Now Is The Time For Marble And Granite Restoration Projects

Springtime leads many to start thinking about outside projects, but inside projects need your attention, too. Spring is an ideal time for cleaning and polishing granite countertops in the kitchen and marble vanities in the bath before the arrival of summer and its influx of seasonal houseguests.

The marble and granite counters in Constance Gottlieb’s kitchen in East Hampton showed rings from glassware, and in a few places, the muted tones in the surface were discolored. And water wasn’t beading off the surface the way it had when the counters were new, she said.

The interior designer’s home in the Northwest Woods is decorated with understated elegance. Her impeccable taste is apparent in her spacious kitchen and pantry, but the unsightly countertops were a source of consternation.

“The granite counter was eight or nine years old,” she said, adding that two bathroom countertops and the floor in an upstairs bathroom needed work as well.

She searched for the right man for the job, settling on American Marble & Granite Restoration of Shirley. David Elkin, a licensed and insured sole proprietor, completed the job in just two days, according to Ms. Gottlieb. The project took some coordination with a plumber, who came in to remove the hardware, she added.

Faucets and matching fixtures had to be taken out temporarily. Plastic sheeting was taped in place and the surfaces were sanded with 800-grit to 3,500-grit sandpaper, Mr. Elkin said.

Once redone, the countertops were restored very close to their original luster, Ms. Gottlieb said.

According to Mr. Elkin, marble and granite are porous and need some TLC every once in a while.

“To seal them more often is a maintenance process,” he said. “They look good when they’re brand new again.”

Mr. Elkin estimated that refinishing a small bathroom marble countertop runs approximately $300 to $400. It costs more to restore granite, he said, because there are more steps involved in that process.

Mr. Elkin said he believes that taking care of marble and granite is important. He likened countertop maintenance to automobile upkeep.

“You want to change the oil in a car before you need a new motor. If you wait too long, it can be too late,” he said.

Some porous surfaces are easier to stain and easier to fix, Mr. Elkin said. Wine, iron stains, rust and water rings can be removed when addressed in a timely fashion. But black hair dye absorbed into white marble, for instance, can’t be removed, he said.

Ms. Gottlieb was pleased with the end results of Mr. Elkin’s work, she said.

“Water bubbles off it now,” she said while showing off her updated kitchen countertop. “It’s easier to clean.”

When it comes to everyday cleaning, Mr. Elkin said that a neutral pH cleaner, such as Simple Green, will work wonders.

But sometimes, it’s not just normal wear and tear that leads to problems with marble surfaces. And sometimes, when the problem is more than a simple cosmetic fix, the work will take much longer than two days.

Another homeowner in the Northwest Woods, who chose to remain anonymous, had to deal with the fallout from an improperly installed shower pan from when her house was built in 1993. As a result, some of the marble on her bathroom floor was completely ruined, but the marble on the lower half of the shower was fine.

Water had seeped through nail holes in the pan under the marble, causing the floor to deteriorate. The homeowner noticed “wood-like spores growing in between the cracks in the floors,” she said, adding that she did not wish to redo the walls inside the shower, as that marble was free from damage. Finding matching tile was her challenge, as she didn’t want to purchase additional marble to cover the entire room.

She was fortunate to find the original marble, which had been mined from a quarry in Italy, through a local supplier in Wainscott. The job required ripping up the floor, installing all-new solid grey tile inside the shower, and replacing the marble tiles that were ruined. The marble had to be custom cut to fit.

A new shower pan was put in place the right way, without nailing it into the shower floor frame. The homeowner was pleased with the result and the probability that after the work was finished, her husband would not disappear through a hole in the floor and end up in the basement, she joked.

Though she saved some money by not replacing all the marble, time was a factor in this job. According to the restoration experts from Garramone Tile of Sound Beach, New York, who completed the job, the time taken to restore the room piecemeal was equal to the time it would have taken to rip out all of the old tile and start from scratch.

So, for those who are thinking about marble or granite restoration or renovation work, now is the time to act—before hordes of family and friends show up this summer and make use of the facilities.