If you have natural marble or limestone work surfaces in your kitchen or bathroom that have been damaged, dulled or etched over time , no need to worry as they can be resurfaced, deep cleaned an polished to look as good as new! Read further to see the various stages involved in restoring these natural stone worktops
Restoration of marble and limestone worktops explained
- alkaline detergent chemical strip and clean
- resurface and reset the stone with abrasives
- hone and polish the marble
- deep seal and buff
- maintain your marble and limestone
Believe it or not many things in the kitchen are acidic and can etch and stain your sensitive marble or limestone over time. These include, vinegar, citrus fruits, tomatoes, ketchup, yogurt, buttermilk and lots of other products that contain acids. Any actual detergent designed to remove limescale will eat straight into these stones so cleaning needs to be with specific detergents only. Below in the pic you can see the typical etches and marks one would expect on these marble worksurfaces
1) Alkaline chemical strip and clean of the marble limestone work surfaces
Its always a good idea to apply a good alkaline degreasing type detergent to marble or limestone work surfaces as it removes allot of grime and also old tile sealing products that may be sitting deeper than the resurfacing and polishing process will go. This always ensures you have a thoroughly clean stone before the actual restoration begins. Cleaning process is pretty important here as we need proper agitation and sometimes with difficult oil stains etc a good dose of steam draws most things out.
2) Resurface and reset the limestone and marble worktop with diamond abrasives
After a good clean we need to slightly cut down the stone in order to remove all the etches, marks , little stains and scratches. This resetting process is done with the lower grit more aggressive abrasive pads and gets the stone back to a nice even conditioned state , ready to be brought up to a polish
3) Hone and polish the marble to a natural medium or super high shine
Once clean and reset we need to polish the marble limestone and bring it up to the desired sheen or shine. The stone can be left as a matt finish but then tends to be more absorbent and sucks in oils and contaminated liquids more easily. Polishing is always therefore recommended to close the pours of the stone. Marble and limestone can be brought up to a natural shine using just mechanical means such as diamond abrasive pads. However to give it an extra layer of durability and shine we can also apply a crystalising chemical that reacts with the calcium to create a crystal glaze on the surface of the marble or limest0ne work surface.
4) Deep seal and buff the limestone marble kitchen worksurfaces
Its is absolutely important to apply a penetrating sealer into the marble and limestone worktops once they are fully dry from the restoration process. Customers don’t usually fully appreciate how important sealing is but it really works. Penetrating tile sealers are clear and sink into the stone to protects it from within. You will still get slight surface issues from acidic products but sealers prevent deep reaching damage and stains. The aim is to apply as much sealer as the stone will take, usually done through multiple coats. Once the stone seems to be fully saturated and sealer is no longer sinking in we then buff off all the excess and apply soft buffing pads with a machine polisher to condition the stone ad set the sealer off.
5) Maintain your own limestone and marble kitchen worksurfaces
This is the customers part of the job and I will describe everything to you in detail about the maintenance of your worktops. Sealed limestone and marble surfaces need special PH neutral detergent and re application of the sealer to keep them good. So I always advise customers to be there on the sealing day to see how it all works.
I can help restore an polish your marble and limestone kitchen work surfaces all over South Buckinghamshire, Chesham, High Wycombe, Beaconsfield, Chalfont, Marlow, Amersham and surrounding areas