Revolucion de Cuba is one of the biggest and busiest bars in Manchester. With the sheer amount of customers that visit the bar, the Marble counter top had become very worn and dull.
Stains and spillages are inevitable in an environment like this, but this can cause long lasting damage to the sensitive natural stone if proper maintenance is not provided. The bar owners hold very high standards for the appearance of the venue and as such were keen to get the Marble bar top back to looking its best. They called the Derbyshire Tile Doctor and I was more than happy to see what I could do.
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Burnishing a Marble Bar Top
When it comes to restoring high-end polished stone surfaces, such as Marble and Limestone, we usually opt to use the process known as burnishing. Which involves the use of several different grades of diamond encrusted pads to remove dirt and stains, as well as gradually restoring a smooth and aesthetically pleasing polish to the stone. In our system we use four pads, ranging from Coarse to Very fine grit pads.
I started with 400 grit six-inch Coarse pad on the bar top fitted to a hand buffer with some water added for lubrication, this action removed the old sealer, stains and scratches on the surface. Before moving on to the next pad I made sure to rinse the bar top and then removed the slurry with a wet vacuum. This process was then repeated with the 800 grit Medium pad before moving on to the 1500 grit Fine pad to begin to smooth down the surface ready for the final polishing. This was a long section of Marble so the whole process took some time as you can imagine.
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After finishing with the third pad I carefully filled the visible cracks and holes in the stone using epoxy resin mixed with marble powder, before leaving to dry completely overnight. The next day I returned to the venue and went over the bar top with the final of the four pads, the 3000 grit Very Fine pad (this time without water as lubrication) to achieve the final polish.
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Sealing a Marble Bar Top
After completing the polishing process, I began sealing the Marble. I opted to use Tile Doctor Ultra Seal, which is a premium natural-look penetrating sealer formulated to provide maximum stain protection, making it ideal for use on natural stone bar tops and kitchen counters.
For the regular cleaning of polished stone worktops including Marble Bar Tops we recommend Tile Doctor Stone Patina spray, its specially designed for the cleaning of polished stone surfaces, improving the patina as it cleans.