In the bathroom, marble can make any space look less of a public bathroom, and more of a royal powder room. Marble is used in many bathrooms for its smooth finish and stunning design, and is typically sealed with varnish to protect the material from moisture.
In this guide, we’ll be tackling how to clean a marble floor in the bathroom, with tips and tricks on removing common bathroom stains from your marble floors.
How to Clean Marble Floors in the Bathroom
As you may have read in our blog posts, we always make a general rule of never using acidic solutions or harsh chemicals to clean marble floors, as these may etch the surface of the material, leaving a dull, cloudy, white appearance. Instead, we recommend using gentle cleansers like baking soda and castile soap to clean your marble floors.
Commercially-made cleaners, even those that claim to be all-surface cleaners, may not be suitable for marble. If you prefer the convenience and cleaning power of commercial cleaners, go for the ones that are specially formulated for natural stone surfaces like marble and granite.
1. Clean Marble Floors Using a Commercial Marble Cleaner
Commercial marble cleaners come in all forms of solutions, from concentrated liquid to powder form. Granite Gold and Stone Care cleaning brands are our top choices for marble surface cleaners, as they typically come in spray bottles ready for tackling the cleaning job in your marble shower or bathroom.
Your marble bathroom floor is frequently moist, so we recommend cleaning this everyday to make sure you don’t get any mold or mildew growing about. Commercial cleaners make it convenient for homeowners to do everyday general upkeep by offering ready to use pH neutral cleaners for your beautiful marble floors!
2. Clean Marble Floors Using Baking Soda
Baking soda, due to its powder consistency, makes a great polish for any marble surface in a pinch. Baking soda is mildly abrasive, but can be used to buff out any scratches. Use baking soda with a few drops of water as a marble polishing powder by gently scrubbing the solution on the marble surface using a soft cloth.
As a cleaning agent, baking soda can be dissolved in water to make a mold-busting spray that kills off spores and colonies before they stain. Spray liberally around mold growth, and let the solution sit until dry to kill off mold.
3. Clean Marble Floors Using Castile Soap
While vinegar is typically used for all sorts of surfaces when it comes to cleaning, natural stone surfaces like marble floors cannot stand the acidity in vinegar. Instead, use a cleaning solution made with castile soap and warm water to effectively clean your bathroom marble floor, and bring the shine back to your bathroom!
Fill a bucket with water, and add enough castile soap to form a soapy solution without being too slippery. Use a soft mop, and clean your marble floors as you normally would. Let the floor air dry, and repeat the process daily for general cleaning.
4. Clean Marble Floors Using Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide, when diluted, is a terrific cleaning agent that replaces bleach in cleaning marble bathroom floors. Take a spray bottle and add in some clean water and hydrogen peroxide in a 1:5 ratio for a general cleaning solution, or create a more concentrated solution to get rid of stains.
Use a soft mop to spread the solution around, and the hydrogen peroxide should be able to kill off germs as you mop your marble floor with it. A soft mop ensures that your marble floor does not get scratches, and absorbs excess moisture from the floor.
How to Remove Stains from Marble Bathroom Floors
There are a couple of common stains that appear on marble, with the most common being etch marks from accidentally using acidic solutions to clean a marble floor. Cleaning marble floors, especially the bathroom floor, is a necessity, and sometimes we can’t avoid staining our marble.
While these tips help you to get rid of stains at home, we recommend getting professional cleaning services to remove any stains, scratches, or etch marks you may have on your marble floors, as professionals can deal with the stain with minimal damage than the average homeowner.
1. Etching
Etching is the most common form of staining on marble, and is the result of using acidic solutions like vinegar or lemon juice on the marble surface. To remove etch marks, you’ll need some marble polish powder, or some baking soda.
- Wet the etch mark with a couple of drops of water, and apply a generous amount of polishing powder.
- Gently rub in circular motions with a soft cloth, and keep rubbing until you no longer see the etch mark.
- Wipe clean, and apply a protective seal if necessary.
2. Mold and Mildew Stains
Mold and mildew is common in the humid environment of the bathroom. The high moisture content in the bathroom, coupled with ample supply of organic material to feed on, is like a mold paradise! Mold and mildew are very common in all bathrooms, but the degree of which homeowners decide to limit the growth of mold says a lot about their cleanliness.
We’ve discussed that baking soda can kill mold, but what do you do once the mold has already made an unsightly black or brown stain on your marble? For this, we continue to use baking soda, but we create a paste with hydrogen peroxide instead of water. Apply the paste directly onto the mold stain, and let it dry before scrubbing off. Repeat until the stain is gone.
3. Makeup Stains
Makeup can make anybody feel pretty, but when you’ve spilled some mascara or foundation onto your marble floor, it may be difficult to remove. Makeup is also oily, and the longer the spill stays on the marble, the more likely it is to leave stains.
Removing makeup stains from marble surfaces is similar to removing makeup from your skin. Simply use a gentle makeup remover to wipe away the makeup stain. We recommend using micellar water due to its gentle cleaning properties, but baby shampoo works just as well.
4. Oil Stains
Oils from lotions, conditioners, and other products can stain marble, leaving a nasty oil stain behind. To remove oil stains from marble,
- Extract the oil by sprinkling some cornstarch over the oil spill.
- Leave the cornstarch to suck up any excess oil, then wipe off.
- Next, apply a few drops of mild dish soap directly on the stain, and rub with a clean cloth until the stain is gone.
- Rinse, and repeat the process until the oil stain is no longer visible.
You may also use baby shampoo, but we find that dish soap works better in breaking down the oils.
How to Keep Marble Floors in the Bathroom Clean and Shiny
Marble floors need to be kept shiny to maintain their pristine appearance and classy feel. Keeping your bathroom clean is difficult enough, but your marble floors require more maintenance than the average bathroom floor material.
For your cleaning needs, look no further than Luce SG, as our expert cleaners are experienced in handling marble and other natural stone materials. Give us a call today and we can schedule you for a home cleaning service at your convenience!
