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A regular alkaline AA battery apparently leaked on our Caesar-stone (similar to Silestone) island counter top. If this is indeed the case, it has been left there for several weeks. It left a battery sized bleached area. It feels very slightly rougher than the surface around it. In real life it stands out even more than in the picture:

Battery acid damage, dry

Interesting enough, when that area is wet the mark is much less apparent, almost invisible:

Battery acid damage, wet

Reading on similar damage on-line it would seem that sanding the damaged area will not help, as the acid bleached the color of the quartz. I might try some gentle (800+ grit) sanding to completely smooth the surface, but that probably won't help with the color.

From the observation above (the stain almost disappearing when wet) I hope that a "wet-look" stone sealer might darken the damaged area without touching the non-porous undamaged surface around. Anyone had any experience with something of this sort? I'd really hate to have to replace the entire island counter top.

Note that the damage is in a part of the counter top away from the food preparation, so it should be only lightly used.

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    Well, this is not acid, this is alkali.
    – sharptooth
    Dec 10, 2012 at 14:20
  • Surface roughened by etching. You could probably have the installer repolish the stone in that spot, though caeserstone is quite hard. It is man made, so it is polishable. It would be a multistep process with a power polisher and different grades of rouge.
    – Tim Quinn
    Dec 11, 2012 at 11:35
  • @TimQuinn - and do you think this will return the color as well?
    – Eli Iser
    Dec 11, 2012 at 11:41
  • Did you find a solution for this? The same has happened to me. Thanks.
    – flavianatill
    Oct 29, 2020 at 16:47
  • @flavianatill sadly no. I sold the house a few years ago without doing anything to this.
    – Eli Iser
    Oct 29, 2020 at 22:53

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I would experiment with dye on a cut-off piece.. talk to some installers of ceasar stone or get some samples.

The dye I'm speaking of is a metallic salt type (Transtint http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/TransTint.htm ) They are intended for wood, but will stain most any material with some porosity to it.

This will be a temporary fix, a surface treatment that will have to be renewed periodically. If you get a mix working (keep track of your formula), you can bottle it for refreshing the color as needed.

I'd suggest 1 OZ of denatured alcohol and 4-6 drops of a Transtint color to start. Mixing is straight forward and color blend is the true genius of this system.
PS wear latex or nitrile gloves..

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