This blogpost was originally shown on Abbey Floor Care
Banish Your Marble Cleaning Nightmares Forever
To Enjoy An Easy To Clean Beautiful Marble Floor
Marble Cleaning UK
If your marble floor is dull and difficult to clean, it’s a sign that the surface has been damaged by scratches and chemical etch damage.
You need to call on the services of a professional marble cleaning company.
However, this can be daunting task… where do you start… what do you ask… who can you trust?
We have been cleaning and restoring marble floors for over 20 years and built up an enviable reputation for service and quality.
Get a free no-obligation consultation be a trained and experienced marble restoration expert as the first step in cleaning your marble floor
Answered: Your Most Burning Questions About Marble Polishing
As with many cleaning terms, marble polishing is a general term that describes a range of marble cleaning services to restore a shiny, scratch and blemish free finish.
A common question we get is:
“How much will it cost to clean and polish my marble?”
The cost to clean and polish marble depends on the condition of the floor tiles, scratches, damage, soiling etc. In most cases, we can make an assessment fro good quality photographs. That’s why we ask you to send us photographs of your floor.
If we need further information from you, we generally contact you by email, giving you time to give us the information.
Marble Cleaning And Polishing Tiles In Reasonable Condition
The cost can range from £15.00 to £25.00 per square metre.
This floor was in good condition but had lost its shine.
The surface of the marble tiles was dulled by small scratches and light etching. A sample of marble cleaning and marble polishing (just above our watermark) shows a new beautiful clean and polished finish. The picture also shows the effect of removing soil from the grout lines.
The polishing process can remove scuffs and light scratches on light marbles, however, if you look closely, you may still see scratches, but they will be shiny and less visible.
This floor had lost its shine from grit brought into the home by a pet. Whilst methodical cleaning will help keep a shine, the grit will eventually dull the shine. So we suggested that the floor was lightly polished rather than being fully restored. See more here:...
Polishing Marble Tiles In Poor Condition
The cost generally ranges from £30 to £45 per square metre.
This marble was in poor condition. It had lost its deep gloss through surface scratches, blemishes and some light etch mark damage. The polishing started by cleaning the grout with a rotary scrubbing machine and 1,200 grit honing powder
Whilst the floor was poor, there was little lippage, so we didn’t need to grind the floor smooth. So the floor was honed using diamond honing tooling. Honing tools range from coarse to fine grit, just like sandpaper for wood finishing.
The floor was then polished using marble polishing powder to transform the shiny surface into a deep, lustrous gloss.Finally, we apply the penetrating impregnating sealer to help protect the finish and make it easier to keep clean.
Honing will remove scuffs and light scratches on the lighter coloured marbles, however, it will not deep scratches, damage or lippage.
Polishing Floors Starting With Deep Grinding
The cost can range from £45+ per square metre, which we call a full restoration.
Originally I had called this section Polishing Tiles In Bad Condition. However, floors that need grinding are not necessarily in “bad” condition. They can be in good condition, even with a good polish, but these floors suffer from being poorly laid and have “lippage” problems.
Lippage is the term for tiles that are not laid flat, with a height difference between adjacent tiles. The difference in height means that the floor can not be honed, because “honing” diamond tooling can not deal with lippage.
Before the floor can be honed and polished, it needs to be made smooth by grinding the floor to make it smooth, so the tile edges are all the same height.
In general, floors with lippage above 2mm will need to be ground smooth before the floor can be honed and polished.
A floor will also need to be ground if it has deep scratches and damage that can not be removed by honing.
This marble was in reasonable condition, with light scratches that could have been polished by honing. But there was a lot of lippage over the floor. So the floor needed to be ground smooth.
The photo was taken after a couple of passes. You can still see the edge of a tile that has not been ground, so the floor eventually needed 4 passes to make it smooth and ready for honing.
The photo on the right shows the finished polished floor.
This black marble was badly scratched plus there was quite a lot of lippage. So the floor had to be ground smooth with 30 grit diamonds before honing and polishing a final shine as shown in the photo on the right.
Make Sure To Hire Professionals
As you can see, marble polishing is a considered investment. It needs experience, training and the right equipment. Mistakes are costly, so getting it right the first time is crucial.
- For kitchens, bathrooms and closets, we recommend 400 to 800 grit finish. This gives a soft shine that resists showing light scratches and scuff marks.
- If you want a deeper gloss, then the marble can be honed to a 1,500 grit finish. This gives natural gloss and is better suited to visually high impact floors.
- Marble comes in a multitude of colours and if you have dark marble, brown marble, grey marble, black marble, then they must be honed to 3,000 grit before the right colour starts to show itself.
- The floor should be re-polished and sealed on an annual basis
- The wrong cleaning chemicals will break down the impregnating sealer.
What Causes Dirty Marble?
Now you have an idea of the costs to restore marble, you may be wondering what made your marble floor dull in the first place, especially if you feel that you have looked after your floor.
Many issues can cause a problem for your marble tiles. Common problems are:
- soil and grit
- acid spills
- furniture damage
- poor installation
- uneven tiles
- no sealer
- the wrong marble sealer
- cleaning chemicals
- cleaning equipment
- not enough cleaning
But you needn’t worry because we will carefully explain how your marble has got into its current condition.
Then we can advise you on the different finish options and costs. So you can choose the solution that fits your budget. We always try to suggest a solution that is best suited to your situation.
If you have pets and small children, you may be better off cleaning and polishing your floor to an “acceptable” finish, rather than a high perfect finish.
We will also give you comprehensive advice; covering cleaning chemicals, equipment and methods, so keeps its looks for a long time.
How To Clean Marble Tiles – A Quick Introduction
Once your floor is restored to its original beauty, you will only keep it looking beautiful and shiny if you clean it properly.
That means you need to dry sweep your floors on a daily basis to remove grit and surface soil. Ideally you should also damp mop on a daily basis with specialist marble cleaning chemicals and a microfiber mop. You can find out more here..
The Solution To 3 Common Marble Polishing Problems
Chipped Floor Tiles – Lippage
Chipped tile edges are usually caused by the marble tiles being uneven. We call this lippage. Where the lippge is small, say under 1mm, and then the tiles can be honed flat. In most cases this will remove small chips. Colour matched epoxy filler can repair holes and larger chips.
If the lippage is over 1mm, then the floor will need to be ground to make it smooth. Then the floor can be honed to remove the scratch marks from the grinding. Again any remaining chips can be filled with an epoxy filler,
Dirty Grout
Sometimes the investigation will show dirty grout. Dirty grout is usually a result of not understanding how to clean marble floors; the importance of using a clean mop and using too much water.
A wet mop will just move surface soil into the grout lines, causing a buildup that is difficult to remove. In these cases, we use specialist chemicals. We can then apply a grout sealer.
The grout will stay cleaner if you damp mop using a microfiber mop system.
Alternatively, we can grind the marble tiles down to the grout. The floor will be smooth and much easier to keep clean.
Take advantage of a free consultation and estimate by a trained and experienced Floor Restoration Expert as the first step in cleaning your marble floor.
If you’re looking for an excellent service from a trustworthy tradesman then call Abbey, we will take all your headaches away.
Spots and Stains
Marble installed in a bathroom, toilet, kitchen or dining room often suffers from ugly etch spots and stains. The majority of food spills contain dyes and have chemicals that can affect marble. Check out our guide to stain identification and removal.
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