Limestone Restoration and Cleaning

Limestone is becoming an ever more popular way to decorate your home; flooring, tiles and even table tops are now being made from limestone. People are now using specially treated limestone paving slabs to spruce up their gardens, paths or even parking spots.

And why not? Limestone is a stunning stone, ranging in colour from white to black.

Unlike other stones commonly used in flooring, like marble, limestone is not actually created on land. It is a stone that starts its life at the bottom of the ocean and is often composed of fragments of long passed corals; now that’s cool.

Issues You May Have with Your Limestone Surfaces

Limestone is calcium based and thus, is quite porous; prone to being scratched, absorbing stains and fractures. Unlike many other stones commonly seen in flooring, you cannot simply use a general sealant across the surface of the limestone to prevent cracks and stains from forming; it needs to be allowed to breathe, making maintaining it quite tricky to accomplish on your own.

Scratching

Limestone, as mentioned previously, is often prone to becoming scratched through general usage; if you are working in a glamourous office with a limestone floor, the number of shoes on that surface is going to cause scratches in range of sizes! If you have a limestone counter tops, knives, cups and moving of plates are the top culprits in creating scratches.

Dulling

Dulling on limestone is common and depending on its location, can be caused by a multitude of factors. From excess walking, general use in the event of a kitchen countertop, excess UV light for exterior limestone, even black limestone can become dull and lose its glossy reflective properties.

Staining

Once again, the porous nature of the stone can cause it to absorb stains. Acidic drinks like coffee, orang juice or even lemonade can not only cause staining but can also damage the stone too! Calcium based stone will not tolerate any acidic product well; including common household cleaning products.

Cleaning Damage

So, you wanted to get that easy looking stain off your limestone surface and now, there is some flaking and holes forming. Panic stations! Once again, our staff at MK Marble see this time and time again, it is a common issue and it can be easily restored.

Services We Offer

Given the somewhat delicate nature of cleaning limestone yourself, we want to help you to keep your limestone looking at its best for longest.

We offer all services listed here for both interior and exterior limestone surfaces as well as completing tasks in your home or any commercial property.

Cleaning

Our limestone cleaning process is a bit more advanced than a simple mop and bucket. We assess the degree of ingrained dirt, contamination and wear.

Depending on the amount of limestone you wish to have cleaned, we will use our special neutral cleaning detergents to soften and remove any surface contaminants.

If the contamination and staining is more than surface deep, we will introduce our specialist slow rotation machinery; equipped with our personally chosen floor pads for your personal cleaning, we apply some cleaning detergents to them and gently soften and removes any dirt. This process also makes the limestone smoother and with a bit of gentle persuasion, your limestone will be gleaming once again.

Repairs

Regardless of whether your limestone is cracked, chipped or crumbling, we can repair it.

Though many online articles state that you can repair limestone yourself, you may invariably cause further problems, so we always recommend calling a professional in to have a look and assess the damage.

We use our diamond encrusted burnishing pads, our colour matched resin, and our specialist limestone cleaner to repair any cracks that have surface contaminants highlighting the cracks.

Once repaired, you won’t be able to see any repair work done, leaving your once damaged limestone surface looking good as new.

Removal

In the past, many ‘professionals’ in stonework used general sealants to set limestone to protect it from further damage.

However, this process did not work, due to the natural construction of the stone, and inherently caused more problems. If you suspect your limestone surface has old or failed sealant applied to it, we can easily remove it and repair any damages caused by improperly applied sealants and varnishes.

Protecting and Sealing

As mentioned, sealing limestone is more complicated than sealing marble due to its overly porous nature.

How do you seal a stone than needs to breath?

We use what is known as an ‘impregnating sealer’ which, when applied, fills the microscopic holes in the limestone to prevent dirt from becoming trapped. As it is not applied to the overall surface of the stone and is injected just under the surface, your limestone will be able to breath and retain its natural colour.

This method also protects your limestone from absorbing dirt, while strengthening its overall structure.

Polishing

If you want to give your now repaired and sealed marble floor an additional shine, we can help.

Using our diamond encrusted pads, we slowly and gently polish the surface of the limestone until your desired effect is achieved. We then gently wash the newly polished floor with our specialist cleaner to enhance the effect and leave it to air dry.

Polishing limestone not only restores its natural beauty but also protects it from stains damaging the surface until the next cleaning is due. Our polish has anti slip ingredients in its formulation, so there is no need to worry about that shiny surface causing you to slip!

If you have been looking for a professional limestone cleaning team, there are many advertised. At MK Marble, we pride ourselves on our extensive limestone cleaning expertise, our equipment and our high-quality finishes.

We can also offer you advice on caring for your limestone surface at no extra cost, while guaranteeing you a beautiful result at an affordable price; need some work done that isn’t listed here?