Know Your Natural Stone - Commercial Care & Cleaning

Basalt Paving

The most popular igneous stones used in building construction are granite and basalt, which means that they are cooled from the magma stage of molten rock, minerals and gases. Both contain large quantities of quartz and silica, but it is the heavy metals such as iron and magnesium that give the stones their dark colour.

Granite

Granite is great stuff. It's coarse-textured rock in which individual mineral grains are easily visible. Granite is strong and extremely durable. It mainly contains the minerals potassium, feldspar and quartz with small amounts of mica. Most of the continent is made of granite.

Granite is one of the hardest, most popular building materials used in the world and is commonly used indoors for kitchen benchtops, bathroom vanities, floors and furniture. Outdoors it is used in large structures such as bridges, monuments, retaining walls and steps and in large public floor areas due to its solid character and ability to withstand deterioration. Granite is usually used as a slab rather than a tile, so its weight must be considered when choosing an application.

Polished granite is hard wearing, easily maintained, heat, chip, bacteria, fire and scratch resistant and is not affected by acidic liquids such as juice, coffee, tea and wine when treated with a good quality penetrating sealer. Granite has an ageless beauty, is longer wearing than manmade stones and will retain its colour and finish longer than other stones.

Colours are usually shades of black, grey, brown, red, pink and yellow, which are determined by the minerals trapped when the stone is forming.

Basalt

Because the magma comes out of the earth and cools very quickly, the minerals have very little opportunity to grow. Basalt is thus extrusive and very fine grained.Basalt is also known as bluestone. It was traditionally used for cobbled roads and laneways due to its durability and because water drained away from the surface efficiently allowing it to dry quickly. It was also popular due to its texture, which made it a non-slip surface. It is now commonly used in outdoor areas for paving, stairs, exterior wall cladding, ponds, landscaping, pathways and indoors for countertops, walls and floors. 

Colours are usually blue-grey, green-grey, grey and black.

Formation & Characteristics of Igneous Stones

Igneous stones are exposed to extreme heat, hence the name ‘igneous’, which comes from the Latin word ‘ignius’ meaning fire. Igneous stone is either ‘intrusive’ or ‘extrusive’. ‘Intrusive’ stone is formed underground where rock located up to 40km under the earth’s surface melts at temperatures of up to 900 Degree C and becomes magma. The magma rises and cools slowly, trapping gases and minerals, and eventually solidifying into stone that has large crystals and a coarse texture. Granite is ‘intrusive’ stone.

‘Extrusive’ stone such as Basalt develops above the earth’s surface. It is formed from lava that flows from volcanos on to the earth’s surface and into the sea, or from volcanos under the sea. The lava settles on the earth or on the ocean floor and cools. The faster cooling process, due to the lower temperature at the earth’s surface and under the ocean, encourages smaller crystals to form.

Stone Restoration Service by The Marble Man 

It is a common mistake to think that granite and basalt stones are pretty easy to maintain as they are made of strong natural stone quarried from the mountain ranges. But the real thing is that even though they have a strong surface and are highly resistant, it needs regular maintenance that includes cleaning, sealing and polishing as per the usage. These stone surfaces can be maintained to look as new for six months to one year by protecting against moisture and harmful spills.  

We have a team of experienced technicians who receive hands on, practical training on stone care processes and are kept up to date with the latest techniques and technology. We provide service at: Gold Coast|Brisbane|Sunshine Coast|Byron Bay|Sydney|Canberra|Newcastle|Central Coast.

If you would like us to inspect your stone and get advice on its repair or restoration, an experienced team member will visit at a time convenient to you and provide a no obligation, FREE Quote. Call our office today on 1300 627 626 or Email us to book your onsite evaluation.

Natural Stones Need Regular Check Up & Maintenance to Keep Their Classic Beauty & True Elegance

Adequate stone care and maintenance will allow your natural stone surfaces to remain beautiful and last their full lifetime. There is a growing demand for maintaining and restoring marble, granite and other natural stone from all parts of the country.  

Polished natural stone floor tiles can become worn and stained over time and require stone restoration treatment. Over time these floor tiles will become dull and scratched and possibly have spills on the surface that cannot be cleaned off. These require professional stone restoration and polishing such as the ones offered by The Marble Man.

The stone restoration processes involve the resurfacing of marble and natural stone to regain their original perfect gloss - the restoration also includes the removal of stains and cleaning and sealing of stone surfaces.

Polished natural stone showers can become dull and stained from the use of incorrect cleaners and as a result become mouldy and dirty, as they are so harder to keep clean due to the dullness.

To clean the shower walls, our stone care experts use special detergents and scrapers to remove all excess soap scum from the surface of the stone walls and glass shower screens. Over time it is hard to keep up the cleaning of the shower areas, which is why it is a good idea to have them professionally cleaned every 12 months.  The floor is repolished using abrasives to remove the dull and etched surface off the stone tiles, which are usually caused by harsh cleaners. We recommend sealing of all stone showers after cleaning. This will help keep the surfaces clean and reduce mould growth.

The Marble Man provides excellent stone care service in the field of natural stone repair and restoration works for homes, office buildings, hotels, hospitals and luxury residential complexes and corporate facilities. We have the facilities and manpower for large and small scale stone repair and professional cleaning job.

We specialise in Polishing, Repairing, Cleaning and Sealing marble and other stone surfaces. Our successful and reputable business, based with head office on the Gold Coast, has been servicing Northern NSW to the Sunshine Coast for the past 23 years.  We have now been operating in Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle for the last 2 years.   

CALL us today on 1300 627 626 and book an appointment, so a stone care specialist will visit you at a time convenient to you and discuss Polishing, Sealing or Repair of your stone surface as per the requirement. We provide this stone care evaluation free of cost.