While a marble or stone floor is one of the most beautiful features in any home, they are natural materials and as such can be susceptible to cracking, splitting, pitting and slight widening of holes in the stone. Even manmade flooring such as terrazzo can also develop cracks. Fortunately help is at hand…

The majority of cracks we encounter in customers’ floors are settlement cracks due to slight movements in the building itself, most commonly found at doorways and entrances to new extensions where expansion joints weren’t allowed for when the floor (tile) was laid. Once these cracks are formed a year or two they generally don’t tend to worsen and can be professionally filled. Sometimes softer stones such as marble can suffer “spalling” when trapped moisture tries to make it’s way out at the point of least resistance and causes the veins in the stone to begin to loosen or crumble. These too can be filled and sanded, but obviously the work should be carried out by a professional with the experience to make the repair as unnoticeable as possible.

One particular stone type that, whilst very beautiful and natural looking, can give rise to problems with pitting is travertine. Natural travertine comes with many pores or small holes where gasses were once trapped. These holes are usually filled in with resin or epoxy at the factory to create a uniform surface, known as filled travertine. As the stone wears the filler has a tendency to deteriorate, particularly when used as a flooring material. This causes it to loosen and lift, leaving holes in your floor which then accumulate dirt. Fortunately MarbleCare has the experience and knowhow to fill these holes and repair your stone.

We first remove any loose material from the cracks or holes, and prepare the edges to accept and hold a filler. We then use a specially formulated epoxy resin which hardens to approximately the same strength as the stone itself, colour matched as closely as possible to the original stone. This can be very difficult because of the huge colour variations in natural stone but a very good match is usually possible. Often where one side of a floor has raised at a crack we will have to grind the higher edge down to achieve a smooth transition. We “overfill” the cracks and holes, then grind the excess filler down and polish the area to blend it naturally back into the rest of the floor. This is the only way to correctly fill a floor, anything else will leave indentations and pockets for dirt to collect, as well as standing out badly and looking like a patch-up job. This is why you should always hire a specialist such as MarbleCare. This procedure is usually carried out together with a polishing or restoration – See our Cleaning and Restoration section for more information on the actual procedures we use. 

Marble and stone crack repair, filling and restoration are highly skilled procedures and should not be confused with mere “cleaning” or “patching”. Inexperienced individuals, such as tilers, carpet cleaners, wood floor refinishers, and others who don’t specialise exclusively in maintenance of marble and stone, can inadvertently ruin a beautiful floor and involve the owner in further expense for professional repair. MarbleCare constantly strives to be the very best at what we do. After decades of experience we use what we genuinely believe to be the very best systems and the finest restoration materials in the world, to ensure you get the very best job and the very best finish, every time. 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

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