Marble flooring has become a popular choice of flooring in many homes today. It adds style, elegance and beauty to the house. Marble flooring is known for its superior, royal appearance. Marble is a natural stone, strong enough to withstand the harshest conditions but over time it can lose its shine. High traffic and furniture contributes to the scratching and dulling of the marble surface. Cracks and scratches occur in marble regardless of what you do to minimize such mishaps. While marble is a durable stone, it requires a certain amount of care and maintenance. If you clean marble without proper cleaner and equipment you will destroy the finish. General cleaners eat through marble minerals resulting in faded shine. It will cost you money to reverse the damage by fixing it yourself. NOVA Stone Care specialists are pros at marble floor restoration. They can restore your dull, etched, scratched marble floors to its former luster and shine.

NOVA Stone Care specialists use the highest quality diamond floor pads to grind down the surface to expose the fresh layer of stone.  At the end of this process, the marble floors achieve a mirror-like or matte finish. Here is the step by step process used by NOVA Stone Care specialist during marble floor restoration.

Step  -1 Honing

Marble honing is a method of cutting the stone and creating a more even surface. It brings smoothness to the marble floor by removing scratch or etch marks. For this step NOVA Stone Care specialists use the top of the line diamond floor polishing pads in lower grits like 100, 200 and 400. The lower grit diamond floor pads remove the visible scratches. Apart from scratches, honing will also remove certain stains. Once the rough spots are honed away, the marble will have a matte finish. The finish will be very scratch resistant at this point because it is not glossy. In some cases, honing is all that’s needed to get your stone looking spectacular again, especially if you are not looking for a glossy, mirror-like finish.

Step 2 – Polishing

If you want a glossy finish, there’s a step after honing that will create the glossy finish you’re looking for. Polishing brings the stone to a shiny finish. Polishing is done by diamond floor pads with grit 800 and grit 1500. NOVA Stone Care specialists gently polish the surface using a fine grit until it sparkles. For marble floors in a good condition a polishing can be enough to bring back the shine.

Step 3 – Buffing

In this step marble is polished with the finer grit 3000. At times, crystallize of marble is done for finishing. The crystallization process entails spraying a liquid onto the marble surface and buffing it using steel wool properly fitted under the single disc floor machine of standard weight. It creates a chemical reaction which has a long-term impact on stone durability. This method protects and adds shine to the surface. It creates a sparkly, mirror-like finish.

Step 4 – Sealing

To seal the polished marble floor with a proper penetrating sealant is a crucial step to prevent water absorption. If you don’t seal your marble floors, any bit of moisture leaking through could cause marble to lose its shiny, glossy look. This step is essential for either old marble floor restoration or new marble polishing. We at NOVA Stone Care apply top of the line marble sealer as a final step. We suggest waiting 24 hours for the sealer to cure before stepping on the floors.

Granite countertops are beautiful and pleasing to the eye until you drop a heavy object on your stone and break off the part of it. It is one thing to scratch or stain the granite countertop but how do you repair the damages when a chunk of the surface comes off? While it is tempting to fix the chips by yourself, it is worth the extra money to let the professional handle the damage. NOVA Stone Care stone specialists have vast experience in chip repair. Let’s walk you through the process.

1. We Clean The Countertop

NOVA Stone Care technicians tape up the work area to make sure that nothing else gets damaged. We clean the chip and the surrounding area with acetone. It helps us remove stubborn stains and ensures proper bonding.

2. We Mark The Area

NOVA Stone Care technicians use blue tape to mark off the area just around the chip. It prevents epoxy glue from getting on the non-chipped area.

3. We Fill It Up Carefully

NOVA Stone Care technicians carefully fill the chipped area with color matched epoxy. Depending on the depth of the chipped area, it might require several applications and tons of patience.

4. We Are Patient

NOVA Stone Care technicians wait until the filled area is completely dry. This is crucial, as the epoxy filled surface may be damaged if touched before it’s dry. Once the epoxy is completely dry, we remove the blue tape.

5. We Scrape Off the Excess

NOVA Stone Care technicians clean up the surface meticulously in order to make the repair even with the rest of the countertop. We use a razor blade and gently and carefully scrape away any excess epoxy from the area.

6. We Buff, Polish and Seal

As the final step, NOVA Stone Care technicians make sure the area around the repaired chip has the similar gloss as the rest of your granite countertop. We buff the area with sandpaper or steel wool. As the finishing touch, we use a granite polisher or sealer to add a gleam to the area.

Granite is a luxurious natural stone that stands out for its mirror-like, glossy shine and durability. However, like anything else, granite requires proper care and maintenance. Over time even this incredibly durable natural stone can fall victim to scratches, stains and dull spots. Eventually it loses its original shine and gleam.

Not to worry, this is usually fixable by professional deep cleaning, polishing and sealing. You can try to polish the granite yourself, but to ensure your investment in a granite countertop is well protected, it is best to hire a knowledgeable stone technician who will fix the problem instead of causing more damage.

Nova Stone Care stone technicians specialize in restoring granite to its natural beauty and shine. When they arrive at the job site, they cover the entire work area with plastic covers, protective tapes and drop cloth. This step ensures surrounding objects and furniture does not get dirty or stained. Next, we deep clean the stone surface immaculately before polishing and sealing it.

We use nonabrasive polishing compound that is specifically made to use on natural stone. Our preferred product is MB-20 from MB Sone Care which is ideal for restoring the gleam to countertops that have gone through considerable wear and tear. During the polishing process, we remove small layers of granite that are dull, scratched and stained in order to reveal fresh, smooth stone beneath it.

After polishing, the last step is ensuring that your stone is properly sealed. While granite is made of a tough material, it is a natural stone and it can still get stained. A proper sealing is the most important line of defense against the future damage. We recommend resealing the granite once a year for lighter tone granites and once in two years for darker stones.

Once we are done with the sealing, we clean the surrounding area and take down the plastic covers. Our stone technicians leave the work area squeaky clean. If you want to restore the natural beauty and shine of your granite, don’t hesitate to reach out to Nova Stone Care for a free estimate. We WILL breathe life back into your stone.