Cleaning/restoring carrera marble tile?

[BarbFreda]

Hey, guys...

So here's the scoop...we are selling our house and without doing too much (I'm painting every inch of it, I tiled the bathroom that had the gawd-awful carpet in it), I def. would like the tile floor in the foyer to look a little nicer...I mop with tile cleaner (no longer available), but I want to scrub/restore, maybe even seal it? for it to look sparkling again...

Any suggestions? I think this is carrer (sp?)--white tile, grey veins..12 inch tiles, white grout lines (which def. need to be scrubbed, whitened and sealed...)

Thanks.

B

[Sponsored Links]

[BarbFreda]

We are moving to Minneapolis and plan on building, so if any of you all are in that area, give a shout...I need some friendly construction folks on my side!

B

[Jim Farrell Tiler]

I think you may find the marble tiles are a wall grade not a floor grade tile if they are soft the shiny surface will have worn off in the traffic areas, is the floor still like new around the edges? I recently ripped up $5000 worth of marble tiles that were wrongly specfied by the architect (i didnt lay them) and replaced them with ceramic tiles ,the cleaners couldnt get them clean. I know its not much help but put a nice rug over the worn marble when you sell the house. Cheers Jim :yipee:

[BarbFreda]

they are pretty shiny still...probably, as you mention, shinier towards the edges were there's no traffic...

I'll def. have nice rugs there...they ARE 20 years old, in good shape (one has a crack, but I'm not replacing it...)...just want them to sparkle some..
Thanks.

B

[doitright]

Hi Barb :)

If you just want the shine back, the floor needs to be repolished using a marble polishing compound. This will not remove any scratches or deep etches. However, it will revive the floor.

I disagree will the wall/floor grade of marble. Yes, some marble is denser than others, but they're all calcium carbonate based. Thus, all will etch with acidic products. They are also under a 6 on the mohs scale of hardness, thus be easily scratched with steel or sand. The best finish for any marble used on a entry floor is honed, in my opinion. Socks only, polished is fine. ;)