Tom  McNall

Floor Restoration Contributor

I’ve discussed the myths and the truths of crystallization before. In this month’s column, I will go a little deeper into why it is bad for the industry.

#1 –The Industry

If you were to drive your new Cadillac for 6 months and then it, just stop out of the gate, starts acting funny and the paint all peels off, would you not want to take it back to the dealer? I mean, after all, you paid good money for America’s top automobile, so why should it not perform and live up to your expectations?

Now, if that company, by any chance, said “we will not cover the warranty on that vehicle,” what are the odds of you ever buying another one of their fine automobiles? What if they told you that you voided your warranty by putting diesel fuel in a regular tank? And you were not supposed to wash it down every day with Varsol? Would that make you feel any better about the company? Or your situation?

Of course not! That is why they want you to read the manual, have a salesmen go over everything with you and put in bold letters over the gas cap “Regular Fuel Only!” and even make the gas hole smaller so that the bigger diesel nozzle will not fit. Pretty smart of them, eh? They also realize that if you are smart enough to make the kind of money that it takes to purchase a “Caddy,” that you most likely have enough brain cells to know the difference there. But they do spell it out for you anyway! Just in case.

Now, what about those of us representing the stone industry? How could we be like the car dealer who does not care for their customer? By selling them some stone and sending them off to a maintenance company that will put the equivalent of diesel fuel in a regular engine and wash it with Varsol.

Acid has no place in the maintenance of marble. Especially when trapped in by waxes. Now, whether we are restoring the stone, maintaining it or just selling it, we do ourselves a disservice by allowing practices like this to carry on. By turning our backs on it, we are saying we approve of it.

How many people have sold the stone, had someone screw it up and have the customer come back to you to complain? Come on— a show of hands, please. No one will see you. No need to be embarrassed.

Now, doesn’t that feel better to get that off your chest? And how many of those reading this will hide behind the little “this is a natural product and is subject to…” disclaimer and say, “Yeah, that’s too bad. What do you do? It is a natural product,” and leave the customer in the lurch? Would you expect to sell this person any more stone? Would you expect them to tell their neighbor how you took care of them? Or would you expect them to say, “Perhaps I will put in carpet next time? Or ceramic?”

Now, for those of you who sell all of those surfaces, you think to yourself, “Hey, I will give them what they want. If they don’t like stone anymore, I will sell them plastic. I don’t have anything to lose.” Well, from me and everyone else who have dedicated our lives to working with stone, I say, “Thank you for allowing someone to pee in our pool so you can go and swim in someone else’s.”

Seriously, how can you expect to be taken seriously in the stone business if you do not care about ensuring it lives up to its potential? How do you expect to receive help from others if you allow others to continue to contaminate our industry?

A marble floor that has been crystallized looks ugly. For years my customers would ask me, “Can you make our marble look like Vegas?” Well,  I can honestly tell them, “I can make your floors look better than Vegas.” I have never seen so many square feet of stone look like plastic, look warped and crumble all over. I was feeling seasick just walking across some of those floors. What a shame.

If customers pay huge sums of money to have stone floors put in that crumble and warp in a short period of time, do you honestly think they are going to be happy? How long can we as an industry hide behind those little disclaimers? It is hurting us.

This is not a localized problem. I have witnessed the damage of crystallization in every major city, in every country I have been to. It can hurt us more than you think.

The MIA had taken a stand in their last Design Manual (It has since been “revised” with the following words omitted). It used to say in bold print: “the MIA does not endorse this practice.” And for good reason! It takes away the

#1 reason people buy stone— longevity! If customers buy stone and some maintenance contractor ruins it after 6 months to a year, they will be hesitant to purchase stone again (once bitten, twice shy). The customers do not know any better. Most do not even know that the restoration part of the industry exists.

The “crysta-cowboy” does not care because first of all, they have not invested their whole life to the industry. They can leave and join the next “quick-fix” popularity product industry. Secondly, they will always blame the customer and, third, they’ve already gotten their money

Awhile back, a mentor said to me, “crystallizing is pretend polishing.” At the time, I was crystallizing. After my friends and mentors brought the dangers to my attention, I investigated for myself. Guess what? I noticed that floors that I had crystallized over the years were showing signs of “rot” and vein separation.

When I started consulting, I would get calls from hotels, casinos and office buildings that had this “mysterious” stone damage. Sure enough, the culprit was crystallization.

Now, I know what you will say, “they didn’t use it in moderation” or “they were untrained.” Most of these floors were damaged by companies who have been around for years. Companies with the word “marble” in their name.

Companies that were supposedly “trained” and, here is the kicker, used only one application.

Now, some stones take a few years to show the signs of rot, but in some cases it has only taken 6 months. And what do the companies who have done this have to say? “The customer is washing their floor with acids.” I agree, they are washing the floors with the acids that these “crysta-cowboys” have put down! Many of these “Stone Pirates” are paid and long down the road before anyone starts to notice.

Seriously though, if you are using “crystallizers,” what separates you from all of the janitorial firms out there that think that they are polishing.

Crystallization is essentially trapping acid under a wax (or acrylic) and fluorocarbon shell. Any amateur can do it. That is why the chemical companies market to janitorial firms. Of course they will tell you that it won’t hurt the stone. They either are ignorant to the damage that it can cause or they do not care and try to blame it on something else. I believe that it is the latter. After all, this issue has been around for years.

This reminds me of the cigarette companies telling people for decades that nothing was wrong with their product. When asked why people were dying left and right, they said it was lifestyle choices and that sometimes people just die.

What separates the “crysta-cowboys” from the men and women who can polish with powders? Professionalism.  Another thing that separates us, if a “crystallizer” can charge $100 to eventually damage a floor, a professional can charge $200 to make it look better and last longer. That is a difference that not only keeps the customer happy, but my banker as well.

Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Tom McNall is founder and owner of Great Northern Stone, an Ontario-based stone cleaning and restoration company servicing Ontario and Chicago, IL. Tom also offers corporate and private consultations as well as speaking at conventions. He can be reached at stone_rx@earthlink.net.