Natural stone is the most expensive floor on the site and the one most often ruined by the cleaning aisle. Marble, limestone and travertine are calcium carbonate, and anything acidic — vinegar, lemon, wine, most bathroom cleaners — dissolves the surface on contact and leaves a dull mark that cleaning will not remove. Cleaning stone is mostly a matter of what not to use, and a sealer that buys time when something goes wrong.
Three stones behave three ways. Marble, limestone and travertine etch: acid dissolves the polish in seconds, and the dull spot is a change in the stone, not a stain on it. Slate and granite do not etch, but they are porous and stain. All of them absorb, which is why a penetrating sealer is part of owning stone: it does not stop an etch, but it gives a spill time to be wiped before it soaks in.
The cleaner is a stone soap or a pH-neutral cleaner made for stone, and nothing else. General-purpose cleaners are alkaline enough to dull a polish over time; bathroom and tile cleaners are acidic enough to etch it at once; and the mop water should be clean, because a dirty mop grinds grit into a surface that scratches.
Deep-clean with the stone cleaner, let the floor dry fully — a day — and apply a penetrating sealer in thin coats, wiping off any that has not absorbed in a few minutes. Excess sealer left to dry is a haze that has to be stripped.
A poultice: an absorbent paste matched to the stain type, spread over it, covered, left a day or two to draw the stain out. It works on oil, organic and some rust stains. It does nothing for an etch, which is not a stain.
Professional honing or polishing with diamond abrasives. An etch is a physical change to the surface and is removed by taking the surface down to it. Light etches on polished marble sometimes respond to a marble polishing compound applied by hand.
Stone is a natural product and carries no manufacturer warranty on wear, etching or staining; the sealer’s maker may warrant the sealer for a period against staining if it was applied as directed. What protects a stone floor is the installer’s care sheet and the owner’s habits, and a floor etched by a cleaner is nobody’s claim.
The same routine, deep and never lists the material pages carry, so the guide and the page cannot disagree.
Those are acidic by design, to dissolve soap scum and mineral scale. On marble they dissolve the floor. The stone aisle has neutral products for a reason, and they are the only ones that belong on this floor.
Vinegar is the most reliable way to etch a marble floor in one mopping. The haze that follows is the surface itself, dissolved, and it comes back only with professional honing.
Sealer is invisible when it is working and obvious when it is gone: a wine spill wiped in five minutes leaves a mark on unsealed stone and nothing on sealed. The bead test takes ten minutes and the resealing takes an afternoon.
A coating on top of stone looks good for weeks, then scuffs, peels at the edges and traps moisture under it. Polished stone is polished by abrasion, not coated. If it has dulled, it wants honing, not a coat.
Slate and granite do not etch, so a mild cleaner that would scar marble does them no harm; they do stain, so sealing matters more. Marble, limestone and travertine etch and stain both. Know which stone is on the floor before choosing anything for it.
Anything acidic: vinegar, lemon, citrus cleaners, most bathroom and tile cleaners, and anything sold to remove hard-water spots. All of them dissolve the polished surface on contact and leave a dull etch mark that no cleaner removes. Also avoid bleach, ammonia and general alkaline cleaners, which dull the polish more slowly, and any abrasive.
A stone soap or a pH-neutral cleaner made for natural stone, in clean water, on a soft mop, followed by a towel dry on polished surfaces. The brand matters less than the label: neutral, made for stone, no acid, no abrasive, no shine additive.
When water stops beading on them. For polished marble in a kitchen that is often yearly; for dense granite it can be three years or more. A penetrating sealer, thin coats, excess wiped off before it dries. Sealer slows absorption so a spill can be wiped in time; it does not prevent etching.
An etch is a spot where acid dissolved the polished surface, so the fix is to take the surface down to it and repolish. Light etches on polished marble sometimes respond to a marble polishing powder worked in by hand; deeper or widespread etching is professional honing with diamond abrasives. No cleaner reverses it.
Not on polished marble, limestone or travertine, where heat and moisture can dull the polish and drive water into the stone, and not on any stone with a topical coating. Sealed, honed slate and granite tolerate it, but a neutral cleaner and a damp mop do the same job with no risk.
Two different causes. A film from the wrong cleaner, or too much of the right one, wipes off with clean water and a towel. An etch from an acidic product does not: the surface itself has changed, and it needs honing. If the dull area matches where a cleaner was used or a spill sat, it is an etch.