slate and marble floors

[richard]

Got a call today, person wants an estimate to clean slate floor and clean or polish his marble flooring.
I have polished limestone and cleaned ceramic and porcelain but no slate or marble.
I haven't seen it yet - appointment Tuesday to inspect.
Any pointers and info, especially on the slate, will be appreciated.

 

[RGH269]

Can't help you on the Marble, but be wary of the slate I went to do one once that had floor finish on it and was a BEAR. It was the reception area at a business and the customer wanted it to shine so floor wax was put on it.

 

[richard]

Can't help you on the Marble, but be wary of the slate I went to do one once that had floor finish on it and was a BEAR. It was the reception area at a business and the customer wanted it to shine so floor wax was put on it.

I will sure test for wax. If they waxed it - I'm not 'messin' with it.
Thanks

 

[J Scott W]

Marble is not that different from limestone. Both are mainly calcium carbonate. Even onemarble differs from another marble, but the procedure is the same.

You will probably need to clean and polish. How much polish depends upon the condition the floor is in and the gloss level they expect when you finish. Unless they have allowed the floor to be abused, you can likely clean and then polish with Spinergy / Viper / Monkey pads.

I have a 24 page manual with the basics of stone maintenance that I will be glad to email to you or anyone else who sends me a request. Send me an email and I will attach it to the reply. scottw@bridgewatercorp.net

 

[Desk Jockey]

Scott we were test cleaning marble walls in a Mausoleum a couple of weeks ago, the walls had never been cleaned and had a rough grity feel from decades of dust and dirt.

Very slow tedious work, we did some test cleaning but production was not going to work out for what they had in their budget for the project.

Does interlink sell products for marble walls that might have allowed us to be more productive continued with that project?

I think the work is still there IF we can improve the looks and we can do it in a timely manor.

 

[J Scott W]

Richard, what procedures and tools were you using? Any idea of the production rate?

I can't say if we have something better until I know how high (or low) the bar has been set.

 

[Desk Jockey]

It was one of Dan's "cluster" ideas, he couldn't wait for real products, he purchased big box products and was disappointed with the time it to to get good results.

I'm not sure of the brand, but they had a chemical that came in spray bottles, sprayed it on and used microfiber towels to clean and buff it off. They also need 2-sets of scaffolding which always slows things down.

I think 2-guys spent most of a day errecting the scaffold and cleaning a 20-ft by 20-ft section.

 

[J Scott W]

Spinergy Stone Perfect would be the cleaning product. This can be sprayed on and cleaned using SX-7, mini-Turbo or Cobra type tools.

With some levels of soiling, this can be done like cleaning windows with a strip washer or other T bar product and then rinsing. This can be on a pole and may not need scaffolding. May need two cleaning passes, but that could save time over setting up the scaffold.

As with cleaning soot in fire restoration, clean from the bottom up and rinse from the top down.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thanks Scott I'll check it out and see if we can't take another shot at it. We already have the mini Turbo and Cobra we could use.

Are there any concerns with heat from the TM on the marble? Should we just go the window washer method or will the TM heat help speed up the cleaning.

 

[J Scott W]

Heat will help but with some limitations. Big changes in temperature can cause some stone to crack. It depends upon if there are already fractures in the stone and such. These might be hidden by soil. I would not go more than 40 or 50 degrees F above current temperature. That gives you some help from the heat but with a large margin for safety.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I did a slate floor last week. I have cleaned this particular floor three times. Each time I spray it down with tile cleaner, steam clean it, and mop floor sealer/finish on it. Each time it cleans up very easy. I am afraid to put stripper on it, but the dirt just comes up so easy each time I clean it. I told the lady next time we will likely have to strip and the cost would be greater. The odd thing is she has like 10 dogs so really she just wants it to look cleaner and for us to get all the dog oils off the floor. I may just continue to clean and mop finish until she replaces the floor. :shock:

Stripping will be a pita or maybe not so bad.

Also if you do strip a floor like this you really need high pressure around 2k psi to help get all the wax off.

 

[richard]

Well, I looked at the floor today. The guy showed me a water bottle with masking a tape label that reads 'Top coat' written on it with a sharpie. Smells like polyurethane. That is what is on the granite and it can be scraped off with your finger nail.
He showed me a bottle of 'Stone Technologies Stone Sealer #5' Solvent Based, 'Wet Look" that he thinks was used on the marble. The marble just looks a little dull and he wants a glossy look.
This is in about a $2 million home.

 

[Ron Lippold]

come on boys. its pretty hard to mess up a slate floor slate is pretty bullet proof.

 

[Bee Busy]

Thanks Scott I'll check it out and see if we can't take another shot at it. We already have the mini Turbo and Cobra we could use.

Are there any concerns with heat from the TM on the marble? Should we just go the window washer method or will the TM heat help speed up the cleaning.

Richard .....call Stu Rosen at MB Stone or Ted McFadden at Easy Stone Care

 

[Desk Jockey]

Thanks Bill