How Do I Repair and Restore Bathroom Marble?
Do you have marble surfaces in your bathroom? Marble is a popular choice for floors, countertops, showers, and more in commercial and residential bathrooms throughout Florida. Newly installed bathroom marble has a beautiful reflective finish and brings a sense of elegance into the home.
Over time, the gloss on marble surfaces tends to lose shine and could become damaged. Marble is prone to damage, including stains and scratches. Poor stone care also has the potential to significantly lower the value of your commercial or residential property. So, how do you repair and restore old bathroom marble?
It is a disservice to your natural stone to allow your bathroom marble surfaces to become dim and unattractive. Failure to properly repair and restore marble surfaces significantly increases the risk of chips, etching, or other damages to occur.
Continue reading to learn more about the different types and potential uses of marble in the bathroom. We will also reveal how to best care for your natural surfaces through proper stone repair and marble restoration services.
Types of Bathroom Marble Surfaces
Marble can improve the design and function of nearly every room inside the home, including the bathroom. Marble is an exceptional choice for bathrooms due to its resilience, durability, and variety of color options.
Types of Bathroom Marble Surfaces Include:
- Vanity
- Countertops
- Shower
- Wall Tiles
- Flooring
- Bathtub
There are numerous types of marble that come in a variety of color options, including Black Wood, Scandalous, Calacatta Extra, and Atlantis Grey.
Regularly inspect all bathroom marble surfaces, including the counters, walls, and floors to ensure that they are dry. This is especially important after using the sink and taking a shower. Keeping these surfaces dry can protect your marble from water stains and mold growth.
Marble Cleaning
Daily maintenance is the most important element of caring for your natural stone. Proper cleaning methods and consistent practices are essential for protecting marble surfaces.
Marble is a metamorphic rock. As such, it is softer than granite and can stain easily. This is because the marble collects the by-products from our bathroom cosmetics and beauty products which eventually lead to discoloration, and sometimes staining. As a natural stone, marble also wears out very easily.
Regularly Clean Marble Surfaces
Use a dust mop and soft cloth to regularly wipe all marble surfaces. Regularly clean all bathroom marble surfaces with a soft cloth, soap, and warm water.
Avoid Commercial Cleaning Products
Only purchase cleaning products that were specifically developed for use on marble surfaces. Avoid commercial cleaning products. The majority of these products contain harsh and abrasive cleaning agents.
You can use regular dish soap occasionally, but this is not ideal. Dish soap can be too much for many countertops and often leaves behind a filmy residue.
Bathroom Product Hazards
Bathroom stone, especially marble, is at significant risk of stains caused by water and personal hygiene products. Many of the personal items that are commonly found in the bathroom could lead to disastrous damages.
Bathroom Products that are Damaging to Marble:
- Beauty products
- Soaps and cleansers that contain waxes and/or fragrance
- Toothpaste
- Mouthwash
- Hairspray
- Perfume
- Cologne
- Contact Lens Solution
Ensure that all product bottles are closed properly after each use to prevent damaging spills. The best line of protection may be to keep all products off of the counter.
Tips to Protect Stone Surfaces
There are also a few preventative measures that should be implemented to protect the natural stone surfaces in the bathroom, and throughout your home.
Tips to Protect Stone Surfaces Include:
- Always use coasters.
- Clean and wipe the countertop around the sink after use.
- Use trays for beauty products that may leak.
- Rinse shower walls and floor after use.
- Squeegee walls/floor dry to prevent soap scum and residue build-up.
Marble surfaces should be kept clean, dry, and regularly inspected. These surfaces must also be polished and repaired professionally as needed.
Bathroom Marble Repair
Marble is porous and highly susceptible to stains, chips, etching, and other damage. Inspect all home bathroom marble surfaces regularly to identify any necessary repairs.
Over time, marble surfaces can suffer from numerous damages, including:
- Cracks
- Breaks
- Holes
- Chips
- Stains
- Scratches
The longer these issues exist, the more damages that can occur. Identifying these issues early allows you to seek professional repairs and prevent further damage. This could result in immense cost savings long term.
Never attempt to repair marble or any other natural stone on your own. Successful completion of these repairs requires specialized tools, materials, and knowledge.
Stone repair products, including kits from the department store, are not sufficient methods for repairing natural stone. These products provide tacky, unsightly, and poor repairs that can cause even more damage to your stone.
Save time, money, and protect your marble by choosing professional stone repair service providers. Marble stone repair professionals can apply different materials and color-match them to the stone to create flawless and seamless repairs.
Professional Stone Restoration Services
Professional stone restoration services can bring life back to old, neglected, and/or damaged marble surfaces. Marble restoration can remove stains and scratches, restore smoothness and shine, and level stone surfaces.
Professional marble restoration requires skilled technicians to perform several processes unitizing equipment that is specifically developed for restoring natural stone.
Grinding
Grinding is the most powerful part of the marble bathroom restoration process. Although it is powerful, it isn’t as harsh and abrasive as people believe. This process, also known as lippage removal, helps to remove all roughness and ledges. As such, it ensures the marble floor is flat.
Honing
Natural stone technicians then utilize a process called honing to remove remaining stains and scratches. Honing gives your marble floors a uniform appearance.
Dust-Free Grinding
The natural stone isn’t as messy and dusty as it has been in the past. Just Call Classic utilizes dust-free methods. These practices include using water to lubricate the surface we are refinishing with grinding tools – therefore keeping all of the marble shavings trapped in the liquid and eventually vacuumed up.
This dust-free grinding procedure is especially favorable inside of:
Check out our grinding and honing page for more information on restoring damaged marble in your bathroom with grinding procedures.
Marble Polishing
Once the marble is smooth, level, and structurally restored, it is time to polish. Marble polishing is the process that restores the vibrancy and shine of the stone.
Marble polishing should be performed regularly, regardless of whether other repairs are needed. Skilled natural stone technicians use small-grade industrial diamonds to effectively achieve shiny polished marble surfaces.
For older marble surfaces, bringing back the reflective finish is easy when using state-of-the-art marble polishing equipment, technology, and technicians with the best cleaning materials.
Marble Sealing
The last step is sealing. As we discussed earlier, as your marble surfaces come into contact with hard water, soap, and cosmetics, it is important to prevent the staining that these acidic chemicals can leave on your marble. The best way to do so is by applying stone sealants.
This helps to close the pores on the marble and shields them from future damage and will prevent the discolorations/staining from becoming a permanent part of your stone surface.
The first rule in sealing your natural stone is “never use a topical sealer.” This is a common mistake that we see DIY (do it yourself) homeowners make. Why?
A lot of the sealers that are sold at Home Depot and these “Big Box” stores are designed for tile and non-porous materials, so they contain harmful acrylics and waxes for your marble.
You need to utilize an impregnating sealer, designed for natural stone. Attempting to perform any natural stone maintenance processes or repairs on your own can be a major and costly mistake.
The best way to protect your marble surfaces is to reach out to a natural stone expert for all of your natural stone repair and maintenance needs.
Just Call Classic Inc. Marble Repair and Restoration
Protect your bathroom marble by practicing regular cleaning and good housekeeping. Leave the responsibility of natural stone repairs, maintenance, and restoration services to a professional technician.
Just Call Classic Inc. is South Florida’s premier natural stone care, repair, and restoration provider. Just Call Classic Inc. specializes in all types of natural stone surfaces, including marble, granite, travertine, limestone, and more.
Contact Just Call Classic Inc. for your free marble restoration estimate. Just Call Classic provides residential and commercial natural stone services for locations throughout the state.
