting to acidic foods, drinks, or cleaners. It’s a surface erosion of the stone itself. Keep all acids away from your natural stone surfaces, and ensure you aren’t using cleaners with acid in them.
While light etching may be removed with marble polishing powder, deep etching requires resurfacing the stone. Understanding how to restore marble countertops often begins with identifying the depth of the etch and determining whether polishing or honing is the appropriate solution.
8. Water Spots and Rings
Water spots and rings are the hard water minerals (such as magnesium and calcium) left behind after water evaporates. Rings and spots are especially common on marble surfaces.
Applying stone paste wax can help prevent water spots and rings, as can immediately wipe up any spills.
The polishing powder can often remove water rings and spots. If that doesn’t work, honing is your next best option.
9. Uneven Tile-Lippage
Improper natural stone installation can cause uneven tile-lippage, which is when tiles are set unevenly, with the edge of one tile being higher than the next. Lippage higher than the thickness of a nickel is considered excessive and the tile must be ground down to flatten the floor.
Just Call Classic can help fix uneven tile lippage and other common stone problems.
10. White Stun Marks
Common in marble and often confused with chips, stun marks are caused by pressure in certain pin-pointed areas that create small movements that damage the crystals within the stone. High-heeled shoes are a common cause of white stun marks.
Stun marks can be deep, opening the door for many other stone problems. Honing may help eliminate stun marks.
Signs It’s Time for Stone Restoration
If your marble or stone surfaces appear dull, feel rough to the touch, have visible chips or stains, or are starting to yellow or flake, it’s time to schedule a professional evaluation. Other signs include uneven tiles, water rings that don’t wipe away, or discoloration around sealed edges. Whether you’re dealing with worn kitchen countertops or high-traffic commercial flooring, these early warning signs often signal deeper issues that require professional attention.
Our Marble Restoration Process
At Just Call Classic, our marble and natural stone restoration process begins with a detailed surface inspection to identify damage, dullness, stains, and structural issues. Once assessed, we recommend a customized treatment plan tailored to the specific type of stone and the extent of wear. This plan may include deep cleaning, honing or polishing, color-matched crack or chip repairs, and sealing for future protection. We finish each project with a care consultation, helping clients preserve the restored finish for as long as possible.
Preventative Maintenance Tips for Natural Stone
To preserve the beauty of your natural stone surfaces and avoid costly repairs:
-
Use mats or rugs in entryways and high-traffic areas to reduce wear and tear
-
Clean up spills immediately to prevent stains and etching
-
Only use pH-neutral stone-safe cleaners—avoid bleach, ammonia, and acidic products
-
Reseal stone surfaces every 6–12 months depending on use and exposure
-
Use coasters under glasses and avoid placing hot pots directly on stone counters
-
Schedule periodic professional inspections and maintenance
By taking these proactive steps, you can avoid many of the issues above and maintain the elegance and durability of your surfaces for years to come.
Call The South Florida Natural Stone Restoration Experts
Whether you need South Florida hotel marble restoration, kitchen marble polishing, natural stone restoration, yacht marble restoration, or any other stone cleaning or restoration services, Just Call Classic, Inc. is your local, family-owned natural stone restoration and polishing company. We serve Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties.
Our highly trained service technicians have experience with every type of granite, marble, terrazzo, and other natural stone surfaces, especially floors, showers, and countertops.
Contact us today for a free quote.
