Client wanted her marble foyer to shine again and called us.

In conjunction with doing some upkeep our client wanted the shine restored in her foyer. So while we were in town doing some strip & waxing at a retirement community we peeled off the jobsite to look at their marble.

Short and sweet we saw the project, and figured it would take a good part of one day, and they said let’s schedule.

The house is well appointed, and the marble from an installation standpoint was sound.

Over time and with the hustle & bustle of family and grandkids the marble has been affected. Something about hot wheels and mini cars and scooters on the floor with plastic wheels has taken its toll. Add to that the fact that they are in a beach environment, well the combination of sand on plastic wheels and shoes simply has dulled the marble.

Marble is timeless. It can be diamond ground, re-honed and polished to restore its brilliance and luster.

After a week of Drs appointments or so, the date was set to work our magic. We arrive with all the equipment and take the time for set up. You see when we grind the marble it is in a wet slurry solution. So in order to protect the dwelling and contents we erect protective plastic to contain any of the slurry. It is a necessary part of the process, similar to wet sanding a surface.

After the contents are removed, which in this case was done by the owners, we applied the plastic in the necessary places with gentle tape.  And once that was done we began to diamond grind the marble.

Diamond grinding begins with aggressive, or course grit pads, and each grit across the surface is called a “pass”.

A section is done at a time, and then a higher grit is installed on the buffer. So the pad is switched out and the process continues, similar to the concept ‘rinse and repeat’! This can go on for hours or days depending on the square footage of the marble and the color.

Deep, darker marble colors like blues, purples, blacks, greens  browns requires more passes than light ones.

So in this case it is a light color with hints of rose and tan, so it requires about 3-5 passes. Medium color marble requires 5-7 passes, and the deep dark ones can require 8-10 or 11 passes.

Hence, in addition to the square footage of the marble, the color affects the time to run through the number of passes needed. And as you would expect, the longer the time, the more the cost to restore the marble.

Once years ago we inspected a marble bathroom a client inherited from family.

It was dark green, and the stall shower was hammered. I believe it was only a 3’shower with a bench seat, but it was completely etched (a washed out condition where bath and body products and cleaners have affected the stone causing it to appear whitish. The whitish etch marks do not “clean off”. They must be diamond ground to remove it. So between the etch marks and the color of the marble Chris calculated it would take about 3 days to restore. And that was just the shower alone.

The client not prepared for that. With other bigger expensed she had to kick the can down the road as she was not in a financial position to handle that at some point in the future.

Honestly, in comparison this is a stone restorer’s nightmare!

While Chris was working on a foyer floor he used a weighted buffer. But work like this he is in foul weather gear with rain boots, and using a hand held “makita” to grind the surfaces. To describe that concept further, strong arming the makita power sander on a vertical surface for hours or days, is akin to using a jack hammer. Incredibly labor intensive, it is not for the weak for sure. And hence, why you see the stone guys who do this full time, they tend to have a set of guns on them because of it!

So with the marble just dull and light in color, it was a reasonably easy job.

Chris and Mark progressed through the passes, and convinced they ground it properly they began the final steps in restoring the marble. Progressing beyond diamond grinding the last step was to polish the marble, which is where the reveal takes place.

All along the clients were pleased with our work and watched as we got to the final polish.

Our clients were thrilled with the results. The marble was once again brilliant, vibrant and reflecting beautifully. They couldn’t believe the difference!

Your marble or stone can have its brilliance and shine restored too. Free Estimates Call 609.953.0472. Or Contact Us online and we’ll reach out!