Slippery Rock Gazette

Bob Murrell 

M3 Technologies

Photos by Bob Murrell

Deep scratches in the Tennessee Rose marble from general construction traffic and equipment.

The Regal Entertainment Group has relocated from Halls Crossroads, just north of Knoxville, Tennessee, to the old Medical Tower of Baptist Hospital on the south bank of the Tennessee River, in beautiful downtown Knoxville. They are completing a major restoration and remodel of this building, which was erected in 1991-1992. 

The building has nine floors and 178,000 square feet of office space. It was purchased by the City of Knoxville as part of the One Riverwalk development and is now leased by and the official world headquarters of Regal Entertainment Group (Regal Cinemas).

One Riverwalk includes the newly renovated Regal Headquarters, a student housing component, two professional buildings, a retail/restaurant section, and a hotel. The complex overlooks the Tennessee River and downtown Knoxville. The downtown area and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville are all within walking distance of One Riverwalk.

The Regal Headquarters will occupy the entire building and will be bringing 400 employees to the Downtown Knoxville Market.

Knoxville Marble Polish got the contract for the restoration project of the rotunda area in the building which consisted of two locally quarried varieties of Pink Tennessee marble, Cedar (the darker of the two), and Craig Edward (the lighter of the two). 

Initially, the rotunda floor was a complete mess and with contractors from every aspect of a total building overhaul and remodel project working at the site, it was a constant battle trying to make headway, according to Julie Murrell, the owner of KMP. Lots of damage had been done to the floor during the initial demolition phase of the building remodel. One large column had been hit with a Bobcat, requiring several large matching replacement slabs to complete the repairs. Julie was luckily able to put the general contractor (GC) in touch with Staley Marble & Granite Company, who then was contracted to remove and replace the slab material. She located the replacement material from Tennessee Marble Company, that runs the last location where these marbles are quarried, and they were able to provide slabs that were an exact match. 

Above, Left: Rotunda construction in progress – note the heavy equipment lifts and general construction clutter. Above, Middle: With equipment out of the way, restoration can begin. Above, Right: Cleaning and grinding/honing in progress. Starting at the 100 grit level, the edges were cut in, then followed by the floor machine at 100 grit and so forth up to 800 grit.

Major scratches and lippage removal required that the floor restoration process begin at a very aggressive grit level. Flexible metal-bond diamonds from M3 Technologies Inc. were used to accomplish this task. It was a slow and tedious operation, to be sure.  Low areas from big scratches and low tiles, along with ongoing scratching due to lifts for electrical and sheetrock workers, were the biggest reasons for the slow progress. The lifts would pick up small pieces of metal, and the stone crew would find new scratches most every time they returned from the previous day’s work. But hey, that’s how it is on big commercial projects. Everyone is on a short timeline and the GC expects progress reports daily. 

So on days that the stone crew couldn’t work due to other contractors’ operations, Julie had to set up camp to basically guard their work from the day before. She had to lay old carpet cuts on each day’s progress to help avoid new scratches, and rope off areas with caution tape, where possible, to keep onlookers from just walking in to hang out to look at the view. Oh, did I forget to mention that the rotunda has 30 foot-tall picture windows facing the river and downtown? This makes for a magnificent view, especially when you have to work on the weekend!

Needless to say, work had to be accomplished when the availability window was open. When multiple contractor operations are taking place at the same time, it can be tough to make efficient progress. Work benches, scaffolding, extension cords, and general pieces and parts were laying everywhere. Eventually, as contractors completed their part of the project, their tools and associated waste were removed and the area started to open up.

The scope of the project evolved as time went on. Initially a honed look was envisioned to produce a floor that would require less maintenance. The maintenance concerns became secondary to beauty after Julie provided the Regal Group with a polished test area. It was more work, and the original contract had to be modified, but the finished product speaks for itself. 

The deep scratches and lippage were attacked using the ELF flexible metal-bond in 30 grit. This process, like most any heavy stock removal process, was the most time-consuming part of the project. Just when you think the scratches and lippage are gone, it dries and you see that this is not the case. It is imperative that you clean and allow the floor to dry between these initial steps, so you can confirm that the lippage and scratches are in fact completely removed.

Next, the resin steps were started at a 50 grit TX Triple Thick, which can help with any mild scratching and very minor lippage, too (but don’t count on it for total scratch and lippage removal). The resins were then continued with the TX series in 100g, 220g, 400g, and 800g, before the polishing step began.

Every column and around an overlook area, which had metal and glass barrier walls, required that all edges be blended using a hand tool and the AA5 Turbo resin diamonds. Remember, the hand tool work must be completed ahead of the floor machine work to properly blend the two. 

In others words, starting at the 100 grit level, the edges were cut in, then followed by the floor machine at 100 grit and so forth up to 800 grit, always overlapping the floor machine work to the hand tool work after each grit level. In this way, the floors and edges were blended very nicely.     

Floor restoration in the rotunda of the Regal Entertainment Group headquarters is almost complete, and the Tennessee marble restored to its former glory.

View from the rotunda.

Once the entire area was properly honed to the 800 grit level, polishing was accomplished using the Majestic XXX Shine Premium Polishing Powder. Tests were completed using other powders and compounds but on these particular marbles, the XXX provided the best polish. Remember to always do a test area to confirm both the results and procedure. 

No one single polishing product works in all situations, so it is best to have several different polishing formulations with you.

Once the polishing was completed, there were some residual swirls and light etch marks left behind from the process. A 12,000 grit diamond impregnated pad (we have discussed this technical tidbit before) was used to spiff everything up and the floor looked amazing! 

Commercial projects like this have their pluses and minuses. You must be prepared to work around other contractors in these total remodel situations. Also, you are reporting to the General Contractor in many of these type projects as well as the building owners, so that means that the scope of work can evolve. Be sure to leave room in the budget for the small changes and include verbiage to allow for the big changes.

As always, I recommend submitting a test area to confirm the results and the procedure prior to starting a stone or hard surface restoration or maintenance project. Also, the best way to help ensure success is by partnering with a good distributor that knows the business. They can help with technical support, product purchase decisions, logistics, and other pertinent project information.

Bob Murrell has worked in the natural stone industry for over 40 years and is well known for his expertise in natural stone, tile and decorative concrete restoration and maintenance. He helped develop some of the main products and processes which revolutionized the industry, and is currently the Director of Operations for M3 Technologies.