Natural Stone (Marble, Travertine, etc.) is softer and more porous than most stone; it not only scratches easily, but also etches easily. Natural stone is sensitive to acids in many different food items (including citrus products, sodas, etc.) and the chelating agents in household cleaners.
Just like ceramic tile, natural stone is one of the most abused and overlooked floor and wall surfaces in the home simply because of the care involved in cleaning it. An etch mark in a polished marble or travertine floor can be a constant reminder that grandmother wasn't always right about the merits of cleaning with a solution of vinegar and water.
The good news is Advantage Steam can make your natural stone floor look much like the day it was installed.
POLISHING PROCEDURE
- Pre-Inspection: All Natural Stone cleaning and restoration as well as sealing jobs must be preceded by a thorough pre-inspection. Here we determine a customized care plan to meet your specific needs for your specific stone.
- Area Preparation: Because your home is important to you it is important to us; we will take the necessary precautions to protect all areas surrounding your natural stone.
- Cleaning: Cleaning Processes vary from floor to floor; many variables include make-up, maintenance, soiling conditions, traffic, use, etc… When cleaning any stones, we use the most scientifically advanced cleaning products. The stone is then machine or hand scrubbed and brushed. Finally, we will rinse the stone with a rinsing tool, connected to a truck-mounted hot water extraction system. The truck-mounted system allows us to achieve maximum soil removal and best overall cleaning results.
- Diamond Grinding: Stone that is etched, scuffed, and scratched can be restored only by the use of mechanical abrasives underneath a rotary machine. Diamond abrasives resurface/remove a slight amount of stone (just enough to get below the etch marks and scratches). All diamond grinding is performed with the use of water to contain dust. The surfacing procedures that follow will determine the desired surface sheen.
- Honing: Stone is mechanically resurfaced using diamond abrasives and water to achieve a uniformly honed surface sheen. In some cases, polished marble, granite, travertine or limestone can be mechanically honed to remove pre-existing surface polish.
- Polishing: Stone is mechanically finished to produce a high gloss shine. Very light etches, scuffs and scratches may be removed with the polishing process, but diamond grinding is needed if the stone surface has medium deep etches, scuffs and scratches.
- Sealing (optional but recommended): This will be the last step in the stone cleaning process. Depending on the sealer chosen, we will use a heavy duty professional grade sealer to protect your stones.
- Post Inspection: We will do a walk through inspection of the areas before we leave the home and give you some tips on how to maintain your stones.
At Advantage Steam we are dedicated to helping you keep your home healthy, clean, and always looking its best. The solution to difficult natural stone honing, polishing, cleaning & sealing is just a phone call away.
Trust Advantage Steam for all those difficult and unpopular projects. You will be happy you did.
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