Marble is widely used in the finishing of floors, whether at home or in the office. Its unique characteristics are what makes most clients prefer it as a flooring option. Marble comes in many designs and colors, with unique characteristics.
The many colors available can match your interior home décor, whether in the bathroom floor or kitchen floor and the living room. This stone maintains its appearance for a long time. It adds a touch of luxury and opulence to your house interior.
The main reason why most decorators prefer using marble for their flooring is due to a wide variety to choose from, it is very accessible and easy to maintain. Marble is also considered to have hypo-allergic properties.
This is why it is used in many hospitals as a flooring material. It doesn’t allow bacteria and other disease causing agents to survive on its surface. That’s why marble is considered to be hygienic and safe to use in many homes.
Two Groups of Marble Types
There exist different types of marble, actually, there are many different varieties of marble. So I can’t list them all here. However, we can do with the two wide groupings of marble. The marble you are using can either be natural or cultured. Natural marble is available in its natural form, which has not been altered chemically. Cultured marble is given a protective coating from the factory.
In brief, there are ways to tell them apart. Natural marble is cooler than the room temperature when feeling with your hand, while cultured marble is always at the same room temperature. Another good method to differentiate the two is that natural marble scratches easily while the cultured marble does not.
It is important to know the type of marble you are using so that you can avoid mistakes while polishing it. Different marbles have different polishing preferences. Let me walk you through on what not to do when polishing marble floors.
Things to Avoid When Polishing Marbles
1. Don’t use homemade remedies to clean marble
You might think that any acidic liquid is capable of bleaching that colorization on your marble floor after a spill. The truth is that some of the home remedies you can use like ammonia or vinegar are actually very alkaline and acidic respectively.
They will destroy the surface of your marble through corrosion. It is good to find the correct products to clean your marble floor. Don’t look at the expenses, it is much cheaper to buy a quality cleaning agent than to repair a corroded marble surface.
2. Never use water as the sole polishing agent
Marble is porous, this means it will continuously absorb water every time you polish it using water, and marble polishing specialists knows this. It will end up looking unattractive and dull in appearance. You should consider using the correct solvents for polishing.
The solvents should neither be acidic nor basic, as this would corrode the surface of your marble. Find neutral solvents that will not seep through the marble but will make it look very appealing and shiny.
3. Don’t polish before checking the quality of your marble
As I said earlier, marble exists in two groupings. Before you polish that marble floor, check if it is natural or cultured marble. When using natural marble, don’t apply too much pressure when polishing it. It will break under pressure. One way to differentiate these two types of marble is by looking at the back of it.
Cultured marble has a wire mesh at the back, so it would not break under pressure. Natural marble does not have a wire mesh, so it will break under extreme pressure when polishing. It is very important to check if the marble is cultured or natural. Because the pressure applied can damage your floor.
4. Polishing before removing stains
You should never polish your marble floor before removing stains on the floor. If you go ahead and polish a floor with the stains, the stains will appear more evident. This is because marble is highly porous in nature. Use a good stain removal solvent before polishing your marble floor. You will increase the durability of your floor by doing this
Our Final Word
The most important thing is to know the type of marble you are using as discussed above. Use a good neutral solvent or stain remover. By doing this, you will increase the attractiveness of your marble floor and also decrease the costs of replacement after some years of usage.
