Correcting installation damage to a limestone floor

As part of the renovation of his property our client had installed a Wexford limestone floor with a semi honed finish. In his initial enquiry he explained that there had been some damage caused to the floor by tape that had been used to fix the temporary protection.

In particular the client noted that ‘We want to maintain a semi matt finish if we can, but need to be practical in terms of maintenance’. As always, when a client has chosen a brand new stone tile, it is important to them that any resurfacing does not change the finish and leaves them with a floor that reflects the tiles that they chose for their project. With the ongoing maintenance of importance to the client, we offered to trial a few different options of finish when on site to determine exactly what grit level to take the resurfacing of the floor to.

In the initial visit to restore the stone, the team resurfaced the limestone floor tiles with flexible diamond abrasive pads to remove surface scratches and etch marks. This was important with this sort of textured tile to ensure that the stone maintained its character. The tiles were then deep cleaned using an alkaline cleaning agent to remove adhesive residue and staining. Re-finish to the desired level of shine then sealed and waxed both for protection and to enhance the finish.

The client commented:

“We are really pleased with the finished result.

Although the initial challenge was to remove the marks, gouges and stains, the impregnator and wax finish have really brought the floor to life.

The overall effect is exactly what we were looking for and lifts the whole area.”

A year later, the client got in touch again to request a professional maintenance clean. He noted:

“Generally it’s all still intact, with a couple of small stains, and still looks good. As discussed there is a small area where surface has broken down due to us using an undiluted cleaner earlier on. Inevitably, the bathroom may need a bit more work.”

This is a typical example of the need for ongoing maintenance. Although the client had been keeping an excellent cleaning regime, he wanted to ensure that the floor would remain in top condition and stand the test of time. The subsequent maintenance visit by the Athena Stonecare team required a much less intense treatment to the floor. This involved using pH neutral cleaning agent to remove soil ingress and surface residues across the entire floor and resurfacing only in the areas that had experienced chemical damage. As well as sealing and waxing the floor, we gave the client some further information on how to periodically re-apply the wax in order to keep the limestone in excellent condition in between our visits.

The client was pleased with the results and noted “The floor looks great – thank you. The bathroom has come up particularly well – it was in a terrible state”

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