Marble & Travertine Stone Polishing Services in Orange County, CA

The rich look and feel of natural stone can be breath-taking when its new, but what about after a few years. Being a natural material, stone surfaces need special attention and care when being cleaned or restored. Trust our seasoned master stone techs to clean, seal and restore your natural stone surfaces to their former glory.

Call to set up an appointment for a maintenance evaluation.

Step 1: The first step involves covering, masking and protecting all the sensitive areas (ex: baseboards, walls, cabinets, stainless steel appliances, carpet, wood flooring, etc) after furniture has been removed from working area. Caution needs to be exercised during this step due to liability issues if not done correctly; masking tape must not be applied directly on baseboards surface if freshly painted, masking tape may not be used in some cabinets and appliances which are somewhat delicate and that might get stained.

Step 2: The second step is deep cleaning the stone with a PH neutral cleanser to help release the dirt trapped in the pores of the stone. This procedure also helps the grout get cleaner.

Step 3: Before this step we have had previously determined the service our customer has purchased. We offer our customers two main services which are: Restoration or Clean & Seal:

Restoration: This process employs the use of diamond pads to resurface the top layer of the tile thus eliminating scratches & etches on the surface of the tile. This procedure is most commonly known as honing. The word “honing” started being used more widely to describe the process known as diamond sanding due to the fact that customers would associate the word “sanding” with that of wood sanding, which is in fact a very dusty process. Be aware that in good practice customer must be informed that diamond sanding is a wet process and that it doesn’t produce any dust.

Clean & Seal: In the clean & seal service we use the same machines for diamond sanding, but scrub pads are used instead of diamond pads to treat the surfaces. Please note that this process will not remove etches & scratches from the surface of the stone.

Step 4: Hand scrubbing the grout with a custom built scrubber is very important, even in cases where the customer doesn’t deem it necessary. It will clean accumulated dirt from grout surface. Please note that some stains may not be removed by this process. In cases where stains are deeply penetrated into the grout, then regrouting might be necessary. Furthermore, this is something that we would only be able to know once the job is finished and the grout is completely dry. Steam cleaning is another method of grout cleaning that is widely employed and used by other companies. Even though we have the know-how and capabilities to offer this service to our clients, we choose not to do so. The reason for this is very simple. We appreciate our customer’s business and don’t want them to inherit a liability down the line. It is a proven fact that steam cleaning weakens the bond between the grout molecules thus making the grout surface fragile and susceptible to cracking and breaking apart.

Step 5: Depending on the finish of the stone we buff or hone.

Buffing: The process in which we achieve a desired sheen or finish (ex: satin, semi-gloss, high-gloss) on the surface of the stone. We do this by using special polishing pads and diamond resin polishing compounds.

Honing: The process in which we lower the sheen from the surface of the stone, in this case we can go from any gloss finish to a matte or honed finish. To achieve this result we use lower and more abrasive diamond grits.

Step 6: A penetrating or impregnator sealer must be applied uniformly throughout the stone and then time must be allowed for it to be absorbed properly by the stone.

Step 7: After the sealer has been absorbed by the stone, then it must be buffed out to eliminate any excess or haze left over by sealer.

Stone Cleaning Process

In our process, all types of natural stone cleaning involves a common 7-step process which involves the following:

1. Cover & protect all sensitive areas.

2. Deep clean with PH neutral cleaner.

3. Machine scrub or diamond sand to resurface tile and eliminate etches & scratches.

4. Hand scrub grout.

5. Buff or hone to customer’s desired finish.

6. Apply penetrating sealer.

7. Buff out excess sealer.