A marble floor is the perfect way to add a touch of luxury to your home. It oozes grandeur but with a subtle elegance. To ensure that this beauty is everlasting, you may be considering a marble floor polishing treatment. Before you do, here is everything that you need to know.
Marble floor polishing services are usually requested for floors that have started to look dull or have visible wear. This might be due to many years of footfall or from poor maintenance. Commonly clients will look to have their floor reviewed by a professional between 2 and 5 years after installation.
For others, the need for a polishing treatment might be driven by damage to the stone. If you have dropped something that has scratched or stained the surface, then you may want to have this restored as soon as possible. Usually damage is only surface level and won’t worsen if unattended. However, we know that you’ll be keen to return the stone to its former glory.
You may also have inherited a marble floor in a property that you have moved in to and want to uncover its hidden beauty. If you are renovating the property and thinking about marble floor polishing as a part of this then we would recommend having the stone assessed as early as possible.
During the initial visit, the aim is to understand the results that you want to achieve. We will assess your marble to see the condition and ascertain how likely it is to return to perfection. Marble floor polishing is one of the more complex stone restoration services. In order to create a seamless polish, the stone must be flat. You will notice that when we attend for the quote a lot of time is spent on hands and knees. Getting this close to your stone helps us to judge how well is has been laid, as well as inspecting the grout joints. We will look our for marks and stains that you might not have noticed and try to figure out what might have caused them. The more that we know about any areas of damage, the more that we can tailor the treatment.
The assessment also takes into account the space that we will be working in. We need to ensure that the marble floor polishing process can be carried out safely by our team. All of our services require access to electricity and fresh water as well as somewhere to dispose of waste.
Sometimes we will provide different options for marble floor polishing. The more expensive is the ‘full restoration’. This is our most comprehensive treatment. We would usually recommend this for clients who have a poorly installed marble floor or one that is heavily stained. The main difference is the number of stages of diamond restoration and the equipment used. A full restoration will usually begin with a grinding phase that uses a bigger and heavier piece of machinery to flatten the floor. Part of the service might also include the addition of a densifier that will react with salts in the stone and grout, causing them to harden. Having a denser material will reduce its moisture retention, and reduce its susceptibility to scratching, dulling and dirt ingress in the future.
For most, a lighter restoration treatment provides the results that you are aiming for. This is the normal standard of marble floor polishing and is a step-by-step process. Diamond abrasives are used to gently buff the top layer of the stone to remove scratches and surface stains. Finer diamonds are then applied to create the desired level of shine. With polishing each stage, the floor will become shinier. You may choose to leave the stone as honed or progress all the way through to a high shine.
When we arrive for your marble floor polishing, the first thing that the team will do is to apply protection as required. All of the services that we provide are dust free. The wet process creates minimal mess but as an extra precaution we may need to pop down some towels or use plastic sheeting and low-tack builder’s tape. We ask that you move as much furniture and loose or valuable items before we arrive. Where large furniture creates difficulty, we can move this on the day. We usually work in small areas at a time to minimise disruption and allow you to use your home normally during the visit.
To see what the restoration process looks like in detail, visit our Instagram to see the team in action.
The final part of all marble floor polishing treatments is the application of an impregnator. This is a type of sealant that is designed to penetrate the marble and protect it from within. It will leave the surface of the stone exposed in order that it can continue to breath. This means that you will need to continue to look after your marble to ensure that it remains in good condition for as long as possible. Our team will leave you with a guide that links through to a hidden page on our website with advice on how to clean and care for your marble on an ongoing basis. You can also request a copy of our Athena Aftercare guide by emailing info@athenastonecare.co.uk.
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