Neutral Parties (May 2007)

One definition of phenomena is, “Any state or process known through the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning; a remarkable development.” At a practical level, we can see the whiteness (especially against a darker stone) so we know it’s there – but, as the definition explains, it’s a remarkable development because we all know that it shouldn’t be there.
How are these WFPs occurring, and what makes them tick? Are they signs from intelligent life forms or are they from college kids just having fun?
First of all, let me put something to rest and perhaps even raise some awareness in those who think they’re immune to WFPs. While I mentioned above that it’s noticed mostly on dark stones, it does occur on lighter stones as well.
Years ago, when I started Tom’s Maintenance, we ordered white T-shirts for our workers. The problem was that if my workers rubbed up against anything with dirt or dust on it, the shirts immediately appeared dirty.
The solution was simple. We went to black work shirts; the dirt and grease were still there, only they were not visible. (When we started Great Northern Stone, we still had our black shirts.)
Now, what happens to stone when it’s ground? What color is that stone dust? Bingo – White. Now my workers get white dust all over their black shirts from the slurry of the stone.
Does that bother me? No – because, in this case, the dirt and grease does not show and it looks like my people are working. The point of this is that, if we were to wear white shirts today, the workers would look grubby with dirt … but you wouldn’t see the stone dust indicating they’re accomplishing something.
Now, going back to the light-colored stones, the phenomena that is occurring to cause the WFP is still happening; it just doesn’t stand out, like that white stone dust on a black shirt.
Before everyone gets ahead of me and starts thinking that WFP is caused by foot traffic wearing down stone and causing dust, let me stop you now; that’s a wrong guess. WFP comes from at least one of several (as of this printing) causes I’ve witnessed over the years.
First, there’s moisture under a sealer. If an impregnating sealer (or even a coating, for that matter) is applied over a wet stone, the moisture trying to escape from a dark stone will appear white. This applies mainly to sealers that didn’t permit or allow for vapor transmission, or were applied incorrectly (as a coating and not a penetrator).
Usually, this isn’t a sign from an intelligent life form, but rather quite the opposite. (At least from an upright species that can’t read the instruction label or wait for a stone to dry first.) I’ll admit that, on my first job with an impregnating sealer, I thought I knew how to apply it. When all else failed, I read the destructi…..I mean instructions.
To deal with trapped moisture, you need to either strip off the coating, or poultice it out from the stone (which is not fun at all). This is especially difficult if it’s a solvent-carried impregnating sealer that’s cured on the surface. Once removed, let the stone dry.
To prevent it in the first place, don’t apply the sealer if the stone is wet. (Oil and water do not mix).
And the other cause of WFP? What’s in the water that you use to clean, and how do you (or your staff) use such water?
The “what is in your water” thing could be any number of items. In St Marys, Ont., the water is so lime-heavy that even the best of water softeners cannot keep up to the job. (Anyone heard of St Marys cement?)
In Hawaii it could be volcanic minerals; in Georgia, it could be high iron content. Even though the minerals are miniscule and transparent in the water, they’ll stay after the water evaporates and start to build up. Transparent tape is clear, but on the roll you can see it because it’s layered.
What about treated water? After 11 people died in the town of Walkerton, Ont., due to polluted public water, cities around North America have concentrated the use of chlorine and other chemicals to “purify” their water. All of these items can contribute to the recent outbreak of WFP in your area.
All of these causes are subject to your own local environment and can be accounted for in advance with proper planning … but, there is something that the whole world in common that adds to the WFP.
It’s soap. It’s so innocent and important to us, and yet so troublesome as well. Why? Because soaps are made up of fatty acids of natural oils and fats.
Yes, soaps have fats in them, and fat usually goes white (just look at some pork-chop residue).
As the cleaning water evaporates, the white soap fats are left lying on the floor to either stay white, or collect dirt. (It’s a little sticky, after all). Not only that, but soaps are designed to make water wetter – to lower the surface tension of water, so that it can get into smaller cracks and crevices  and flush out the dirt.
When you spread all this wetter water around that includes any combination of minerals from your geographic area, what’s going to happen to all of the minerals left in these hard-to-reach cracks and crevices? They are going to lodge themselves into those areas and start to stand out like stone dust on a black T-shirt.
The solution (the pun’s intended) isn’t to stop using water or cleaning agents, but rather to use the right ones in a proper fashion. Neutral cleaners (not a soap) do not have all of the fats included in soap, but are designed chemically to make water wetter.
This doesn’t mean that I recommend just glugging away and using neutral cleaners at will. Care needs to be taken to use them wisely as well; many of them have colorant added to them so you won’t drink them, and to distinguish them from competitive and similar products. This colorant will not evaporate either, so it can also contribute to WFP (or even mutate to BFP, GFP or PFP –Blue/Green/Pink Floor Phenomena, respectively).
If you must use a mop, please use it responsibly. Mops spread dirt. If you cannot use a proper autoscrubber, at the very least use a mop in conjunction with a good quality wet vacuum to fully remove any of your contaminated water.
In many cases, janitors use a slop-mop technique, where the idea is to wet the floor for the appearance of clean (like our black Tt-shirts with grease), and have no idea that they are spreading dirt. Some may even enjoy their job and have fun doing it (hence my question at the outset of college kids having fun).
So, if you’re declaring war on WFP, make sure to keep the armaments neutral.
Until then, keep your stick on the ice.
Tom McNall is founder and owner of Great Northern Stone Care, a Huron Park, Ontario-based stone-cleaning and -restoration company servicing all of southern Ontario. He also serves as the director of training, technical assistance, and operational support for Stone Restoration Services, a division of Stone Shop International. Tom also offers corporate and private consultation, serves as a trainer for the Marble Institute of America, and is also on the organization’s board of directors. He can be reached at tom@greatnorthernstone.com