Clean with non-acidic cleaners, such as MARBLELIFE Marble & Travertine Cleaner. 

Never clean with vinegar or a lemon-fresh, orange-scented, or vinegar-infused cleaner. 

Keep your surface dust- and sand-free through periodic dust mop cleaning. 

Use appropriate entrance mats that allow dirt and dust to fall into the mat, preventing transfer by foot traffic. 

Seal counters every two years to avoid staining. 

Consider a MARBLELIFE hardening treatment to increase the marble’s resistance to wear, like a dental fluoride treatment. 

Does sanding, grinding, honing, or polishing produce dust? 

In the old days, when stone was ground dry, one would get dust. However, today, with MARBLELIFE’s wet grind methods, dust is captured in water, creating a paste that can be vacuumed up. The result is a clean floor. In fact, we aim to leave every project cleaner than we found it. 

Stone is naturally porous, meaning it can absorb spilled liquids. Depending on the liquid, this could cause discoloration or staining. Removing material from a stone pore is like trying to clean a test tube with a sponge—possible but not easy. Sealing the surface keeps liquids on the surface, allowing cleaning without wetting or darkening the stone or transferring dirt from the surface into the stone. 

It’s important to realize that sealing provides time to clean up a spill, but it doesn’t mean that given enough time, a spill cannot penetrate the seal. Sealing also provides no protection against acid attack or etching. When a penetrating seal is applied, the surface is soaked, allowed to rest for a few minutes, and then the excess is removed, leaving only the seal in the pores where it’s needed. This does not cover the marble. Topical sealers are available that halt etching, but they are generally not used as they can alter the natural beauty of your elegant stone. 

The frequency of service depends on the amount of wear or foot traffic. A hotel or office building lobby may need monthly visits, while a residential home may only need an annual service. Just as your dentist recommends fluoride treatments to strengthen your teeth’s enamel, hardening your marble’s surface can resist wear and reduce the frequency of restoration. 

Stone should be serviced immediately when chipped or cracked, just as you would treat a cavity. A polished floor lasts longer than a dull, scratched floor, as scratches guide new grains of sand to dig the furrow deeper. It’s better to have lots of small shallow scratches than deep ones. An annual visit is recommended to maintain your surfaces’ gloss and appearance. 

Stone restoration and care depend not just on the area to be serviced but on the depth and extent of the damage. The same floor, cleaned with an acidic cleaner like vinegar, may require a multi-step service across the entire space, while repairing a scratch or traffic pattern between two doors may require intensive work at the local damage site but can then be blended into the floor finish for a less costly charge. 

To provide an accurate and cost-effective estimate, a trained craftsman needs to review the area and conditions across the entire project. An over-the-phone quote would need to be conservatively high, whereas an in-person review can assess actual conditions and needs

Generally, you can put the restored surface back into service immediately. The only exception is when a topical seal is applied, in which case the wait time depends on the cure profile of the coating. This is rare for marble, where most services involve honing, polishing, and sealing. Once the excess seal has been removed, you can walk on the surface. However, we recommend letting the surface rest for a day before subjecting it to kitchen food prep duties. Full strength is typically attained within 7 days.