How and why I care for your natural stone

Natural stone in your home is such a beautiful addition, whether its on the floor, wall, fireplace or worktop surfaces. Like with anything though it needs to be cared for and looked after properly.

The main thing that upsets me is improper cleaning and maintenance of stone in the home. A lot of products you buy off the shelf are damaging to your stone. Also improper installation of stone can have a huge affect on the final finish and over use of the stone surface.

We always recommend having your stone impregnated before the tiles/surfaces are installed ( before grouting is carried out)  and then we recommend that they are impregnated after the floor is installed.
This will stop any staining or dirt affecting the overall finish the surface. Sometimes these damages done during installation are irreversible when it comes to cleaning.

Why is impregnation important?
Impregnation is very important for natural stone surfaces. Impregnation, unlike a seal, soaks into the stone tile which enables the stone to still breath. A seal is a layer that sits on top of the stone and does not let the stone naturally breathe. The seal will wear out quicker and the area will need to be stripped and re-sealed more often then with an impregnated surface.


How do we clean natural stone flooring?

When carrying out a natural stone cleaning job, we follow these guidelines,

* Job preparation
* During the job
* Completion of the job

Job preparation.
First of all we carry out a quote to let you know what the best method of cleaning will be. We will advise you on what stains we think will come out and what staining we think will be permanent. We will also inform you on the best final finish on the floor whether you require it impregnated, sealed or highly glossed.
We then protect all the cupboards, doors, skirting boards and carpeting with protective plastics and tarpaulins.
If there are any loose tiles or grouting work that needs to be carried out, we will get a tiler we wok closely with to come out and fix the area before any cleaning can take place.

During the job
During the job we get rid of all the loose dirt by using brushes and vacuums. We then clean the area using hand brushes and machine brushes with our cleaning solution, paying close attention to any staining as we go. We then use another piece of machinery to rinse and extract away all the dirty water. We can do the cleaning process sometimes 2-3 times. We then remove all the protective plastic sheeting and tarpaulins that we have put done and we clean up if needs be.
We will then treat the floor with what ever finishing treatment you require.

Job completion
On completion of the job we will advise you on the best maintenance plan for your flooring to keep it in pristine condition all year round, we leave you with a bottle of cleaning maintenance solution and an application flat mop.

We do offer a free demonstrations of our natural stone cleaning services. This will include cleaning an area of your dirtiest stone surface, so you can see the results we can get for you.

Please visit us at Plymouth Stone Care

The Latest News From PSC

Hey everyone, well its been extremely busy this year, hence the lack of blog posts.

We have been busy with both our commercial and domestic clients cleaning a wide variety of stone from slate to polishing granite.

We have been playing around with stone cleaning and polishing products. And we think we have final got the best products on the market. We have been involved in cleaning and polishing white marble onboard luxury yachts, Domestic black granite worktops, Limestone flooring throughout peoples homes. To be honest the list is endless. We are very grateful for all the stone work we are getting.

Unfortunately many people are getting disappointed because we simply cant fit them in. So im trying to get the message out to people who want their natural stone surfaces cleaned or polished, to please book early to avoid disappointment.

Have a look below at a small selection of photos from jobs we have carried out this year.
Natural Stone Cleaning In Devon

Cleaning Slate

These following photos are of a slate floor that I restored in Heybrook Bay, Plymouth, Devon.

My client had had carpet down in her cottage for so many years that she forgot that there was this beautiful stone floor underneath. It was possible the original at 150-200 years old.

There was alot of adhesive, tape and paint on the flooring, So it was up to us to make it look beautiful again. Not a problem... we gave the floor a deep clean and them impregnated it to help protect it. The floor came up beautifully and our client was over the moon.

The photos below show the stages of cleaning, before, during and after. There is also a photo of me, very dirty but very happy.

Cleaning natural stone in Plymouth

If this video is not working on my blog, please pop over to our YouTube channel at Philhill19, thank you

Marble Polishing

Do you have marble table tops or worktops in your home, restaurant or place of work?

Check out some of my photos below of marble table tops I have restored for clients. The black table was part of a collection of tables I had to do a demo for, for an Italian restaurant in Bristol, England.

The tables had not been looked after for many years, so I got out my grinding pads and set to work grinding and them polishing the stone. Final I put 2 layers of impregnator on the stone to help protect it from drinks spills and food staining.

Impregnator is far better for the stone then sealing it. Impregnator lets the stone breathe fully and does not wear off as seal does. Impregnator soaks into the stone rather then sit on top of the stone.

The last image at the bottom is a white marble table we restored for a domestic client of ours. Again she has had it for many years and not maintaining it properly. So we used out grinding pads on it and polished it.

Our client was over the moon as it had lots of ring marks from drinks and general staining.

To see more images of what we do please visit us at Plymouth Stone Care

As always thanks for reading my blog, any questions please leave them in the box below.

Slate Floor Cleaning- Devon

Come and visit us at www.plymouthstonecare.co.uk to see more videos on natural stone cleaning.

At this site you will also find out how we do what we do.
We take great pride in cleaning natural stone flooring including stone like, slate, sandstone, granite, to name a few.

We carry out professional natural stone cleaning in Devon and Cornwall for Plymouth City Council, builders and the domestic sector.

Warehouse Terrazzo Stone Floor Cleaning

www.plymouthstonecare.co.uk