Marble Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Marble tiles carried out in Hampshire

Cleaning and Polishing Marble tiles

Marble is reputed in the international market for its premium quality, toughness and durability. It is often the preferred choice for interior and exterior in both commercial and domestic situations for flooring, wall cladding, paving, facades of buildings, pavements and landscaping.

One of the main issues with polished Marble is the polish starts to wear down with use and eventually becomes dull. Another issue we see is acid etching where strong unsuitable cleaning products used on the stone etch the surface and ruin its appearance. To resolve both these problems the stone needs to be re-polished with diamond encrusted burnishing pads of different grits to hone the stone and bring back that deep shine. If this sounds familiar you should talk to us about our annual maintenance program where we visit you once a year to clean, polish and seal your floor thus keeping it in top condition.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.

Damaged Marble Tiled Kitchen Floor Before After Restoration Winchester

Acid Damaged Marble Kitchen Floor Restored in Winchester

1 Comment / Marble Tile Cleaning, Winchester Tile Cleaning, Work History /

Marble is a natural material which although hard wearing can easily be ruined by a strong chemical such as acid. In this case my client’s kitchen floor which was laid with black Marble square tiles was etched due to the accidental spill of a corrosive agent and the subsequent attempt to clean it up.

Acid Damaged Marble Floor Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Winchester
The property was in the historic city of Winchester and as you can image my client was horrified by the state of their Marble floor which was now ruined. Desperate for a solution that didn’t involve the expensive tiles being replaced we were asked to take a look.

After surveying the floor, I recommended resurfacing the stone with a set of diamond encrusted floor burnishing pads which would remove the etching and hone the stone back to its original appearance.

Happy to discover there was a solution to the problem we were given instructions to go ahead with the restoration.

Honing Acid Etched Marble Floor Tiles

Our first task was to remove the kickboards from underneath the kitchen units, this ensures they are not scratched during the cleaning process and it also allows our buffer machine to get right to the edge of the floor.

I then started the burnishing process by applying a 400-grit coarse burnishing pad lubricated with a little water to the floor. This coarse pad will remove the etching and dirt from the Marble. It does generate a fine slurry on the floor so after each pad it’s best to rinse the slurry away with water and then extract it off the floor using a wet vacuum.

Following this, I worked my way through the remaining burnishing pads repeating the process with 800-grit medium and 1500-grit fine grit burnishing pads. I also used some small hand-held burnishing blocks in the difficult to reach corners and edges.

The floor pads struggle to reach into the recesses of the grout lines so halfway through the burnishing process I stopped to apply a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines and give them a scrub with stiff hand brushes repeating the process in stubborn areas.

After a final rinse the floor was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing Black Marble Floor Tiles

The next day I finished the polishing process by applying the last of the four pads in the set which is a very fine 3000-grit pad which refines the polish even further. This last pad is applied dry with only a little water sprayed onto the floor using a technique we call a ‘Spray Burnish”. The one of the advantages of this method is it leaves the floor dry so is ready for sealing.

Now that the appearance of the Marble had been restored it was time to protect the stone against future dirt, stains and damage by applying a sealer. On this occasion I chose Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing product that really improves the depth of the black Marble tiles and increases the contrast with the white veins in the stone. Two coats of Colour Grow were applied allowing time for each coat to dry in-between coats. Once the sealant had hardened, I ran over the floor with a white buffing pad to further enhance the look of the Marble floor.

The Marble tile and grout was completely transformed much to the relief of the owner.

 

Marble Kitchen Floor Tiles Restored in Winchester

Acid Damaged Marble Kitchen Floor Restored in Winchester Read More »

Marble Tiled Floor Petersfield Before and After

Cleaning & Polishing Marble Floor Tiles in Petersfield

1 Comment / Marble Tile Cleaning, Waterlooville Tile Cleaning, Work History /

This polished Marble tiled floor was installed in a house in the old market town of Petersfield. The tile and grout was in good condition but like all polished stone floors they will go dull after a period of time and require burnishing and polishing to restore shine.

Marble Tiled Floor Petersfield Begin Marble Tiled Floor Petersfield Begin

Cleaning Marble Floor Tiles

We gave the floor a quick sweep and wash down with a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean partly to ensure any surface grit etc. was removed but also so we could get a stiff grout brush in along the grout lines and give them a clean. Once done the floor was rinsed down with water which was removed with a wet vacuum, once done we moved straight onto burnishing the floor to restore the polish. Burnishing requires the application of a little water so there was no need to wait for it to dry.

Burnishing requires the application of four different diamond encrusted graded pads in sequence working from coarse which removed old sealers and dirt through to medium, fine and super fine pads which build up the polish on the floor. The floor requires a rinse in-between each pad to remove any slurry and water is extracted from the floor using the wet vacuum, after the super fine pad we removed as much water from the floor as possible and left it to dry overnight ready for sealing the next day.

Sealing Marble Floor Tiles

On our return the next day we made sure the floor was dry with the use of a damp meter and once we were happy we sealed the Marble tiles using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer the occupied the pores in the tile to prevent other contaminates soaking into the tile. It also does a nice job of lifting the natural colours in the stone and enhancing the look of the tile.

Marble Tiled Floor Petersfield Finished Marble Tiled Floor Petersfield Finished

 

Polishing Marble Floor Tiles in Hampshire

Cleaning & Polishing Marble Floor Tiles in Petersfield Read More »

Marble Floor Tile Restoration Winchester Finished

Marble Tiled Floor Restored in Winchester

1 Comment / Marble Tile Cleaning, Winchester Tile Cleaning, Work History /

Photographs below of a classic black and white Marble floor tile installation at premises in the city of Winchester. As you can see these Marble tiles had seen some traffic and were not in the best of condition following on from some building work that had been going on; fortunately we are quite used to dealing with these problem and have just the right products and equipment to restore them.

Marble Floor Tile Restoration Winchester Before

Marble Tile Cleaning and Polishing

For best results on hard stone surfaces such as Marble we burnish the floor using a set of diamond encrusted polishing pads. You start with a coarse pad which applied with a little water to remove surface dirt and sealers etc. before moving through a set of finer polishing pads until you reach a high shine glossy finish.

Half way through the burnishing process we stopped to apply a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines and give them a scrub with stiff hand brushes repeating the process in stubborn areas.

Marble Floor Tile Restoration Winchester Finished
After the treatment the floor was washed do to remove any soiled solution before being buffed with a white buffing pad. Any trace of its previous condition was now gone and the floor was uniform in appearance, it took much of the day to do the polishing and a set of four burnishing pads to acquire the right lustre.

Marble Floor Tiles restored in Winchester

Marble Tiled Floor Restored in Winchester Read More »

Marble Mosaic Balcony Tile No2 Finished

Polishing Marble Mosaic Balcony Tiles in Bournemouth

Lymington Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Work History /

Installed on an external balcony these black and white Marble Mosaic tiles had been exposed to the elements resulting in an accumulated of dirt.

Marble Mosaic Balcony Tile Before

Cleaning Marble Mosaic Balcony Tiles

Marble is a very tough product so for best results we recommend using a set of burnishing pads fitted to a rotary machine that can cut through the grime and re-polish the stone. There are four pads in the set and you start with the Red pad together with a little water, this removes any remaining sealer; next you move on to the White pad again with a little water and this will remove any ingrained dirt. The next two pads, Yellow then Green complete the polishing process and produce a high shine finish. Between pads you need to rinse the floor with clean water to remove loose dirt and grime, I can recommend the use of a Wet Vacuum for this they are excellent at removing surface water quickly.

Sealing Marble Mosaic Tiled Floor

We left the floor to dry overnight and came back the next day to seal the floor. Luckily the weather held out, being external we wouldn’t have been able to seal the Marble if it was wet and it was forecast to rain that day. We sealed the Marble Mosaic tiles using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which really does bring out the colour of natural stone, it’s also rated for external use and will provide strong and durable protection for the future.

Marble Mosaic Balcony Tile Finished
 

Marble Mosaic Floor Cleaning and Sealing in Bournemouth

Polishing Marble Mosaic Balcony Tiles in Bournemouth Read More »

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