Polishing a Small Marble Lobby at an Edinburgh Residence

Posted on September 23, 2017 by AbzDominise

I was asked to take a look at this small but beautiful Marble tiled vestibule at the entrance to a lovely house in Edinburgh. As you can see from the photograph below the colours in the Marble were looking washed out and the overall appearance was dull and lifeless. As the main entrance it must have seen a lot of foot traffic and a fair amount of wear and abuse over the years.

Polished Marble Vestibule Before Cleaning Edinburgh

Cleaning and Polishing Marble Tiles

The first task was to brush and vacuum the floor to remove debris and grit. After this the floor was sprayed with a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean a tile cleaner that is safe to use on stone floors and scrubbed in with a black buffing pad fitted to a rotary machine. This released a lot of dirt from the tile and the soiled cleaning solution was then rinsed off with water and extracted using a wet vacuum.

Once the floor had all the surface dirt removed we then proceeded to polish the marble with a set of diamond burnishing pads which restore the shine the stone. The burnishing pads come in a set of four and you start with a coarse pad with a little water and work your way through the set moving from a the coarse pads through to the finer pads; this process polishes the stone more and more until you get a smooth finish. After each pad was used the area was thoroughly rinsed with clean water to remove any slurry kicked up by the process before moving onto the next. Once we had gone through all four pads the floor was left clean, smooth and shiny.

Sealing Marble Tiles

Being a high traffic area I wanted to leave a very durable polish that would last for years to come, so once the burnishing process was completed we proceeded to seal and further polish the Marble by buffing the floor with Tile Doctor Shine Powder. The crystallising powder provides a very high shine and a tough durable finish, ideal for this situation.

Polished Marble Vestibule After Cleaning Edinburgh

I think you will agree we have managed to put the life back into the floor which is especially important in hallway’s and entrances like this as they are the first thing you see when you come into the property.

Source: Marble Tile Cleaning and Polishing Service in Edinburgh

Antique Marble Lamp Base Restored in Fife

Posted on March 30, 2016 by AbzDominise

At this property in Fife, I was asked to restore not a tiled floor, but in fact a solid black Marble lamp base. The lamp base was particularly by scratched and damaged as a result of a lack of care and consideration by a removal company. It’s a shame to see such a high-quality item suffer this kind of damage; nonetheless, I was keen to help with restoring it back to looking its best.

Scratched Black Marble Lamp Base Before Restoration Fife

I arranged to collect the base the next time we were working in the area of Fife, a historic area of Scotland which houses St. Andrew’s, one of the world’s oldest universities. The customer and I agreed that I would drop it back a week later following the restoration.

Scratched Black Marble Lamp Base During Restoration Fife

Restoring a Damaged Black Marble Lamp Base

Restoring the appearance of the Marble (and other high-end stones such as Limestone) commonly requires a process known as burnishing.

To begin, we applied to the base the first of a set of four six-inch burnishing pads. This pad, which had a Coarse grit, was fitted to a small handheld buffing machine and used to burnish the Marble with a little water for lubrication. I then worked my way through the pad system to apply Medium, Fine and Very Fine grit burnishing pads. The process gradually improved the appearance of the base, managing to remove some of the lighter scratches; however, it became clear that more work was required to fully complete the restoration.

Scratched Black Marble Lamp Base After Restoration Fife

To take the restoration process a step further, I went on to use a set of four diamond encrusted hand burnishing blocks, which were applied to the Marble in a similar way to the previous stage. I followed up with another application of the six-inch burnishing pads: a process I’m happy to confirm successfully removed all scratches.

The base was then given a final polish and sealed using Tile Doctor Shine Powder (a sealer in the form of a crystallising powder) to seal the stone and provide the extra gloss look shine and durable finish requested by the client.

The customer was delighted with the results when I returned the Marble lamp base a week later. While it’s unfortunate that the base was damaged so badly to begin with, it’s certainly comforting to know that these valuable stone objects can be restored fully with the right methods.

Source: Antique Marble Restoration Service in Edinburgh

Edwardian Marble Floor Restoration

Posted on March 9, 2016 by AbzDominise

Windlestraw is a picturesque Edwardian manor hotel overlooking the Tweed Valley, near Walkerburn in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. One of the bathrooms in the manor was in the process of being refurbished when two layers of floor tiles were removed, unveiling an original Marble tiled floor dating back to the 1920s.

Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor Before Restoration Walkerburn

After the top layers of tile had been removed the Marble was still covered in old adhesive and cement and although Marble is known for its quality and durability the hotel owner didn’t want the building contractor to proceed any further in case they damaged it. The owner was keen to restore the Marble floor as an original feature so we were called in to set the situation right.

Refurbishing a Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor

To restore the floor I used two processes known as milling and burnishing. Milling literally involves grinding down uneven or rough surfaces using very coarse, diamond encrusted pads. The pads are usually used to resolve lippage issues on natural stone but in this case we needed to use the very coarse abrasive pads to grind off the adhesive and cement. I used a set of three coarse milling pads rinsing with water between each pad and starting with a 50 grit pad, before moving on to 100 and 200 grit pads. This process was very effective and ground off the cement and adhesive, while also removing any lippage in the tiles to leave a completely flat surface.

Milling leaves the surface of the Marble tiles clean but in a rough condition and this is where the second process Burnishing comes in. Similar to milling, burnishing focuses on achieving a polished finish with the application of ever finer grades of polishing pads and is often used to bring back the polish on Limestone and Travertine as well as Marble. Moving on to the burnishing, I worked my way through the four diamond encrusted pad system lubricating with a little water and again rinsing between each pad to remove the slurry. The grits go from Coarse (400 grit), Medium (800 grit), Fine (1500 grit) and then eventually Very Fine (3000 grit) and come in a 17” pad for use on a rotary floor machine and were applied twice in sequence to achieve a fantastic polished shine.

Sealing a Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor

The floor was given a final rinse and then dried with a wet-vacuum before we proceeded to seal the floor using Tile Doctor Shine Powder which is a crystallizing powder that is applied directly to the floor and worked in using a buffing pad fitted to a rotary machine.

Shine Powder provides a very high shine (as you can see from the photos), along with a tough durable finish. On top of this, it is suitable for sealing all natural stone, including, of course, Marble, along with Limestone, Granite, Slate and Travertine.

Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor After Restoration Walkerburn

The customer was absolutely delighted with the results as were we although it’s now up to them to ensure the bathroom fitters take appropriate care when completing the room which I’m sure will look absolutely fantastic when complete and no doubt add to the allure of this magnificent hotel in the Scottish Borders.

Source: Marble Tile Restoration Services in the Scottish Borders

Dull Marble Tiles Re-polished

Posted on September 20, 2014 by AbzDominise

Details below of a Marble Tiled floor installed in the hallway and kitchen of a house in Edinburgh. The tiles were in good physical shape but had lost their polished appearance over time resulting in a dull un-appealing finish. This is not unusual for polished stone especially in high traffic areas such as hallways and kitchens.

Polished Marble Kitchen Edinburgh Before

Cleaning Marble Floor Tile and Grout

Our first job was to give the floor a general clean to remove grime and dirt especially along the grout lines. This was done by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is left to dwell on the floor before being scrubbed in, Pro-Clean is an alkaline cleaner so it’s safe to use on tile and stone unlike acidic cleaners which can damage the surface of the stone over time. The now dirty cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum and the floor given a rinse using water.

Marble Tiled Floor Polishing

The next step was to burnish the Marble which is a process that removes ingrained dirt and brings up the polish on the tile. The process involves the application of four diamond pads in sequence; you start with the coarse pad together with a little water and this cuts through and removes surface grime and any surface seal. You then progress through the other finer pads one by one until you get to the final polishing pad which provides a high polish.

When the Burnishing process was completed Tile doctor Shine powder which is a crystallising powder is worked into the floor using a bonnet machine fitted with a buffing pad and a little water; it adds an extra level of deep shine to the marble floor giving it that extra wow factor together with a tough durable finish.