How to Clean and Maintain a Polished Marble Floor
How to maintain and properly clean a marble floor
With a little caution of forethought and a minimal investment in basic tools it should generally be easy to clean marble floors. ( More on this later) The first thing to do in addressing the cleaning of any floor is to ascertain what is the source and nature of the soiling. This is very basic and seems hardly worth mentioning but if we get this stage even slightly wrong, chances are that the rest of the process will be flawed in some way. Put simply find out what the dirt is ( is this soil from the garden or oil from the garage?) and where its coming from (garden, garage, street or wherever)
Then we can start to formulate a plan to tackle the problem based on this information. If we have a greasy and oily dirt on the polished marble floor which is being walked into our home or business from the neighbouring streets then we will have to find the mildest product available to us that will at once get rid of the contamination and be mild enough that it does not in itself damage the floor. In this instance we would need to use a mildly alkaline detergent which will break down the dirt but will not damage the floor. It is important to note that regular use of even mild alkaline detergents can undermine the effectiveness of any sealers previously applied to the floor and so it is best to use in the mildest concentration which is effective or find an alternative system for protecting the floor like removing shoes, extending the door mats to allow for proper shoe cleaning etc.
Marble floor daily maintenance
There are a number of general rules which we always stick to in addressing marble floor maintenance but first we must define the difference between different types of cleaning and maintaining. Everyday cleaning with little water and probably just a damp clean mop we will call maintaining as it is the normal activity carried out by the householder or cleaning staff.
Marble floor deep clean
Next then is a periodic or deep clean when it has been noticed that the marble floor is beginning to look shabby. This is general done with a slightly more aggressive detergent to remove heavier soiling and minor staining. We find it a useful method for deep cleaning to use a commercial stripper but diluted down to be weaker than would be useful for stripping but still strong enough to remove heavier dirt.
Marble floor restoration
Next is the restorative cleaning or renewal of the marble floor. This is generally done by specialist contractors who will be experienced in all aspects of marble floor cleaning and restoration. They will use some more aggressive strippers and cleaners to quickly strip the floor to its natural state. This may also involve diamond grinding and polishing but will always mean the removal of all old sealers, dirt and contamination before the rest of the process of finishing the floor can continue.
Removing general dirt from Polished marble
If we are removing general dirt and grime from our polished marble floor then we will use a neutral ph detergent. What this means is that it is neither acidic nor alkaline and is therefore as gentle as tap water on your delicate surfaces. There are a huge number of these detergents available but we find that we prefer the gentleness and effectiveness of Faber Neugel which is very good for long term gentle maintenance. Other good neutral detergents would be Easycare by Lithofin or stonesoap from Delta.
Deep cleaning polished Marble
When we are trying to remove heavier soiling from a polished marble floor as part of a periodic deep clean we will tend to use alkaline strippers but diluted down to a concentration which means they are no longer effective strippers but very effective cleaning detergents. There are a couple of reasons why we do this and the first is that it can sometimes be very difficult to find a detergent which is packs enough punch to remove all the built up ingrained dirt which we find in deep cleaning. The second reason is simple economics: we find it much cheaper to buy a large container of stripper and dilute it into a huge amount of very effective cleaner. A 5 litre( 1 gal ) container of say Evans surestrip will cost roughly £ 12 and when we dilute that at 20:1 we get 100 litres (20 gal ) of a still very effective cleaner for a very cheap price
Tips and rules of thumb
• Less is more. It is more effective as part of a long term strategy to use the mildest detergent possible to clean your polished marble floor.
• Dry is best! Always try to dry the floor after washing it as this will stop soiled water from running into the grout joints and dirtying them all over again
• Quality costs less! Take advice from your stone restorer about the best sealers for protecting your marble floors (Marble Floor Tiles Singapore). This will repay you manifold over the years. We favour the Faber range of sealers but there are other very good brands out there like Dry Treat and Dr schutz
• Change it don’t spread it!If you are washing a large floor make sure that when the water in your mop bucket gets dirty change it. Otherwise you are just moving the dirt from one part of the floor to another.
• See it, Wipe it! When you see any spillage of anything from tea and coffee to red wine and orange juice wipe it up immediately. This can stop acid etching and deep staining if you manage to remove it on time. So the message is clean it up as soon as you see it.