When you move into a new home, the chances are that not everything is to your taste. It might be a garish pink wall or a carpet that looks like it got stuck in the 70s. It isn’t just carpeting though, tiles, stone and all sorts of floor coverings can cause a head ache for new owners. Find out how we helped a client fall in love with her sandstone floor.
It might surprise you to learn that a lot of our conversations start with ‘I’ve got a stone floor’. Usually quickly followed by ‘But I don’t really know what type of stone it is’. This is completely normal. Stone can be tricky to identify even for experts but for us it does not matter if you know the exact quarry that the product came from or if you can just tell us the colour. If stone is scratched, dulled and hasn’t been properly cared for it won’t always be easy to identify. We can usually help you out with this just from a few photographs before a site visit. By identifying your stone, you can then start to look at the options available to reveal its true beauty.
Natural stone is often thought of as an expensive material to buy and install. The truth is that many quality porcelain and ceramic tiles can be just as expensive. The real beauty of stone is that it can be restored. If you move into a property with scratched, marked and chipped porcelain tiles then the chances are that you will have to replace these. If you have been lucky to move into a house that already has existing natural stone then you are one of the lucky ones. Keeping your natural stone and renovating this as part of your project could save you money and really make the most of this feature of your home.
Our client Lisa had ‘tolerated’ the sandstone floor in her kitchen for years. She’d not chosen the floor herself and saw her renovation project as the perfect time to get something new. Upon moving a few of the kitchen units, Lisa spotted some of the original stone was uncovered and decided to investigate if the entire floor could be restored.
The investment in restoring a natural stone floor will always be less than replacing. We will always discuss options for different levels of restoration in order to find something suitable for a clients budget. For Lisa, we were able to strip away the old sealant and deep clean the sandstone tiles and wide grout joints. Applying a colour enhancing sealant brought the vibrancy back to the stone, and a satin finish surface wax created the shine and texture Lisa was after. Not only did this make the floor look and feel more appealing, but also makes maintenance easier and more effective.
It is one thing to restore natural stone that is a client’s pride and joy, but to help someone fall in love with their natural stone is just so much more satisfying. Needless to say, Lisa will be keeping her sandstone floor and has even invested in a maintenance programme so that it will always be a feature of her kitchen.
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