I took the pictures below during the renovation of a beautiful Marble floor that was installed in the kitchen and adjacent dinning area of a property in Cardiff. Busy family life had taken its toll on the floor and it had now lost most of its shine and the grout had darkened to an almost black colour due to ingrained dirt. Marble however is an amazing stone that responds well to polishing so I knew I could restore its appearance.
Covering Cardiff and the surrounding area I’m your local tile and stone restoration specialist covering the renovation of all types of Tile and Stone. My background is tiling, and I have been a member of the Tile Doctor restoration network for over ten years so if you need help do get in touch.
Deep Cleaning a Marble Tiled Kitchen Floor in Cardiff
First, I deep cleaned the grout lines using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, leaving it to soak into the grout for ten minutes before scrubbing it in by hand. I then rinsed off the solution with water and extracted the slurry with a wet vacuum to lift the deep staining.
With the grout now clean I turned my attention to the Marble tiles, I needed to remove any previous sealer and the ingrained marks. This was done using a 400-grit red burnishing pad applied to the rotary buffing machine. The pads are another Tile Doctor product and was the first in a series of four pads I would use to renovate this floor. After running the pad over each tile at least three times the floor was rinsed with water which was then extracted with the wet vacuum as before.
This was followed by an 800-grit pad to prepare and smooth the surface of the tile again rinsing and extracting afterwards. I then continued the process using a 1500-grit pad to smooth more and prepare the surface for the final pad. By using the pads in sequence, it is a gradual process and ensures the tiles have a consistent surface. The floor was then left to dry overnight.
Sealing a Marble Tiled Kitchen Floor in Cardiff
I returned the next day to apply the final pad which brings up the polish on the floor. It is a very fine 3000-grit pad which creates a nice shine and is applied dry using a small amount of water using a process we call a “Spray Burnish”.
Finally, the sealer was applied to the Marble, the sealer chosen was Tile Doctor Colour Grow which soaks into the pores of the stone and protects it from within. Colour Grow is a very durable sealer that enhances the natural colours in the stone without making the surface shiny. In this instance however the client requested the floor to have a high shine, so I went back for the 3rd day to ensure the initial sealer was cured and then applied a coating of Tile Doctor Shine Powder. This is a crystal type substance which is ground into the tiles using a white buffing pad to build up a deep and durable polish on the Marble.
This final step gave the floor a very high shine with a deep lustre and the client was delighted with result. For the regular maintenance cleaning of polished stone, I recommend using Tile Doctor stone soap which is specifically designed for maintaining this type of floor and will help maintain its lustre.
Tile Doctor have the products, equipment and experience to tackle all sorts of stone, tile and grout related problems internal and external including full restorations, removing Limescale and even stain removal with products such as Tile Doctor Reduxa which can lift Red Wine stains out of natural stone.