Cleaning and Maintaining Marble Tile Floors and Showers
What to Do, and What NOT to Do with Marble
How to Keep Your Marble Tile looking Beautiful
Now that you have your dream Bath, Shower or Floor, you want to keep it looking great for years to come.
Clean and Protect it with Professional Stone Care Products, not ordinary Household Cleaners. Never clean marble with Vinegar or Ammonia. These can permanently damage your marble surfaces. Marble is a calcium based stone, so Acids and Alkali are the enemies of Marble Tile. You want to always clean and maintain marble with pH neutral cleaners.
HMK Stone Care, developed and manufactured in Germany, is the World Leader in Professional Stone Care, Cleaning and Protection products. These products are only distributed through Natural Stone Professionals, but are Homeowner Friendly!
HMK P324 is a100% natural, pH 7 maintenance cleaner and conditioner for all natural and cast stone, agglomerate and ceramic tile. Regular use forms a protective, invisible dirt repellent and slip retardant film which is highly permeable and scuff resistant. Colors in the stone become more vivid with repeated use.
If your marble is in good condition and you are simply looking for a quality product for regular cleaning, there are a few options for Cleaning Marble Tiles:
For Countertops - Simply pour 1 capful of HMK P324 Stone Soap into a 16-24oz Spray Bottle and Fill with water. Spray your counters and buff dry with a soft cloth. Split Microfiber cloths work great, and help to buff the marble to a crisp clean shine.
For Marble Floors or Showers it is best to mix 1/4 cup P324 Stone Soap in 2 gallons of water in a bucket and damp mop. Do not rinse, and allow to dry or for best results, buff dry with a dry towel.
For Marble Tile Showers mix the same solution (above) and saturate a sponge and wash down your marble tile walls and shower floor. Start at the top and work down. Allow to dry on surface. No rinsing is necessary.
For large area marble floors, you will find professional grade microfiber mops extremely helpful. These quality mops and pads help you dust and clean large areas much faster than sponge or string mops.
For Deep Cleaning or Construction Cleanup
If you have recently installed new marble tile, you will want to perform a Deep Cleaning to remove grout and mortar residue, dust, and other contaminants before sealing your marble. I recommend using HMK R155 Intensive Cleaner for deep cleaning.
R155 is a highly concentrated cleaner that is perfect for removing construction dirt, grout haze and other residue. Fore heavy grout residue I would mix a solution of 1-part R155 to 3-parts water. Using a medium stiffness scrub brush, dip brush in R155 solution and scrub area. Allow to 'dwell' on surface for 10 minutes, not allowing the solution to dry. Scrub area again, then mop or sponge up dirty solution. Rinse area several times to remove all cleaning solution. Allow to dry.
For light construction cleanup or periodic Deep Cleaning (quarterly), mix 1-part R155 to 6-parts clean water. Sponge or scrub area, allowing to 'dwell' on surface for 10 minutes, and rinse very well with clean rinse water. Allow to dry.
Following these Deep Cleaning steps will return your marble to factory new condition. Protecting your Marble tile is Highly Recommended after Deep Cleaning.
Protecting your Marble Tile Surfaces
In order to protect and preserve the shine and polish of Marble Tile, or to Protect textured (tumbled) or honed marble, I highly suggest using professional impregnators or sealers.
For Polished Marble I suggest using a penetrating sealer like HMK S234 Silicone Impregnator. HMK S234 is the professional's choice for protecting all natural stone. It is perfect for polished marble and will not alter the appearance of the marble. It works equally well on honed or textured marble if you wish to retain the natural look of the marble.
For Textured or Honed Marble, if you wish to have a Color Enhanced look, you may wish to use a Topical Acrylic Sealer like HMK S235 Matte Finish, or HMK S237 Satin Finish Sealer. These are topical sealers rather than impregnators and may require more periodic maintenance than do impregnators. They do work better on heavily textured stone, making it easier to clean and maintain, as these topical sealers fill up many of the deep pores in the stone, and make them smoother to the touch.
For occasional polishing of highly polished marble floors, HMK P319 Marble & Granite Polish is a great choice for quarterly or semi-annual applications.
Using P319 diluted in clean warm mop water, followed by buffing polished marble by hand or with a buffing machine will restore a crisp shine to polished marble surfaces.
We have numerous repeat customers who swear that P319 is the best product to keep their polished marble or granite floors looking like new!