Tile Life deep clean and resurface stone in Stevenage , Welwyn , Hitchin and surrounding areas. The nice thing about stone is that we can always resurface and deep clean it to renew it most of the time. We can add a high shine to marbles and limestones to sometimes make it look even better than when it was new!
Our stone polishing and cleaning service
We aim to deep clean the stone as much as possible before we resurface and polish it. We are able to achieve a deep clean on stone by applying appropriate stone cleaning chemicals and then steam cleaning both the tiles and grout lines. Whilst we are steam cleaning we will detail scrub the grout lines that will remove most dirt and contamination. We find that this process draws out dirt sitting deep in the porous stone, and it really does lighten and brighten limestones and lighter marbles.
In the pic below you can see the chemical steam clean drawing out the dirt and grime in this travertine. The chemicals and steam will clean deeper than the polishing pads which only remove surface staining and etches.
Our polishing process for Limestone and Marble
After chemical cleaning the stone will be free from grime. We are then able to cut fine layers from the surface to hone and polish the stone to bring out a natural shine. This usually begins with more aggressive diamond stone polishing pads which further remove surface staining, scratches and marks. We then progressively bring the stone up to a shine using finer grades of diamond pads with each step. Eventually the marble and limestone will shine and the pores in the stone will be much more closed making it more resilient to dirt ingress.
Maintenance of polished and sealed stone
Maintaining marble and limestone is very important if you want to have nice looking stone in a few years. Reason being these stones stain easily and the stuff they are made off (calcite) or originally fossils and bones dissolves easily with acidic chemicals and products. Limescale is made from the same stuff as marble and limestone so chemicals that remove limescale will etch into the surface of these stones as well.
Consequently allot of the work we do is to repair damage caused from improper cleaning of marble and limestone with acidic chemicals.
Maintenance products for limestone and marble
Its advisable to clean your stone in such a way as not to damage the stone sealer that was hopefully applied by the installer. Stone sealer sits inside the pours of the stone and helps to prevent harmful liquids from absorbing into the stone too quickly. Essentially sealers act as a barrier and give you time to clean harmful liquids from the stone before it does permanent damage. Stone sealers are designed to be removed if necessary in case of discolouration etc . The way we remove them is with degreasing high alkaline type detergents and chemicals.
Washing up liquid is such a chemical and if used on your stone will dissolve the sealer. You need to use PH Neutral cleaner on your stone that will remove surface dirt but will leave the stone sealer intact. This is a very good one we use often for allot of different tile restoration work .https://www.filasolutions.com/eng/products/full-range/cleaning-products/detergents/cleaner-pro