Slippery Rock Gazette

Bob Murrell 

M3 Technologies

Photos Courtesy Classic Marble & Stone Restoration

Carl and Patricia Staples, owners of Classic Marble & Stone Restoration, have been friends, peers and customers of mine for at least 30+ years. I remember they came to one of my training classes back in the 1990s. They have since been operating one of the most successful stone restoration companies in Broomall (outside of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania for many, many years now. The following is a case study of the project in their words. I hope you enjoy the story and get some valuable insight into a project of this nature.

The Parish Church of St. Joseph the Worker in Williamsport, PA is a 135-year old Annunciation church built in 1889. The bell tower was not capped with a pointed spire during its original construction because of the death of four men working towards its completion. The marble altar, the open vestibule, and the wooden wainscot panels are all original to the building.

St. Joseph the Worker Church is located 3 hours from Classic Marble & Stone Restoration’s location in Broomall, PA. We realized that doing a project like this would require us and our crew to stay in Williamsport during the week, working long days and traveling back home on the weekends to take care of family, personal matters and other things. 

Upon initial inspection of the project we realized that the biggest challenge was going to be able to reach all the sections of the 25 foot high Reredos/High Altar. We knew that we would need scaffolds in the rear and front of the altar with long walking boards to get from the front of the Reredos/High Altar to the rear of the structure in the higher areas. There was only a maximum of 26 inches behind the structure in some areas to erect scaffolding. We searched for this type of skinny scaffolding to estimate the project and it took some time, and once located the estimating processing began. On this type of project mostly everything is based on time and materials. Knowing the proper cleaning chemicals and cleaning process to use on these historic 150-year-old statues is only part of the battle. If we used the wrong chemicals the marble could be ruined. Our main cleaner for the Reredos structure, statues and altar rails was Prosoco Liquid Marble Cleaner. This professional product is a thick gel that is brushed on and needs to be thoroughly washed off or a residue will be left behind. 

Above: High Altar restoration and cleaning, before and after. The project required special narrow-gauge scaffolding to reach all areas. Below: Careful restoration and thumb repair on a 150-year-old statue.

An entire day was needed for our 5-man crew to erect the scaffolding around the Reredos/High Altar. After the scaffold was erected, we split our crew into two 2-man teams and our assistant Jim King was there to assist both crews. The owners Patricia and Carl Staples got to work on the scaffolding cleaning the High Altar. Our lead technician Chris Rose started on the statue of The Blessed Mother Mary with the cleaning and the repair of her thumb. Chris removed the broken part of her thumb (pictured) drilled both ends, inserted a small pin and color matched with epoxy to reattach her thumb. Technician Mike McCormick started sanding and polishing the top of the lower altar. Mike refinished the altar top using 120/400/800 grit diamond abrasives from M3 Technologies and polished the top with Majestic 5X polishing compound. 

We estimated 2 weeks’ time for 2 people to clean the Reredos/High Altar, with adjusting the scaffolding to get to all the different areas and levels of the structure, and 2 weeks for the 2 technicians to clean the lower statues, baptismal fountain and other structures. 

The Baptismal fountain had a lot of etching from the water not being treated and from the splashing. All the marble surfaces had to be sanded/honed and polished. The bottom of the Holy Water bowls developed a yellowish crusty layer that had to be sanded off and polished. Everything went as planned with the cleaning of everything on the high altar area. After all that cleaning was done, the technicians went on to tackle the marble flooring, and Patricia and I went on to cleaning the altar railings. The 2 technicians were tasked with replacing 7 tiles in the floor, replacing grout where missing, cleaning all the grout lines, sanding and polishing the marble floor. In some areas of the badly scratched and worn marble floors, they started with 50 grit diamond abrasives and brought the finish up to an 800 grit diamond abrasive from M3 Technologies. Then they polished the floor with Majestic 5X polishing compound. The marble floors came up absolutely beautiful. 

Above: Baptimal fountain, before and after removing years of chemical residue build-up. Below: Altar rail cleaning in progress, using application of Prosoco Liquid Marble Cleaner.

The Altar railings were another challenge, as all the surrounding areas were covered with carpet and the church had to be turned back over on the weekends so mass could be held. With all the water that needed to be used to clean all the intricate detailed sculptures/ornaments, the carpet needed to be protected. We used 20 foot-wide 6 mil heavy plastic sheets and duct tape to attach the plastic sheets to the very bottom of each of the 4 altar railings. We then put 4 x 8 -foot hardboard sheets on top of the plastic so we could vacuum up the water as we were washing the cleaner off of the altar railings.  This worked out quite well, the carpet did not even get wet, just a little damp in a few areas.

Left: The talented crew of Classic Marble & Stone Restoration. Right: Badly scratched and worn areas of the marble floor restored like new.

This was one of those once-in-a-lifetime projects that gave us all a lot of personal satisfaction to be able to complete. Having great people from the church to work with was a plus: Leonard Hazel, Jim King, Jr. and Father David Bechtel. We also hired a retired local person that the church recommended who helped us with the project – Jim King, Sr. who was great to work with. 

I would like to give special thanks to Dr. Fred Hueston of Stoneforensics.com and Bob Murrell of M3 Technologies for their support and some technical assistance to help us complete this project. 

I always recommend doing a test area on any project to confirm both the results and procedure. Also, the best way to help ensure success is by partnering with a good distributor, like BB Industries, that knows the business. They can help with technical support, product purchase decisions, logistics, and other pertinent project information.

As we start this New Year, I wish you and your families a safe and very prosperous 2025.

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.
Send your comments and questions to Bob at attn: publisher@slipperyrockgazette.net .