Sir Grout of Manhattan Gives Famous Actress's Limestone Floor a Magnificent Makeover

March 05, 2015

Recently, Sir Grout of Manhattan came to the rescue of a famous actress living in New York City by restoring her once lustrous limestone floor that had become dull and worn over the years, as shown in the "Before" picture below. The actress was distressed because, while making plans to sell her glamorous home in the heart of Manhattan, she realized that the limestone floor no longer gave off the same sheen it had greeted her with on move-in day. As a result, the elegant, upscale vibe of her home had been dampened, putting it in less-than-optimal condition to be resold and creating a need for her to schedule an appointment with Sir Grout of Manhattan to have stone services performed.



To resolve the issue, her first response was to hire a contractor. The contractor attempted to restore the limestone floor by re-grouting it. However, this ultimately landed her in an even bigger predicament because, when cleaning the grout haze, the contractor had neglected to notice that the products he was using would cause further damage to the floor due to their high level of acidity. When caustic, acidic substances interact with delicate stone, they catalyze a process called etching. When etching occurs, the acerbic substance eats away at the stone, causing it to lose its vibrancy and gain unattractive etch marks. As a result of the contractor having used these products, the actress's stone floor was now even worse off than it had been in the first place.

The Manhattan homeowner was left thinking her floor restoration options had been exhausted and that her only choice at this point was to have the floor completely replaced. Replacing the floor was far from an ideal alternative, since time was of the essence and doing so would require a long, extensive, and costly process. What she really needed to do was find someone who could successfully take her limestone floor full circle by quickly bringing back its luster and removing its etch marks. Luckily, she had heard of Sir Grout of Manhattan's expertise in solving this exact type of problem, so her next course of action was to call in their team for the job.

When we arrived at her apartment, our first step was to analyze the area of concern: 500 square feet of etched, lackluster limestone extending from her home's entryway to her kitchen. After examining the flooring and the severity of its damage, we determined that it would only take two days or less for us to repair it.

To be restored, the floor would require our professional honing and polishing services. When removing etch marks from stone, honing is the best method, and it works by using diamond abrasives to smooth out the surface area. Once the stone's surface is smooth and no etch marks remain, it can then be polished. The end result, after both processes have been performed, is a stone floor with deeper clarity, a brighter shine, and no damage.

As promised, within two days the full restoration of her limestone floor was complete. The owner was impressed with our work, as was evidenced by the first words out of her mouth after seeing the revived floor being, "The floor looks better than it did when it was originally installed!" We were glad she appreciated our craftsmanship and were happy that we could help the actress out in her time of need.

If you find yourself in a similar situation or are in need of maintenance work on any tile and grout, stone, or wood surfaces, don't hesitate to give us a call!

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