Stone floor and marble polishing in Cambridge

Things to know before getting your stone floor cleaned or polished.

Facts about getting your Marble, Limestone, Terrazzo or Travertine floor looking nice a shiny or polished can be very scares.

My aim is to help you understand the facts so you can ask potential contractors the right questions.

Let's start by understanding types of stone,

Marble is a metamorphic rock. This means it was something else but over many years and conditions it morphed into a stone known as marble.

Travertine is a stone that is characterised by all the tiny (and sometimes bigger) holes
It is formed in water springs where water flows through it. When the stone is cut they fill the holes many times. This is known as filled Travertine. Unfilled Travertine is also available.

Limestone is a cede entry rock. This is formed in the sea where all sea creatures and sand is pushed down (thus the term sediment ) and this is why you find fossils in the stone.

Terrazzo is part natural part man made. They are pieces of marble or other natural stone and mix it with a resin to form a new block of stone this is then carved up and polished.

Why should you restore your stone floor?

Stone floors are many times sold as low maintenance floors. Sadly this is not the case. Stone floors require ongoing care.

Over time the smooth surface of the stone (if polished) start to wear out and more dirt stick to it easier. It's somewhat like a smooth piece of glass that eventually turn into a tough piece of sandpaper. All this happens on a microscopic level on the floor.

Over time the stone absorb more of the dirt and acids in the water and cleaning solutions start breaking the stone down faster.

If the stone is left for extended periods of time the restoration that it will require will be extensive.

What happens during restoration? In the case of professional stone floor cleaning and polishing - even if it is only to get a sheen on the stone and not a high shine the following is done;

Just like sanding a piece of wood down you will use a more aggressive diamond disc. Usually at around 60 grit. This is the size of the diamond particles in the disc.

This is then followed both a finer and finer grit until about 3000 if a glass like finish is required. Lower if only a sheen is required.

During this process a special stone soap is used that will give the stone the ability to repel dirt and liquids

The machines that are used to grind or polish stone verses a lot as well.

Many smaller stone floor restorers will use a standard rotary machine. This is then laden with weights - sometimes people will sit on it for extra weight.

Some more advanced cleaners or stone floor restorers will use heavy rotary machines claiming they are specialist machines. The problem with these are that they are mono disc machines - this means that there is a single disc below the machine that turns only in one direction. In most cases this will not remove unevenness also known as lippage from stone tiles. The finished result will also be good but not great.

The best way to restore a stone floor and polish it will be to use a Levigator

This is a specialist multi head stone polishing machine and here is how it works. Like before industrial diamonds are used starting at about 60 grit. The main differences are:

The Levigator is extremely heavy - this means a better result is achieved as the floor will be much flatter afterwards, the machine has multiple heads fitted with diamond bonded discs. These heads turns in a planetary motion. This means you get a much flatter floor with a much finer finish.

The work is also faster as a planetary machine will be much more efficient than a mono disc rotary.

The final step in the stone floor restoration process will be to polish the floor using special polishing powder. This close the stone up and greatly reduce its ability to absorb liquids

Art of Clean has been cleaning and polishing stone floors in Cambridge and surrounding towns and villages for many years now. Our mission is to provide the most outstanding service experience. To deliver you with the best possible finish on your Marble, Travertine, Limestone or Terrazzo stone floor we have invested in the most state of the art stone restoration equipment

For advice on stone floor restoration in Cambridge please give us a call on 01223 863 632