News and Information for Moving Claims Adjusters

Marble Top Repairs
by J. Timothy Wilson

Marble is a product of Mother Nature. As a stone it has widely varying hardness, colorations and grain textures between pieces and within a piece. The material is especially weak along the dark veins of the marble. The coloration of marble varies based on where it was extracted from the earth and is extremely difficult. if not impossible. to match. It can safely be assumed that the items were created overseas.
         Without exception the marble has had a finish applied when it was new that is thick plastic-ie looking but that has given it a high-gloss sheen.  The exact type of finish has always been unknown.  Local marble fabricators do not apply such a finish.
         The larger the top the thicker the marble slab, but the basic top is usually ¾" +/- thick. A really large top, like for a dining table, might have a plywood backer to help support the marble.
         The edge may have been “beefed” to look thicker with the addition of narrow 2" or 3" strips adhered to the bottom outside edge. Other than a square edge top that is usually ¾" thick, if they have been thickened for appearance the edge usually includes a contoured shape.

Some Lessons Learned:

• We have seen small chips in the top and edges that have gone below the finish into the marble. We have successfully filled them with lacquer burn-in stick procedures.

• We have had a corner broken off. We have glued it into place with epoxy adhesives and then filled the remaining crack with lacquer burn-in stick procedures. A long crack or one across the middle of the top could likely be too large for such a procedure.

• If a long crack across the top exists, it usually has followed an original vein to a major extent. Regluing the pieces back together with epoxy would hold the pieces but the levelness and sheen of the repair line would still be an issue. The option would be to then have the local marble experts grind away what is believed to be a polyester finish and then for us to spray seal and lacquer. It would not look the same as other matching tops.

• We have tried to remove the finish with methylene chloride furniture finish stripper. It does not work.
  
  
• The mystery finish almost certainly is a polyester finish that is common to Europe and the Far East, is almost always high gloss, is thick, looks plastic-ie, is brittle, can not be removed by normal finish strippers like methyelene chloride, but does allow spot repairs with lacquer repair procedures.

• We have sent marble tops with finish problems to the local major marble fabrication firm where they have ground away the finish with a grinding machine. We do not know how they have handled the contoured edges, but must have ground or sanded it away.

• When a high-gloss sheen must be recreated the marble fabrication firm has on occasion been successful in polishing the raw marble back to a high sheen without the thick top finish. The problem is that they are not always successful.  On at least one occasion the marble was too soft to allow such polishing.

• We have taken a marble top that could not be polished back to a high sheen and sprayed lacquer sealer and acrylic lacquer topcoats, as is done for a dining table. The marble had some grain texture that successive coats of lacquer sealer were able to fill to a reasonable degree. The final coat of lacquer was high gloss returning the sheen to the item. The final appearance is different than original in that it is not as thick and is absolutely water clear.

The conclusions are:

• Small chips and voids can be treated with lacquer burn-in stick and any sheen difference isn’t major since the repair area is small.

• Somewhat larger chips can be filled with two-part epoxy that is clear and shows the marble below. But, epoxy cannot reasonably be machined to level with the surrounding surfaces and the gloss level may vary slightly at the repair area.

• Large cracks can be rebuilt with epoxy, but to make the crack line visually disappear the top would have to be ground back by the marble experts.

• The marble experts cannot always successfully polish the marble to a high gloss, and cannot apply the original type finish.

• We can successfully spray seal and acrylic lacquer the marble like a dining table, having some difficulty getting the grain texture of the raw marble to a fully fill level. The final coat can be high gloss.

• The lacquer top-coating approach is the only viable solution, but it will not match the original 100 percent.

ADDENDUM based on advice from The Groop 1/28/05

How to Clean Stained Marble

Soiling due to finger marks, dust, oil from the air and other causes can be removed by cleaning with plenty of hot water containing a cleaning powder, followed by ample rinsing with clean water. Results will be better with soft water.

Should this dull a polished finish, the polish can be renewed by rubbing with putty powder on a damp felt pad. Putty powder can be obtained at a monument yard. The large paint manufacturers also supply it.

Stain that is too deep to remove by washing can be taken out by rubbing with a block of pumice stone, using plenty of water.

This will dull a polished finish which must then be renewed by rubbing with putty powder. Hard rubbing will be required.

To clean smoke-stained marble, as on fireplace facing, scrub with powdered pumice and water to remove the surface deposits.

Deep stains can be removed with a liquid made in these proportions: two pounds of trisodium phosphate dissolved in one gallon of hot water, 12 ounces of chlorinated lime made into a paste in an enameled or pottery vessel by adding water slowly and mashing the lumps.

The two are then mixed and water added to make two gallons.  Stir well, cover the container and use the clear liquid as the lime settles.

A piece of clean flannel is saturated and placed over the stain.  Rewet the cloth as necessary.  Bad stains can be removed only with several applications.

Jeff Deiana
Uxbridge, MA

The Wood Works Inc of Overland Park (Greater Kansas City metro), Kansas 66202 — Should not be used by others without giving due credits.

To remove yourself from The Wood Works, Inc. email list, please reply to this message and type UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject. Please note that it may take up to 5 days to process your request.

Our mailing address is:
7710 Shawnee Mission Parkway
Overland Park, KS 66202

Phone: 913-362-2432
Fax: 913-362-0588
Email: web@thewoodworksinc.com

Copyright (C) 2008-2009 The Wood Works, Inc. All rights reserved.