Program Guidelines
Step 1. A good maintenance program starts with proper
identification of the stone. Is it
granite, marble, quartzite or limestone?
If it’s marble is it soft or hard? What type of finish does it have? Polished,
honed, flamed, etc.? Is the type of stone the proper material for the traffic
it is to receive? If not maintenance
costs will be higher. If the answer to
these questions are unknown, I suggest you contact a reputable stone supplier
or restoration company to find out. A
complete understanding of your particular stones characteristics is an absolute
must for designing a maintenance program.
Step 2. Once the stone’s characteristics are
identified determine the quality of the installation. Are the tiles flat and even? Do they contain lippage (uneven tiles). If so, proper maintenance may prove difficult. The floor should be ground flat, honed and
polished. Are there any cracked
tiles? Dirt will have a tendency to
accumulate in these cracks. These tiles
should be replaced or if replacements are not available at least filled with a
polyester.
Step 3. What is the present condition of the
stone? Has it been coated with waxes,
acrylics, urethane or other coatings? If
so these coatings need to be chemically stripped or ground off to determine the
condition of the stone. I have seen
stone floors that appear to be in great shape until the coatings are removed to
unveil a pitted, scratched mess. If a
poor condition is found, complete restoration is necessary before a successful
maintenance program can begin.
Step 4. Once the stone is restored to like new
condition, then and only then will a maintenance program provide good
results. This applies not only to the
following program but any program. If
the stone will be exposed to water, coffee, spills etc, an application of a good quality silicone based
impregnator is recommended. These impregnators are designed to penetrate
into the stone, without leaving coatings
on the surface and still allowing the stone to transpire(breathe).
Step 5.
Daily Maintenance
The three most important tasks
that can be done on a daily basis to keep the stone looking new and extending
the time before restoration is required are: Dust Mop, Dust Mop and Dust
Mop. The most destructive material to
most stone is sand, dirt and miscellaneous grit. If these substances could be eliminated,
maintenance of the stone would be almost non-existent. A stone floor can never be dust mopped too
often. Use a clean, non-treated,
dry dust mop at least two to three times
a day in high traffic areas and less often in low traffic areas. Walk off mats placed outside and inside an
entrance will also eliminate a good portion of sand, dirt and grit. It takes approximately seven steps to remove
all loose dirt from the bottom of ones shoes. Walk off mats also need to be
removed and cleaned daily. Keep this in mind when purchasing walk off mats. Remember if sand, dirt and grit are
eliminated there will be nothing left behind to scratch and dull the stone.
Step 6. Cleaning
All natural stone, both polished
and unpolished should be cleaned daily in high traffic areas and less often in
lower traffic areas. A clean rayon or
cotton string mop should be used with cold to warm water with the addition of a
quality neutral cleaner or stone soap.
Neutral cleaners are defined as surfactant type detergents that have a
Ph of 7. Acidic and alkaline cleaners
should not be used on a regular basis.
Be sure to follow the directions very carefully. Too much cleaner may leave a film and cause
streaking.
Why Does Stone Shine?
All stone is taken from the earth
in a raw block form. This block is cut
into slices that we call slabs. The
slabs are then cut further to a smaller size such as a tile or countertop. It is then polished using a series of
abrasive materials. The mechanics are
relatively
simple. A piece of stone is rubbed with a series of
abrasives starting with a course grit size followed by
finer and finer grit sizes. The scratch pattern left behind from one grit
is removed by the next grit
creating finer and finer
scratches. This process is continued
until the scratch pattern becomes
microscopic. The process is similar to refinishing a piece
of wood, starting with a course sandpaper and ending with a fine
sandpaper. The shine is placed on the
stone by continuing this abrading process using very fine powders.
Periodically the stone will need to be restored. Perhaps you have not followed a proper maintenance program or the type of stone you have is not suited to the conditions it receives or for what ever other reason it is not responding to maintenance, then restoration is required. How often this will need to be done is difficult to determine. Generally if all the precautions above are followed, restoration may only be needed as often as once per year or as little as once every five years or so. The restoration process re-hones the stone to remove deep scratches and is then re-polished. Do not attempt the re-honing process yourself, this requires a great degree of skill and experience, please call a reputable restoration company for this task.
Natural stone was the first building
material used by man. Its care and
maintenance is one of the oldest tasks performed by our ancestors. The above guidelines were developed by our
years of experience with this beautiful material and with the addition of
modern science will provide many years of beauty.
Written by
Frederick M. Hueston
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