A customer recently called about her gray and white striped marble kitchen floor. She said she had spilled some lemon juice on the marble that created etches from the acidity, but the floor and grout as a whole could use some TLC as it was wearing from daily foot traffic.
Upon inspection of the marble, we determined that the floor required a full range of diamond honing in order to get the deepest damage out. To help put what this floor required into perspective, a floor with ‘normal’ damage usually requires 2-3 different diamond grits to remove damage from the floor, but this floor required 6 different grits to remove the etches and scratches and make the marble really shine. Because there was a level transition between where the marble met the hardwood floor, we used a hand machine (instead of a large floor machine) through each of the required grits in that area so that we could restore right up to the wood without potentially damaging it.
The next step was to focus on cleaning the grout. Cleaning grout is always a challenge, especially when it is a light color. Our crew began with a floor machine brush to remove the majority of the dirt build-up and then proceeded to manually scrub certain areas with a wire brush (which is the size of a toothbrush) to take care of all of the crevices the floor machine could not quite scrub clean.
After the damage and dirt build-up was removed, it was time to restore the stone’s natural luster using a high-speed floor machine and polishing powder. We then did a final clean to remove any residue left over from the different stages of the restoration and applied impregnating sealer to help protect the marble from future spills and damage.
The transformation of the floor was great and our crew captured that in the before and after photos below. Click the photos to enlarge them and really see the difference! The reflection of the windows in the after photos truly shows what a professional marble restoration can do for your stone’s appearance!
For additional information on your marble, granite, travertine, terrazzo or other natural stone and grout, please visit our Case Studies or Care Tips page! If you have additional questions or would like to schedule a free estimate with one of our stone care experts, please contact us today!
