Restoration
Coating & Sealer Removal
Stripping failed topical coatings, polymer gloss and old sealers back to raw stone so the surface can be read and restored.
The problem
What actually goes wrong
Topical coatings are sold as an easy answer to dull stone, and they do look convincing at first. They are also a layer of plastic sitting on the surface, and they wear through where people walk. The result is glossy at the edges of a room and cloudy in the traffic lanes, and it cannot be spot-repaired because the boundary between worn and unworn always shows.
Coatings also trap what is underneath. Moisture, staining and previous damage are sealed in, and the stone stops behaving like stone — it can no longer breathe, and on some substrates that causes further problems.
Multiple layers accumulate over years as each failure is answered with another coat.
Assessment
What gets established before any work starts
These decide the method. Answering them wrong wastes an entire stage.
- Confirming there is a coating at all, and how many layers. This is the single most misdiagnosed thing about a tired stone floor — much apparently damaged stone is sound stone under a failed coating.
- Identifying the coating type where possible, since acrylics, polyurethanes and waxes respond to different removal methods.
- Testing removal in an inconspicuous area to establish what the stone underneath is actually like.
- Checking for staining that the coating has been concealing, which becomes visible once it comes off and needs to be part of the plan.
Approach
How the work is decided
Described as a set of judgements rather than a fixed sequence, because that is how it genuinely works.
Removal method is chosen for the coating and the stone, and tested before being applied broadly. Chemical stripping suits some coatings; mechanical removal suits others, and on softer stone the wrong choice damages the surface.
The stone is brought back to a raw, uncoated state so it can be assessed honestly. Only then is a restoration method chosen, because until the coating is off nobody can see what they are dealing with.
Residue in joints and at edges is dealt with specifically. Stripper that has run into grout lines and dried there will show through any subsequent finish.
What replaces the coating is a deliberate decision. Often the answer is a mechanically polished stone surface with an impregnating sealer, which cannot wear through in the way a topical film does.
Stages that may be involved
Not every stage applies to every job. Which are used is decided at assessment.
Practicalities
Things worth knowing in advance
The details that affect how the job runs, and that are easier to plan for than to discover midway.
- What is revealed may need more work
- A coating hides things. Once it is off, staining, etching or previous poor repairs can appear. This is not new damage — it was always there — but it does mean the scope after stripping is clearer than the scope before it.
- Chemical removal needs containment
- Strippers are aggressive by design. They need controlling around joinery, skirtings, fixtures and adjacent finishes, and they need to be fully neutralised and removed before anything else happens.
Limits
What restoration will not fix
Stated plainly, because finding out on the day suits nobody.
- Where a coating has been in place a long time it may have discoloured the stone itself, which does not necessarily reverse on removal.
- Some coatings have penetrated rather than remained topical, and those cannot be fully removed.
Questions
Common questions
Common signs are a gloss that looks like it sits on top rather than coming from the stone, a finish that is bright at the room edges and cloudy in walkways, and scratches that appear white rather than showing stone. It is confirmed by testing a small inconspicuous area.
Generally no, and that is the point. The alternative is to bring the stone itself to the finish you want mechanically and then use an impregnating sealer, which soaks in rather than forming a film. There is no layer to wear through.
Related
Often needed alongside this
Floor Restoration
Stone floors levelled, refined and finished on site. The finish is the stone itself, not a coating laid over it.
Stain Removal
Drawing organic, oil, rust and mineral staining out of the stone rather than sealing it in.
Repairs & Surface Correction
Chips, cracks, holes and lippage. Structural and cosmetic correction of damaged stone rather than replacement.
Have the stone assessed properly
Send photographs and a short description and you will get a straight answer about what the surface needs — including if the answer is that it does not need us.