Red wine on a slate fireplace

[RushyBay]

Please help! I live in a rented house, and after a year of taking care of the place as though it was my own, I've managed to ruin the fireplace a couple of weeks before I'm due to move out.

I was having a few too many glasses of wine a lovely romantic evening in front of the fire and we knocked the bottle flying in a fit of passion spilt some red wine and didn't get around to cleaning it up until the morning.

Now there's a milky looking splash mark all over the slate I've tried hot soapy water, with a cloth and with a brush and it doesn't make any difference. I had a look on google, but everything says to wipe it up as soon as possible before the acid etches into the stone. It's too late for that!

I've got my fingers crossed that someone has an amazing mumsnet wisdom tip ....?! Or is there something I can buy to re-stain it? Can it be restored? Am I going to have to get the whole thing replaced? I don't have many spare pennies at the moment so I'm really worried about this, but I can't leave it as it is.

Was worth it though!

[MrsLettuce]

TBH (and this isn't the right thing to do) I'd paint wine all over the undamaged parts of the fireplace, leave overnight, clean-up and oil the whole fireplace.

[Blackpuddingbertha]

WD40 works a treat on slate. Wipe a load on until it's quite wet (do all the slate not just the stained patch), leave for 5-10 minutes then wipe again with a dry cloth/kitchen towel to take off the excess. It will look lovely but the stain will probably start to show through gradually again after a couple of weeks. I stained ours with a pumpkin lantern left too long, I just keep using the WD40 when it shows through too badly.

[MrsLettuce]

yy, wd40 is good if you've got it to hand. But, IME, the only way to avoid the stain (more an anti-stain IYSWIM) coming back to haunt you is to strip the whole thing in the same way as caused the stain before oiling it back up.

I've used limescale remover to do this in the past but it's scary and the chances are that the red wine will have added a little true stain as well as the stripping effect.

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

Perhaps spraying the whole thing with a vinegar solution to even it out and then scrubbing and then oiling will work.

[RushyBay]

That's brilliant - thank you both! MrsLettuce - what sort of oil do you mean?

[MrsLettuce]

Using the same agent that caused the stain is the safest option.