Over time marble will loose its shine and look dull and lifeless. Many homeowners mistakenly believe that their marble surfaces are dirty and they just need to be cleaned. In fact the marble needs to be polished to bring back the shine and brilliance of your marble floors, countertops or shower.
Knowing how to polish marble can be very confusing. Typically marble polishing is done by stone restoration professionals who have experience, tools and special marble restoration pads and powders. Some homeowners are able to polish their marble floors and countertops but you may want to consider hiring a stone restoration professional to polish your marble for you.
The first thing you should do is analyze your marble to see exactly what type of polishing or marble restoration task needs to be done. If you have marble tiles that have lippage then the marble tiles have to be all ground down even to remove the lippage before you can polish your marble tiles. Lippage is the unevenness of the tile heights where some tiles are raised higher than others. It is virtually impossible to install marble tiles without some lippage. If this is the first time the marble tiles have been polished and restored then there will certainly be some lippage that has to be ground down before any type of marble polishing procedure can take place. Removing lippage is something that should ony be done by a stone restoration professional with diamond pads and professional grinding tools.
If you are dealing with a solid piece of marble or marble tiles that have been previously restored and the lippage has been removed then many industrious DIY homeowners have been able to polish their marble.
To polish your marble floors you will need a slow speed (175 rpm) floor machine, a soft white pad and some marble polishing powder. Marble polishing powder is specifically designed for polishing marble and has some type of acid in it designed to polish your marble. This acid polishing powder will not damage your marble and it will serve to bring back the polish and shine to your marble floors. For marble showers and countertops an angle grinder with an attached white pad can be used for polishing these surfaces.
To polish your marble floors you spread the marble polishing powder on the marble floor and add a small amount of water the marble polishing powder to create a thick slurry. Then use the floor machine with the white pad underneath in a slow back and forth motion over the marble until the marble starts to show a polish and shine. If the marble polishing powder begins to get too thick then add some more water. Also if the marble polishing slurry begins to get to watery then add some more marble polishing powder. After you have completed one are of the marble then move your marble polishing slurry to the next area and add some more water or marble polishing powder and polish the next area of your marble floor. It takes a little bit of time to get the hang of it but after you start polishing your marble floors you will begin to see how shiny and polished your marble floors can be.
Polishing marble countertops obviously can not be done with a big heavy rotary floor machine so it is best use an angle grinder with a specialized backer pad and a small section of white pad to polish your marble countertops. You polish your marble countertops similarly to how you polish marble floors just on a smaller scale. Use the marble polishing powder and try to hold the angle grinder as steady and as level as possible to get your marble countertops polished. It may be difficult to polish your marble countertops around your faucets so if possible your should remove your faucets before you being polishing your marble countertops. Work the slurry into the marble and move on to a different section of your marble after you have polished one area. Polishing marble countertops takes a little more attention to detail and a more steady hand then when polishing marble floors. Just take your time and you will see how you can polish your marble countertops to just like new.
After you have polished your marble then it is important you seal your marble to preserve the polished look and appearance. Marble is extremely sensitive to harsh chemicals and cleaning products. Sealing the marble is the best way to protect it and keep the marble surfaces looking shiny and new. You can read more about how to seal marble and other stone tiles on our tile sealing page.
You can read some valuable information and tips on how to hire a tile, grout and stone cleaning and restoration contractor at our contractor information page Marble Restoration Contractor.