A client in the Merseyside village of Thornton asked me to come over to see what could be done about their Marble tiled floor which ran from the hallway into the kitchen and dining room. Over the years the Marble had lost its polished appearance which is not uncommon with polished stone as the shine does wear down with use.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that Tile Doctor offer a maintenance plan for owners of these types of floors whereby we pop in once a year for a few hours to bring up the polish on the floor and top up the sealer. Before I could offer that option though the floor needed to be stripped back, burnished and re-sealed.
Cleaning a Marble Polished Tiled Kitchen and Hallway Floor in Thornton
To start I gave the floor a wash with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left to soak into the tile and grout for ten minutes before scrubbing it in with a black pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. Then a little water was added to the floor and the grout lines scrubbed by hand using a stiff brush. The dirt was then removed with a wet vacuum.
The next job was to add extra weight to the floor machine to improve contact with the Marble tiles during the next process of burnishing which involves the application of a set of diamond pads of increasingly finer grits. The first burnishing pad used was a 400-grit which removes light scratches and old sealers; water is used for lubrication and the pad is run over each of the tiles four times making sure to cover the full tile. Once done the floor is then rinsed off with water and the soiling generated is extracted with a wet vacuum.
This process is then repeated with a finer 800-grit pad and then a 1500-grit pad which further brings up the polish on the tile. The floor was rinsed and dried by wet vacuum and then left to dry off completely overnight.
Sealing Marble Polished Tiled Kitchen and Hallway Floor
The next day I applied the last Tile Doctor Burnishing Pad which is a very fine 3000-grit pad, this time applied with only a spray of water which is a process we refer to as a spray burnish. This last pad builds on the polished appearance of the marble really bringing up the shine.
The final step was to seal the Marble floor using several coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that protects the tiles and improves colour. Once dry the floor was given a buff with a White buffing pad leaving a deep shine to the floor.
Once complete the floor looked fantastic, the grout was much cleaner and the Marble had a deep shine you could see your reflection in. The client was delighted with the outcome and I’ve made a note to get in touch with them next year about a maintenance visit. In the meantime, I’ve recommended they clean the floor with Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is ideal for maintaining the patina on polished stone floors.
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