How to Make Marble Floors Shine? Polish and Maintain Marble Surfaces

Shiny and new marble floors can give a really good look and cool feeling when you step on them. However, with time, the floors might have yellow or dark stains and lose their original polish look. Is there anything we can do to get rid of those stubborn stains, and if yes, how to make marble floors shine again?

This article will reveal a step-by-step guide, tips, and information to remove all the stains and dark spots. Keep on reading to find out more!

how-to-make-marble-floors-shine

Why Are Marble Floors Shiny Anymore? Reasons & Solutions

Two Main Reason That Makes Marble Floors Not Shine

Two main reasons make marble floors not shine as their original look are scratches and stains. You can avoid doing things that form scratches, such as dropping hard objects to the floors or walking around wearing shoes with hard soles.

When the scratches are formed, it is nearly impossible to remove them, so we will not talk about it in this article. 

On the other hand, stains are common reasons that make your marble floors look dirty or shineless. Unlike scratches, stains are preventable and fixable if we use the right cleaners and follow the suitable cleaning method. 

Common Stains on Marble Floor 

Before showing you how to polish marble floors, we will list some of the most common stains that can form on the floors and make them look bad. 

Understanding where stains come from helps you avoid stains forming in the first place and gives you an idea of ​​how to clean them.

  • Stains from Organic Substances, Plants, Mosses, and Algae

When you have children or pets, their pees might give rise to stains if you do not frequently clean their messes. With this type of stains, a dilute solution of ammonia or hydrogen peroxide will be what you need.

The areas that you keep plants or areas that face a high humidity level typically have more stains than other areas. When the mosses and algae formed on marble, the best cleaner to use is acetone or diluted hydrogen peroxide solution.

  • Stains from Water and the Marble Itself

As marble has different types of metals right inside it, it can naturally form metal stains when meeting water. To prevent this phenomenon from happening, always clean all the liquid immediately after it is poured out. 

When the stains have already appeared, you can use baking soda to make the stains less noticeable. However, as metals are right inside the marble, it will be really hard or even impossible to remove the stains completely. 

  • Stains from Oil-Based Substances

Many oil-based objects and substances will form stains on your floors, such as cosmetic products, engine oils, or cooking oils. If you do not clean them right away, they will be darker and go deep into the storm. 

Some oil-based substances will form dark stains, while others will form lighter spots. For darker stains, acetone is the best choice, and hydrogen peroxide will treat lighter stains better. 

How to Make Marble Floors Shine? Step-by-Step Guide

how-to-make-marble-floor-shine

Preparation 

The first thing we should think about is to prepare the right cleaners to make the marble floor shine again. 

Depending on what types of stains your marble floors have, you will need different cleaners. Baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and mild soap will be what you need in this guide because they can remove most stains. In case you have stains from organic substances or oils, then acetone will be useful. 

Besides the cleaners, you will need tools such as a bucket, sponge, dry mop, and soft cloths. You might also need some plastic gear to protect your hands while getting the job done. 

  • Warning: Do not use acidic cleaner such as ammonia or vinegar to clean marble floors because these acidic chemicals will damage the look of marble. 

Step 1: Clean Your Floor

Before doing anything else, you need to swipe and clean your whole floors first. All the debris, trash, sand, dust, and dirt should be removed as much as possible. 

First, you can use a mop to wipe all the dirt off. It will then be even better if you wet clean the floor and let it dry before moving on to the next step. 

If you have kids and pets, make sure you keep them away from the cleaning areas because we are going to leave the cleaner on the floors for around one or two days. Remember to clean the whole house before going somewhere to travel or stay for the same period.

Step 2: Create a Home-Made Cleaner

Hydrogen Peroxide and baking soda are what we are going to use to remove the stains in this step. The cleaner mixture ratio is one cup of Hydrogen Peroxide, four cups of water, and enough baking soda to make a thick mixture. 

As vinegar is normally used with baking soda to perfectly clean many objects on our house, it should never be used for marble floors. So, please do not add any vinegar to our cleaner. We do not need it in this case. 

Step 3: Remove the Stains

When you are done with making the cleaner, it’s time to apply it in all the stains on your floor. Don’t forget to wear plastic gear to protect your hands’ skin while doing this job. 

As stains from marble are really hard to get rid of, you will need around 20 to 50 hours until you can remove the cleaner for the floor. After this time, use soft cloths to remove the cleaner (now dried) from the floor. 

Step 4: Polish the Marble Floors

You do not need to buy any expensive cleaner to polish your marble floor. As marble’s surface is really easy to be damaged, it’s much safer not to use strong chemicals on it. 

What you need here is mild soap and water. Pour a reasonable amount of water into a bucket, then put a few drops of mild soap in and start to stir it carefully. 

You can use a cloth-head mop or cloths to wet mop the whole floor with this mixture. As you are cleaning the floor, it will be safer to clean one small area completely, then move to another area instead of moving back and forth. 

The reason is the mixture of mild soap and water will be extremely slippy, and it might be dangerous if you step on the floor after applying it.

Step 5: Clean the Floors Carefully with Warm Water

When you are done with the last step, soak a cloth-head mop into a bucket of warm water, and carefully clean your whole floor. 

Again, the floor will still be slippy, so make sure you are careful with this cleaning step. Clean the floor many times until you feel the mild soap is completely clean. It will be better if you dry the whole floor after wet cleaning it.

Maintain the Marble Floors

You can save so much time and effort on cleaning the stains off if you prevent them from forming in the first place. Here are some practical tips you can use to protect your marble floor from scratches and stains!

  • Protect Marble Floors from Scratches

This action is for avoiding scratches. As we mentioned above, even though the right cleaners can remove stains, scratches cannot. So, make sure you put soft pads under hard furniture such as closets, tables, or beds. 

Moreover, you should not walk around your house while wearing shoes with hard soles, and avoid dropping hard things on the floor as much as possible. 

  • Reseal Your Floor Once Every Three Years

Resealing will keep your marble floor shine, but you will not have to do it too often. You can reseal it once every three years, and you will see how long your floor keeps shining. 

  • Avoid Vacuuming

Vacuuming is convenient. Unfortunately, your marble will not be happy with this machine. While vacuuming, the head of this machine can cause so many scratches on your floor, and you will not be able to fix the scratches after.

Instead of using a vacuum, you can choose other cleaning options such as soft mops, cloth-head mops, or cloths to clean the floor.

  • Clean the Liquids and Dirts Immediately

It is always easier to prevent than treat something, and stains are not the exceptions. Whenever you see oil, water, or other types of liquid dropping on the marble floor, swipe it immediately. 

Conclusion

Shiny marble floors can bring us a great feeling of comfort, convenience, and joy. However, when they get stains on, we might have a feeling that our house is “dirty.” 

Fortunately, the question of how to make marble floors shine is now solved. We can make it if we choose the right cleaners and follow the proper method. In this Clairoliviawayman‘s blog, we have shared different types of information to help you do it properly, and we hope you find it helpful.

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