Putting a Deep Shine on Extensive Marble Flooring in Brentwood with Tile Doctor Burnishing Pads
The photographs below are of a very impressive and beautiful Marble tiled floor at a substantial property in Brentwood. The client had two big dogs, and it had been a while since the floor was last professionally maintained. The owner called me in to give the marble a deep clean, seal and re-grout in some areas. Happy to help I arranged an appointment to call in and survey the floor.
The marble tiles were as I suspected, the sealer had started to wear down in the high traffic areas and now dirt was getting ingrained in the stone, it had also lost its polished appearance in some areas. The ground floor measured approximately 80 to 90m2 and ran into the orangery, kitchen, utility, WC and hallway so it was a large job. From the visit I was able to work out a detailed quotation which was accepted and a date set for the work to start.
Cleaning and Polishing a Marble Tiled Ground Floor
Work started with the grouting which involved raking out the areas of loose grout and replacing with new. Whilst this was setting I moved onto cleaning other sections of the marble flooring using a set of Tile Doctor Burnishing Pads which are run over the tiles in sequence from coarse to extra fine.
The coarse 400-grit pad opens the pores in the stone and flushes out ingrained dirt and residues. Water is used to lubricate the process, and this turns into a dark slurry as the work progresses. Once each tile has been burnished several times with the coarse pad, the floor was rinsed with more water and the slurry extracted with a wet vacuum.
The coarse pad is then swapped for the 800-grit pad which is the first of three finer pads that gradually close the pores in the stone and rebuild the deep polish. Again, these are applied with water and the floor rinsed and extracted afterwards to remove the slurry.
Next step was to deep clean the grout lines using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted with 4 parts water and scrubbed in using a stiff grout brush. The pads also help clean the grout but can struggle to reach into the recesses of the grout line, so I find doing this step by hand is the most effective way to get the grout clean.
After another rinse and extraction to remove soiling from the grout cleaning work we moved onto the final step in the stone polishing process by applying the very fine 3500-grit burnishing pad. This pad is applied dry with only a little water using a process we call a spray burnish leaving the marble smooth with a deep light-reflecting finish.
Sealing a Marble Tiled Ground Floor
The floor had underfloor heating which really helped the drying process, and I was able to finish the floor with the application of two coats of sealer. The client wanted a natural finish, so Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal was used for this as it doesn’t change the appearance of the stone. This is an impregnating sealer that penetrates deep into the stone protecting it from within and ensuring dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.
Once complete the Marble had a consistent deep mirror finish which my client was delighted with and left the following five-star feedback which is always appreciated: “We could not be happier with the meticulous job Matthew carried out refurbishing our hallway, kitchen and conservatory marble floors. They all look better than when they were first laid! We would without hesitation recommend Matthew, you will not be disappointed.”
For aftercare I recommended Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is a gentle yet effective cleaning product that contains a patina enhancer and won’t impact the sealer.
Source: Professional Stone Floor Polishing Service near Brentwood Essex