Slippery Rock Gazette

Bob Murrell 

M3 Technologies

Photos by Bob Murrell

Above: Floor polishing maintenance in progress for a commercial contract. Even with routine re-polishing, eventually any floor will need honing.

Above: Store entryway before and after honing and polishing. Heavy foot traffic at entrances will cause the surface to wear quickly, from extra soiling and scratching.

Sell a proactive maintenance system to your clients to protect your original work (and your good name), and to generate scheduled, ongoing revenue.

Above: Maintenance before…

Above: And after completion.

The old saying, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me more later,” holds true with respect to proactive periodic maintenance on decorative hard surfaces. The longer a surface goes without proper professional attention, the more restorative work that will be necessary at some point. This, of course, can equate to a capital expenditure instead of just modest maintenance dues.  

Most all polished surfaces will develop wear patterns sooner or later, depending on the hardness of the material. Marble, limestone and other similar calcium-containing stones also develop etching, especially service areas like kitchen countertops and floors, along with bathroom vanities and floor areas around toilets. Even granite countertops are subject to staining when impregnators are not reapplied at regular intervals.

When entryway and pivot point traffic wear patterns first become visible, the fix may be as simple as using Majestic 5X Gold to re-polish the area to a beautiful, high-gloss finish. This unique polishing powder will repair light scratching and etching in many situations if caught early enough.

Remember, foot traffic can be equated to roughly between a 200- grit and 400-grit scratch pattern. Obviously, this is much less light-reflective (duller) than a highly polished stone. If outside soiling is allowed to be excessively tracked in (install entry matting) and not efficiently removed (dust mopping), this can result in surface wear at even faster rates. 

Of course, if the wear areas are not re-polished routinely they may regress to such a state that it requires some honing in order to sufficiently flatten the surface in order to take on a good, clear polish. Once honing becomes involved, the project can become more complicated and therefore more expensive, due to issues like lippage and blending. At some point, honing will become necessary, especially in commercial and heavy traffic situations.   

Etching is a similar dulling problem yet it is caused by different contributing factors. As we know, when acidic products come into contact with calcium-based stones (marble, limestone, onyx, terrazzo, etc.), a chemical reaction takes place, which causes a physical deterioration of the stone’s surface at the area of contact. The stronger the acidic solution and the longer it is in contact with the surface, the greater the damage. 

Knowing that traffic wear and etching will hone the stone and lower the polish, we can therefore implement proactive measures to counter this. Specifically, scheduling a periodic maintenance program to both clean the grout lines (so that soiling is not accumulated and then randomly removed and tracked across floor surfaces) and re-polish any wear areas.

Therefore, based on the situation, it behooves us to promote an ongoing maintenance program to our customers. It benefits all parties involved and simply makes good business sense. Deep cleaning of grout lines, re-honing and/or re-polishing, and re-impregnating and sealing should be done periodically, based on the wear of a particular surface.  

The periodic deep cleaning of stone and grout lines should be accomplished using Majestic Deep Cleaner Stripper or Majestic Intensive Stone Cleaner. These two alkaline products are great for removing light wax, heavy soiling, grease and oil. The Deep Cleaner Stripper (which also contains an “oxy” component) is normally sufficient, but the Intensive Stone Cleaner is the strongest. I suggest a quarterly deep cleaning in commercial applications and annual or bi-annual for residential. Use of a soft-bristle brush helps tremendously with cleaning the grout lines.

For most calcium-based materials, light wear and etching can usually be repaired with the Majestic 5X Gold or XXX polishing powders. Deep etching will have to be honed prior to polishing. Usually, honing with a 220-grit, 400-grit, and then 800-grit is sufficient prior to polishing. If dealing with a floor, then everything depends on the severity of the lippage. If the lippage is moderate, feathering is more successful. Of course there are those finicky marbles that may require going to a 1800- grit or even higher, in certain cases.

If these situations are caught early on, the restoration is normally fairly routine and shouldn’t consume too much time or tooling. However, if left for too long and if the scratching and etching are allowed to deteriorate the surface significantly, costs can be driven up. 

That is why, as a contractor, you definitely want to sell a proactive maintenance system to your clients, especially after any restoration service work is performed. First, you want to generate scheduled ongoing revenue, and second you need to protect your original work. It is advantageous for both you and the client. It costs less, when amortized, and keeps the installation looking its best. Also, if you ever want to retire, it helps add value to your business. 

So, you need to sell not only the restoration project service but the ongoing, periodic service necessary to keep the install looking good. Also, as I have said many times, please make sure your clients use the products you approve of. In fact, you could even supply them with the correct products or at least put them in contact with your approved supplier. 

Commercial clients will definitely benefit from a scheduled maintenance routine, and it is to be expected. Residential clients can benefit as well, especially if there is ample traffic and/or wear. There is a residential client of a contractor I know who has an onyx or alabaster backlit patio bar countertop (it is quite spectacular at night). They entertain their friends and business associates routinely. He schedules his tops to be done every year at the beginning of college football season. This countertop is both very acid- sensitive and soft (scratches easily). Even though they have signs posted, “no dancing on countertops,” well, you can image what happens.

Once you know the prescription for a particular installation, it gets easier with ongoing maintenance. The next time you do it, you already know what steps to take and which polishing products work best. During this booming economy, it should be a great time to implement a scheduled maintenance program, so don’t delay.   

As always, maintain a good relationship with a distributor of quality products and the technical support to back them up. This is a logical approach and will help make your projects much easier.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

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.