FAQ for Stone
Q: Polishing a marble floor looks so simple. Why can’t everyone maintain these floors to the same degree and quality? A: Experience plays a substantial role in enabling the technician to know precisely what methods to employ to quickly and effectively service a floor. Marble and granite surfaces differ in their responses to similar methods, often markedly. There are at least 150 different types of granite and marble that are commercially available. While the general method of restoring a floor is the same across these different stone types, the precise method used to efficiently restore a particular type of stone varies considerably because the stones vary in their responses to the methods. For example, Negro Marquina marble typically requires much less aggressive honing than White Carrera. Knowing which grades of abrasive material to use, for how long, when to hone, or to simply vitrify is an acquired skill. Back to Top Q: If I hire Stuart Dean to maintain my floors, can I get a tailored service package to fit my budget instead of an automatic monthly program? A: Yes! Please keep in mind that the normal monthly program is by no means an extravagance, and that it has been tailored to fit the needs of a demanding marketplace. Our standard monthly program would give you what we believe, and what most of our customers believe, is the best value. We can also customize a program for your specific needs. Back to Top Q: I have asked three companies for bids to maintain my marble floor. Is there a common industry standard for maintaining floors? Does everyone use the same method at the same frequency? Am I comparing apples to apples? A: No. There is no generic program in use by everyone. This can be readily seen in the difference in quality between a typical Stuart Dean-maintained floor and those maintained by some of our competitors. The fundamental difference in most cases is that we direct our technicians to continuously re-hone and polish all the areas that are badly worn on a monthly basis, unless the contract specifically states otherwise. Most competitive programs restore the surface of the floor in the first month, and then use polishing compounds in successive months, ignoring the steady build-up of scratches on the surface that gradually erodes the polish. Others may spend time each evening honing partial areas of the floor that result in an uneven appearance. Sometimes, an in-house janitorial staff that often lacks the expertise and overall ability to do a high-quality job may also carry out this honing. It is Stuart Dean’s experience that these methods are generally ineffective at maintaining a high-quality finish on a floor. Recall that the shininess of a floor is a function of the extent to which the surface is smooth. If a floor is subject to heavy traffic, no amount of chemical treatment will enable you to maintain the smoothness of the floor. The constant wear and tear created by the friction of shoes, dirt, and dust will rapidly create the microscopic peaks and valleys on the surface that ruin a polished appearance. When this happens, the stone must be re-honed to reestablish a smooth finish, and then re-polished in order to recreate the appearance the floor had at the outset of the maintenance program.
Similarly, there is simply no substitute for having an experienced, savvy stone restoration expert honing your floor. We train our technicians for a minimum of two years before we allow them to run a stone restoration crew. Back to Top Contact Stuart Dean Restoring and maintaining architectural assets avoids costly removal and replacement. Restore and maintain what you have. Contact a Stuart Dean representative at (800) 322-3180 for an assessment.
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