Marble Tile Cleaning Archives - Tyneside Tile Doctor

Marble Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Marble tiles carried out in Tyneside

Marble is reputed in the international market for its premium quality, toughness and durability. It is often the preferred choice for interior and exterior in both commercial and domestic situations for flooring, wall cladding, paving, facades of buildings, pavements and landscaping.

One of the main issues with polished Marble is the polish starts to wear down with use and eventually becomes dull. Another issue we see is acid etching where strong unsuitable cleaning products used on the stone etch the surface and ruin its appearance. To resolve both these problems the stone needs to be re-polished with diamond encrusted burnishing pads of different grits to hone the stone and bring back that deep shine. If this sounds familiar you should talk to us about our annual maintenance program where we visit you once a year to clean, polish and seal your floor thus keeping it in top condition.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.

Marble Tiled Hallway Floor Polishing Newcastle Upon Tyne

Dull Marble Tiled Hallway Given New Lease of Life in Newcastle Upon Tyne

This client from Newcastle contacted Tile Doctor about the condition of the Marble tiled floor in their hallway. Installed twenty years prior wear had taken its toll and it had lost its polished appearance and now looked dull and unflattering.

Marble Tiled Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Newcastle

I paid an initial visit to survey the floor and discuss what could be done to remedy the consultation. It was clear to me the stone simply needed a deep clean, polish and fresh seal to get the floor looking back to its original appearance. After measuring up I worked out what materials would be required to restore the finish and created a detailed quote. The quote was accepted, and a date was agreed to commence the work.

Marble Tiled Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Newcastle

Deep Cleaning a Marble Tiled Hallway

My first task was to protect the woodwork by applying a bead of clear waterproof mastic between the wood and the floor. This prevents water being soaked into the wood through capillary action which can cause water staining and worst-case blow MDF skirting and doors.

Once done work started on polishing the Marble tiles using a 400-grit burnishing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. This is a coarse diamond pad that is applied with water and removes sealers, old polish and dirt. The water quickly turns into a slurry and once the whole floor had been burnished in this way the soiling was removed with more water and a wet vacuum.

This pad was the first in a set of four burnishing pads that hone the stone and bring up the polish. The next pad is a finer 800-grit which is the first step in re-polishing the Marble and slowly bring the stone back to life. The process was then repeated with a 1500-grit pad, then rinsing and extracting as before.

After this work, I started on the grout lines which were scrubbed by hand using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is an alkaline cleaner that will not upset the Marble. The floor was then given a final rinse with clean water and extracted again with the wet vacuum which was used to get the floor as dry as possible before leaving to dry off fully overnight.

Sealing a Marble Tiled Hallway

I called back the next day and started work by checking the stone and grout was dry and ready for a final polish using a 3000-grit diamond pad. This extra fine pad brings up the polish on the floor even further and is applied using a tiny amount of water from a spray bottle which aids in the final polish. Once the whole floor was polished including all the corners and edges it was time to start applying the sealer.

I used Tile Doctor Ultra Seal for this which is an impregnating sealer that adds protection to the stone without altering its natural appearance. The combination of polish and fresh sealer left the floor looking new and put the wow factor back into the hallway.

Marble Tiled Hallway Floor After Polishing Newcastle

Once complete, the hallway floor was transformed with a deep shine, and my client was over the moon with the result. I also discussed future cleaning and recommended Tile Doctor Stone Soap. This is a mild but effective cleaner which helps maintain the patina on the marble.