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Marble floors are a wonderful thing – glossy, sparkling in the light and elegant. However, when they get dull and scratched up, the whole atmosphere changes. The office or hallway doesn’t invite the customer into it, but often turns them away. Unfortunately, no matter how much you clean the floor, it won’t be restored to its original beauty. The only hope is to do a full restoration. This will get the marble floor back to where it should be – beautiful!

Do-it-Yourself Marble Restoration

This takes some work, but marble restoration can be done by the do-it-yourselfer. You are going to replace some tiles if needed, as well as fix those unattractive scratches. The steps follow:

A. Remove any broken tiles. These will need to be replaced. Loosened tiles will need to be removed and reset. To remove the tiles, you’ll need to strip the grout around the tile you wish to remove, cutting it with a utility knife. You can use a pry-bar to pull the tile up.

B. You will need a rotary tool that has a carbide blade in order to scrape away the remaining mortar. As you cut through the mortar, it will come loose. You will need to sweep it up.

C. The tiles which were just loosened you can place back onto the floor but use just a very thin spread of mortar. The broken tiles will need to be replaced by new tiles that match the ones now in the floor. Fill in the grout and clean any leftover on the tiles before it hardens. Wait 24 hours.

D. Now you are ready to remove scratches from the marble floor. Get an orbital sander and put on 100-grit sandpaper. Use very small circles as you run the sander over the scratches. You will have light lines in the tile. Now use 150-grit sandpaper and grind the marble until the lines disappear. The 220-grit will be the last sandpaper to use to sand the surface smooth.

E. Now for the polishing with an angle grinder. Polish goes on the pad and then place the pad on the tile and polish the surface. Allow to dry.

F. Buff the dried polish to a gloss. Sometimes you may need to apply the polish more than once.

G. Brush on a stone sealant on the marble to prevent staining. Don’t use the floor for two days so the sealant completely dries.

A Floor Sander for Large Areas

If the space you need to restore is a large area, instead of the orbital sander and angle grinder, you should use a floor sander that has both options of sanding or buffing.

Protect Your Eyes, Hands and Lungs
Always wear the right type of clothing for the job. You should wear safety goggles to protect your eyes, and gloves to protect your hands. A dust mask will save you from breathing in tiny particles of dust while you hone the floor.

The best way to deal with marble restoration is to hire a professional. Some cleaning and janitorial services, such as Consolidated Facility, know how to do an excellent job of marble restoration.