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Marble Cleaning, Polishing, Sealing & Maintenance
Your marble will love XO2's very best specialty marble cleaning, polishing, sealing and restoration products. Marble is a form of limestone that's been compacted and crystallised by heat and immense pressure. It comes in a range of colours from white, pink and green to brown and black with characteristic streaking, clouding and veining patterns. Marble is generally hard wearing and the darker types of marble tend to be the hardest. It comes in a variety of finishes including honed (not glossy) and highly polished.
Blog Article: How to perfectly polish marble floors like a pro... Tips and tricks for inhouse facility maintenance teams & DIYers
Clean Marble With C-A-T
CAT stands for Chemical, Agitation and Temperature. Choose the chemical that's suitable for your surface and soil. Select the right agitation method (eg. floor pad, brush, high pressure) and temperature you will clean with (heat often cleans better).
Recommended Products For The 4 Types Of Marble Maintenance
*Always test products first before use.
**Beware, marble is very sensitive to acids and most alkaline chemicals.
- Initial - Cleaning newly laid floors... Use Bobby Dazzler (pH neutral).
- Regular Maintenance - Use Bobby Dazzler (pH neutral). This is for everyday cleaning. For regular cleaning of wall tiles and benchtops, you can clean them just like glass with a squeegee and washer or with Wow Fast Dry and a microfibre cloth.
- Periodic Cleaning (may include polishing with Pro Glo) - Use Bobby Dazzler or Bonza. Periodic cleaning may occur monthly, quarterly or yearly.
- Restorative / Salvage Cleaning - Use Bobby Dazzler or Bonza. This is when things have gotten a little out of hand and the surface needs a reset! For restorative polishing use Pro Glo (and it also cleans up the grout). If an existing coating needs to be removed use the compatible floor stripper. For difficult stains use Poultice Pro and for rust stains go with Rust Daddy.
Precautions
Avoid harsh chemicals and abrasive cleaners where possible. Acids will attack marble causing pitting, etching and a loss of shine (dullness). Alkaline residue can cause crystals in the pores that increase the likelihood of chipping. Marble is a relatively soft stone and can be permanently scratched easily. Only use pH neutral cleaners like Bobby Dazzler and Bonza. Clean up spills quickly as marble can stain.
Sealing Marble Floors
XO2 recommends sealing marble floors and grout with Pro Seal Ultra, our invisible impregnating marble sealer. This penetrating sealer is not a coating that will sit on top of the surface and it will not change the look, colour, texture or slip resistance of the marble. Some facilities prefer to use a water based coating on top of indoor marble floors to protect them. We prefer polished marble but our recommendation for sacrificial coatings on indoor marble is Tough Shield for a satin/lower gloss finish or as a base coat for top coats of Blockbuster for a high shine finish.
Etched Or Dull Marble?
Softer carbonates like marble, travertine and limestone tend to react to acids and heavy wear causing permanent damage such as pitting and etching (or dullness). The good news is that in most cases this damage can be repolished with Pro Glo so the floor looks like new again. For severe damage, refinishing with some diamond pads may be required before the Pro Glo polishing process. If a topical sealer coating is present and you would like to continue using this type of sealing system, cutting back or stripping the existing sealer from the floor then recoating may also return the floor to 'as new' condition.