Restoring Cultured Marble Countertops | Polish Out Scratches Yourself 

That's fantastic news! So happy to hear this!

Great news! Way to stick with it until you got the result you wanted! It does take a lot of patience.

So glad it helped and happy for your success!

Thats exactly what I was going to do but instead I had 2000 Grit but yeah thank you I'm glad somebody else did it now I know i can.

I bet the tub was a chore. But sounds like it was well worth it!

I went for it and used 3M 1200 wet-dry pads, ("Auto/Advanced - Step 4 Polish") --- carefully. A lot of rubbing and monitoring to avoid breaking through the gel coat. The stains are gone! I followed up with some Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound and ended up with a vastly improved top. Thanks again.

Fantastic! So glad it worked!

Hi Robb -- Provided you are skilled in it's use, yes, I think a random orbital buffer would work great and be a big time saver. My experience suggests that the clear gelcoat on these countertops does not have an entirely uniform thickness but, at minimum, it should be as thick as the 2nd-stage clearcoat on an automotive finish.

Hmmm ... yes, we've had this question before. Best we can suggest is a clear coat gloss spray. We suggest the spray because it gives you the best chance of 'blending' into the gloss clear coat around the damaged area. Mike's done autobody work and has some experience with the blending technique, but you should be fine if you use a delicate hand. Let us know how it goes!

I would think this process would be ideal for that situation. Let us know how it goes!

That's definitely a question for someone more expert than I! We only have personal experience with two of the 'engineered counter tops' you list which, as I understand it, are all variations of the same thing - ground up stone mixed with various resins. (1) Cultured Marble (in this video) is a solid surface acrylic composition with a gel coat and it (as well as solid surface) does NOT hold up well to heat and does only minimally better with scratching. In my experience, any product with a gloss finish is more susceptible to these problems. The second product we have experience with is (2) Quartz and we love it. Although, it's the same general premise - ground up stone and resin - it does not have a gel coat and, both the materials and processes used seem to result in a superior product. We've had quartz counter tops in our kitchen for over a decade with zero scratching, heat damage or staining. Hope this helps!

It sounds like you took the entire clear coat layer off. This does happen. You could try a clear coat spray enamel ... but, once it's on it's pretty well permanent.

Mike Here :-) 1) I would only sand the areas that have visible scratches (as opposed to micro-abrasions which merely dull the shiny finish). Keep sanding to an absolute minimum, use 1000 grit or higher, and always use water or some other lubricant. The gel-coat on these countertops is VERY thin; it's quite easy to go through if you're not careful. It's generally a bit thicker than the clear-coat on automotive paint, but there's no way to know exactly what the thickness is either, which makes this process a calculated gamble. You want to sand JUST enough to take out the worst of the scratches. If you have a really badly scratched area, you may want to strike a compromise and only sand deep enough to remove the lighter scratches in that area, which will also diminish the severity of the deeper ones in that same area. If you find you must do this in the worst sections, I assure you, the countertop will look MUCH better for it, even if minimal scratches remain when you're done. 2) When polishing the entire countertop, I break the work up into small sections, based on what I can conveniently polish in a single stroke (keep strokes circular to prevent linear scratches, BTW). I only move on when I'm satisfied with the result in that section. Doing this will usually result in some small areas initially overlooked or a difference in the level of polish between sections but these issues are easily addressed once the initial polish process is complete. 3) For our purposes, Turtle Wax is just another wax based abrasive polish though the specific wax formulation may afford longer lasting protection than standard polish. We only finish with Turtle wax because a finer abrasive than polishing compound does -- MUCH finer! This allows us to buff the finish to a higher level of shine. I generally take bigger strokes when finishing with Turtle Wax but I approach that process in the same way as discussed in #2 above -- one small section at a time.

Though sanding the area only can bring a dip in the surface

I would think so! I'd go really easy on those spots because it won't take nearly this much effort.

Ouch. Is it real marble or faux marble?

@@GettinBelizy I am not sure what kind of marble. Its in the bathroom. I tried a mixture of water and baking soda and let it sif for 2 days and that didnt work. Next I tried baking soda and a little bit of hydrogen peroxide. This is on their now. The jewerly cleaner ate away at the marble and now it looks terrible. Can I mask it by putting something like black shoe polish? Tks

Oh gosh no, I wouldn't put any sort of stain on it. That would only make things worse. Without seeing your counter top, I can't say for sure what would fix it, but the process you see here should work for any cultured (or faux) stone. Cultured stone is colored all the way through. So, theoretically, if you gently sand past the damage the jewelry cleaner left, you should find clean, untouched 'marble' underneath. The key is to be very gentle, however. Good luck!

I think so!

Do you think it would also work on kitchen? I think they are Formica.

It's funny that you mention it -- in my video, I was also just using what I had on hand. Any of those products you mentioned should be safe, so far as I know. The only down-side I see is that none of the products you mentioned sound like they have a very coarse abrasive, so you may have to work a bit harder to achieve the finished product -- but if you're like most people right now, you've got plenty of time! Experiment to see which product seems to produce shine most quickly -- this will most likely be the product with the most coarse abrasive (TW Rubbing Compound if I had to guess). If you complete the counter-top and find it doesn't ultimately have the level of shine you're happy with, go over everything again with one of the other products with finer abrasive (perhaps Meguiar's Step 2?). Good Luck!

@@GettinBelizy Thanks! A followup rookie question. So if I understand, the 1000/2000 wet sandpaper "erases" the finer surface scratches but also dulls the shine, so a lot of gentle polishing is needed to restore the shine. Is that right? It's weird how one abrasive (wet sandpaper) can sand down a surface until it's a bit dull looking, but another type of abrasive (polish) can smooth the surface and make it shiny again. I just discovered that I have an old R.O. buffer, but the speed isn't adjustable and is pretty fast.

I'm sure there are different yet technically "correct" ways to look at it. I look at it as a case of needing to take off a tiny bit of the surface, through the sanding process, so that the counter-top surface is eventually reduced to the level of the bottoms of most of the lighter scratches. You are essentially smoothing by reducing the high spots to match the low ones. When that happens, there is no more scratch. You DO have to draw the line somewhere -- you don't want to sand until the deeper scratches go away because you might, at that point, start going entirely through the gel-coat. You have to start out identifying some deeper scratches and tell yourself "when these are all that's left, I'm calling it quits". The end result will look much better because the lighter scratches, which were more abundant, will be gone, and theThe deeper scratches will also be less pronounced. So, anyway, the objective is to "take down" the surface until it is at the same height as the bottoms of the lighter scratches. The micro-scratches left by the sanding process are an inconvenient byproduct of this process, so you must then address them by cycling through progressively finer grit abrasives until you're using an ultra-fine abrasive we call "polish". Understand, sand paper and polish do essentially the same thing: they use abrasive to smooth larger imperfections, and they accomplish that task my removing surface material. Polish is just a very extremely FINE abrasive. Did that help? One more thing -- be careful not to accidentally sand harder on any ridges -- it's easy to take more material at corners and edges simply because they naturally catch on your paper. I would avoid sanding edges entirely unless you've got a corner that's beat up and you're willing to take a risk. (example would be where the counter-top turns downward into the sink basin)

@@GettinBelizy VERY HELPFUL--thanks! I am motivated to complete this project, which will delight my wife lol. We really appreciate your taking time to educate us. BTW, if we win a big lottery, we might end up being neighbors in Belize. Stay well!

See you someday in paradise!

The yellowing is something that you won't be able to "take out", per se. If your situation corresponds with my experience, the thing that has turned yellow, is the very top layer of the gel-coat on the countertop. The same process which will take out micro-scratches will remove this yellowed layer. I actually had some of that in the project showcased here, but we started shooting video after I had already resolved it. You'll actually need to sand less gel-coat away to get rid of the yellowing than you would to resolve the small scratches which were our primary problem with our countertops. Considering that the yellowing is your only problem, and considering this is a new process for you, I would simply start with coarse rubbing compound and just keep rubbing a small area until the yellow goes away. Once you've done that, you'll know what it will take to resolve the yellowing in the balance of the affected area. Well-wetted 1200 or greater wet-dry sand-paper would speed the process, but it would also increase the risk that you'd sand through the clear-coat, at which point, you've basically ruined the countertop. It takes lots of patience, but the finer the abrasive you use at the beginning, the less your chances of ruining the countertop and the less work it will be to regain the high-gloss finish with fine polishing compound in your final step. If you use even the finest sand paper in the first step, it's quite a chore to polish out micro-scratches left by the paper. If you never use anything but coarse rubbing compound in the first step, luster returns quickly with fine polish compound in the final step.

Thank you very much! I will be taking up the task next week and appreciate your advice 👍

Yep, these countertops should be just like yours. Engineered - cultured - manufactured ... same thing. I would give this method a try. Let us know how it goes!

I would go with a polishing compound. It takes longer to get out actual scratches but it doesn't cut into the surface like even fine wet/dry sandpaper does. I would try polishing a small spot for a good while and see what happens. You might get lucky and lessen scratches and give it a shine all at the same time.

Should work on the counter top ... not sure about the tub. It would depend on the material it's made of.

I think you're right about trying polishing compound only. Mother's Mag Polish is good. You can buff with Turtlewax after which might help with shine.

I'd probably start out with a good polishing compound and an electric buffer with a high quality polishing pad. Hopefully, that's all it needs. If you still have no shine, you might try a sealant made for cultured stone. I tend to shy away from sealants but needed to buckle down and use one on quartz kitchen countertops. It did okay, added a good even shine - BUT you have to let it dry for at least 72 hours before touching it. Good luck!

As fine a sandpaper as you could find! :-) I've never tried this, but I'm certain you would need to seal it. You are right that there are matte sealers out there. And maybe the sealer would help with blotchiness.

It will be dull and 'foggy' instead of shiny and reflective.

I removed just a little bit of the "glaze" as you call it. The correct term is "gel-coat". IF you sand or polish entirely through the gel-coat in even a single small spot, you've basically ruined the countertop (and there's no way to know just how thick it is until it's too late) . The only exception here is if you find that the basic pigment and grain of the cultured marble are in still intact where you sanded through. If that's the case, you can try to clear-coat the entire countertop. Attractive results can be had this way under just the right circumstances but durability will be substantially lacking vs the original gel-coat. You can clear coat over a countertop where most of the gel-coat is intact and you've sanded through in just one or two areas, but you can NOT clear-coat just one spot where you rub through and leave the rest. The reason for this is that there will be a very visible distinction between the area you clear-coated and the area you did not clear-coat. I can advise on clear-coating because I've experimented with it on previous projects. From experience, I can tell you that the BEST course is to simply replace the countertop if you find you've sanded or polished through the original gel-coat.

Hi there! It might be easy to doubt the polishing process is having any benefit but hang in there -- it just takes time and effort. I suggest you stick to one 10"x10" area and focus on getting it to shine. Once you've accomplished that, you'll know what will be required to get the entire surface looking the same. Unlike many typical household cleaning jobs, this process benefits from a lot of downward force as you polish. The more pressure you use, the quicker the desired shine will be achieved. We may not have properly emphasized just how much physical labor is involved in getting from the dull 1000-grit stage to a nicely polished look. Mike was sore for a couple of days after this project, and the polishing process took quite a bit of time! It sounds like you've not used an excessively coarse abrasive so it's very unlikely you've gone through the gelcoat, but if you do go through, that spot will never shine. The colored/textured core of the countertop is slightly porous and there's no way to make it shine short of adding clearcoat back on top of it -- which is an iffy proposition. Again -- this shouldn't be your situation but it might be something to keep in mind as you proceed. Generally, I think if you focus on a 10"x10" section, you'll find out what is required to achieve shine and you'll be able to pace yourself moving forward to complete the balance of the countertop. Best of luck!

@@GettinBelizy Thank you so much for responding back to me. I realized on Sunday that the reason it wasn't looking right was due to the fact that I needed to take out more scratches and remove the shine by repeating the 1000 grit sanding. The sanding is the easy part though. The buffing is a much much slower process to achieve the desired look. I did go out and purchase a 6" orbital buffer to help with the polishing. It's coming along but it's definitely more work than I thought it would be to get it all done. (large double bathroom vanity lol) My husband came home this evening and said that he can already see a big difference in how it looks. Thanks again for your advise, encouragement and helpful video.

That's great news! Let us know how it turns out!

it's hard to say. I was able to remove some yellowing as part of the repair showcased here -- unfortunately I didn't capture "before" video. The big question is how deep the dye penetrated into the gel-coat. If only the very top layer of gel-coat is affected, then yes, this should work. Unfortunately, there's no way to know until you try. If it is a fairly small area that's affected, I would just start with some rubbing compound on a very small area and see what the result is. If it takes forever, you might consider wet-sanding the rest of the affected area before finishing with rubbing compound and wax. The only trouble with wet-sanding is that you can very easily ruin a countertop if you 1) use too coarse of sandpaper or 2) sand too much. In either case, once you go through the gel-coat into the core of the countertop, you have much bigger problems. If you skip sandpaper altogether and just use rubbing compound, it may take longer, but it's much harder to go through the gel-coat. Hope that helps -- good luck!

Gettin' Belizy much appreciated thank you!

Rubbing alcohol (if you can find any these days) removes a lot of surface stains without the negative effects of bleach.

Good idea! Rubbing alcohol is surprisingly versatile. I would be concerned about the counter top loosing it's shine permanently in the area where you use alcohol. But maybe that's still a better result than the stain? Either way, if you do decide to use alcohol, you could try denatured alcohol instead of isopropyl alcohol. Our local home improvement stores still have it in stock.

I try removing the hair dye with magic eraser and it works so you can try it too. Wet the eraser a little and lightly try to rub on the dye stain and see if it comes off the culture marble, hope it works for you.

It should work for all faux surfaces! Did the sponge have any sort of cleaner or acetone on it? Knowing why it is no longer shiny will help determine what steps to take.

@@GettinBelizy no cleaner or acetone I just grab the sponge from the kitchen sink . I rubbed the table too hard... Do I need to buy all of the products in your video? Should I do any sand? Thanks for the quick response !

No sanding. Unless you have scratches or flaws in the finish, you want to stay away from sanding. You might try a sealer first - just to get the shine back. If that doesn't work, you could use the wax only. It doesn't sound like you have a damaged surface, just a dull one.

Gettin' Belizy Thank you. I will try it out! Any type of sealer?

Possibly but have not tried it. Good luck!

I think you are beyond anything I have first hand experience with! I also think you have some good ideas! It does sound as if these workmen gouged entirely through the original gelcoat -- the black you describe sounds like it could be mold growing on the porous core of the countertop which is exposed at the bottom of these scratches. What a shame -- I'm sorry to hear it! I do think the only path forward might be, as you say, to get some sort of color matched fill into the gouges and then a clear coat over that. It's anyone's guess how well this might turn out, but I'm sure it's true that the more care and attention to detail, the better the final result. Good luck -- keep us posted!

What did you use to fill the gouges? Workers gouged my sink when removing old faucet. How dumb was that!

This little tutorial might help determine what material you are working with ... "You Can Tell Real and Cultured Marble Apart A tell-tale sign of cultured marble is that the countertop will have an integrated sink and backsplash of the same color and pattern, also no seams or caulking, a thin edge and flat finish-like underside."

It should work on original cultured granite countertops. But, as I understand it, Granitex is an acrylic coating that is applied OVER countertops. If that's what you have, this process doesn't apply to your situation.

Thank you, sir! Your videos are great!

Yellowing can happen for a number of reasons. If your entire counter top is yellow, it may be part of the material color and there'd be nothing you could do about that. If it's just spots of yellow, or if the yellow is in the clear jell coat only (say sun damage or coming from a smoker's house), wet sanding with 1200 grit and then polish would be your best bet. If you already have open pores that are truly through the jell coat, wet sanding will only make these worse. BUT, if you're on the verge of painting it as a last resort, the wet sand/polish trick sure couldn't hurt anything and you may as well give it a try. Avoid sanding through the jell coat either way. If you do manage to get it to a color you can tolerate, you can clear coat it again with a gloss spray from Home Depot/Lowes. Hope that helps!

That's just water. Keeping the wet/dry sand paper saturated at all times. Good luck!

Thanks

That's really too bad. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Although cultured and engineered marble are both a version of 'faux' marble and constructed similarly, there are some differences such as gel coat like you described. I found this article very helpful about the comparisons ... econgranite.com/stone-weekly/dangers-of-faux-marble/ We have quartz (engineered surface) installed in our kitchen and had discoloration immediately when they pealed the protective plastic off after installation. It was almost as if some oils in the plastic had soaked into the surface. They tried every product or solution they could think of. We had 'an expert' come from the manufacturer. He was at a loss. Told us our last recourse was to seal it. We didn't want it sealed - it was the whole reason we decided on quartz - because they insist it doesn't need sealing! So, they gave us a refund and we kept the quartz because, well, FREE QUARTZ! I decided to try some of my own methods after that, thinking it couldn't get worse. I was right. I ended up being fairly pleased with the results of an application of vegetable oil. It evened out the discoloration which was also caused by oils (we think). Then after a few years, it all faded quite evenly and, although I can still see the original markings at a certain angle in a certain light, they aren't bad at all. It's possible that sealer would have helped as well - we just never tried it. It seemed wrong to 'seal' in the offending oil. Anyway, best of luck! Let us know how it turns out!

@@GettinBelizy Thanks so much for your reply. I read the article in the link and even though I had known all of that when we chose it, I felt like I would be able to take good care of the counter top. A random thing happened with a little jar of vinegar (a tonic that my son in law loves). I ran to the nearest bathroom because it leaked. I forgot about how prissy the product is for that second. Anyway, it is etched just like glass etching. My first instinct was to treat it with oil, but it does not absorb the oil at all. I might try buffing one of the spots and then adding a turtle wax or furniture wax. And as with your situation, it is more obvious when looking at it from one direction than the other. I like a countertop to be clear of items, but I might have to lay a towel or something there just to distract me from looking at it. My husband made the vanity himself because the products from places like Lowes and Home Depot are pure junk. I should have purchased natural stone for the top, but we just wanted to get it done. Some of 'natural' stone at Lowes is about a quarter inch thick and glued over something else. I realized that when I saw a crack in it. All the displays had cracks in them. Anyway....live and learn. Thanks for your input!! Much appreciated.

Man, that's tough. It sounds like there's no down side to the buff/polish approach. And if it's actually scratched to the touch, you pretty much need to get down to a smooth surface anyway. I agree that it just makes sense to start out with a super fine-grit wet sandpaper and see where it goes. Good luck!

@@GettinBelizy Thanks!! It's going to be my after Christmas project. Whooo hoooo!!

We had similar issue with ours. Fortunately, we were replacing all the fixtures and so were able to really polish out the drain hole while the old drain hardware was removed. It's not difficult to remove and replace the drain and, so, I'd suggest doing so. This will allow you good access to the harsh blemishes. Ours turned out really good.

Thanks!!

I’m afraid I may be sanding too hard. 😩We already have new bronze hardware which is what made the cracks really stand out. 🙈

Uh oh. It's a difficult thing to know when to stop. I think my only reason for such success was huge patience. 1000 grit for a bit (but not too much) and then polishing compound until my arm was so sore it felt like it would fall off. If you've already done too much sanding, there may be no coming back from that.

We also have issues in the sink bowl ... are you finishing this with any sealer, or just the wax and buffing it? Want to be sure this will hold up to daily bathroom sink use. Thanks in advance!

True. This stuff is cheap and poorly made. I'm glad they've moved away from it.

It cannot be "just replaced". Every vanity, especially used in custom applications, was cut to different dimensions and sink placements. You will not find a counter to match the vanity cabinet, and putting a brand new counter in a 1988 renovated bathroom on a 1988 vanity cabinet will stick out like a store thumb. I have a right offset sink in mine, and I have been hunting Habitat Restore for years to try and find a replacement in a similar color. I just have deep gouges in my basin I'm trying to get out or at least patch up.

Hey Phil! 100 grit is course enough that it's likely you're not only through the clear coat, but through the marbled pattern as well. Below the marble pattern (pigmented layer) is the core material (primary color layer). If you've already cut through the pigmented layer, there is really no hope for restoration. If there is some marble pattern still remaining, you can work your way back to 1000 grit (I'd start with 600 grit), tape off the area and apply crystal clear gloss spray (available at Home Depot). It won't be as durable a finish but should look acceptable if you take the time to remove the majority of the 100 grit scratches. Good luck!

@@GettinBelizy Thanks! There is some weird dark stain along where they fastened - stuck - adhered the shower curtain and then tried to scrape it with something sharp. It's ridiculous. I don't think I could hurt the look any more. I wet sand with 1000 grit to see if I can get it off without too much damage. It'll get replace soon enough and we may find a resurfacing company to just place something new over the top. Thanks!

Sure! Good luck!