Questions
Answered plainly.
The questions people ask before they let anyone near their stone. Direct answers first, the reasoning after.
Can etched marble be restored, or does it need replacing?
Etched marble can be restored in place, and replacement is almost never the right answer. Etching is a thin layer of the polished surface dissolved by acid. It is not a stain and it does not go deep. The mark is honed off with diamond abrasives and the area is re-polished to match the rest of the top. On a benchtop that is usually a couple of hours of work, done on the bench with the kitchen protected. Deep etching that has left a visible dip takes more honing and blends less perfectly, and that is exactly the sort of case we cut a test patch for before committing. Replacing a benchtop means a new slab, templating, fabrication, removal, plumbing and a splashback, and weeks without a kitchen. Restoring it is a fraction of that.
Is it cheaper to replace a marble benchtop than restore it?
No. Restoring a marble benchtop costs a fraction of replacing it, and the gap is wider than most people expect. Replacement means a new slab, a template, fabrication, removal of the old top, a plumber to disconnect and reconnect the sink, a new splashback if the old one was bonded, and typically two to four weeks without a working kitchen. Restoration is one visit, done in place, with the kitchen protected and back in use that evening. The only time replacement makes sense is when the stone itself has failed structurally, which is rare. Our pricing page shows the restoration bands beside typical replacement figures so you can see the gap for yourself.
How do you quote, and do I need to be home?
Most jobs are quoted from photos. Send two or three through the quote form, with the suburb and what is bothering you, and for a benchtop, vanity or table you will usually get a fixed price back the same day. Floors and whole bathrooms get a photo-derived range and a short measure visit, because area and lippage change the number and neither shows in a photo. Every quote is a fixed price including GST once we have seen the job, with the exclusions written down. Nobody books a floor blind, so the date is set after the price is accepted.
Is it messy? How much dust is there?
Very little. Marble is polished wet. Water keeps the abrasives cool and it keeps the dust down, so the process produces a slurry that is vacuumed up rather than a cloud. The room is protected before we start: joinery and appliances are masked, adjoining floors are covered, and the working area is contained. There is some noise from the machine, comparable to a vacuum cleaner. You do not need to leave the house, though most people prefer to be out of the room being worked. We leave the space cleaner than we found it, which is a fair thing to hold us to.
How soon can I use my benchtop after it is restored?
The same evening for most jobs. The polishing itself leaves the surface ready to use immediately. What needs time is the sealer, which is applied last and needs to cure before the stone is exposed to water and oil. For most penetrating sealers that is a few hours to overnight, and we tell you the exact window before we leave. Light use, like putting the kettle on, is fine straight away. Chopping, spills and hot pans should wait until the sealer has cured. We leave a short care card on the bench with the cleaners that are safe on sealed stone and the ones that will undo the work.
What is a test patch and why do you do one?
A test patch is a small area, usually in a corner or somewhere out of sight, that we restore first and show you before doing the rest. It takes twenty minutes and it settles two things: what the finished surface will actually look like on your stone, and whether a difficult repair is going to blend the way you hope. On a straightforward polish it is a formality. On a heavily etched top, a veined stone with a chip, or a floor whose original finish is unknown, it is the difference between a surprise and a decision. If you do not like the result, we stop there and you owe the attendance fee only.
How long does a marble floor restoration take?
A large entry or open-plan floor is usually two to three days. A single room is a day. The time goes into grinding, honing, polishing and sealing, each pass across the whole floor, with drying time between the last polish and the sealer. Rooms can stay in use around the work; we move through the house in sections so you are never locked out of everything at once. The floor is walkable the same day it is polished and fully cured a day or two after sealing. We give you a schedule before starting so you know which rooms are out of action and when.
How long does a bathroom take?
Most bathrooms are one long day, and we need the room for the duration. Floor, vanity and shower are done in the same visit with one set-up, which is why quoting the room together is cheaper than quoting the surfaces separately. If a second coat of sealer is called for, we come back briefly the next morning. The bathroom is usable that evening for everything except the shower, which waits for the sealer to cure. We give you the exact window before we leave.
Do you move furniture?
Yes, within reason. Sofas, dining tables, rugs and most freestanding pieces we move and put back. Fitted joinery, appliances and anything plumbed in stays where it is and we work around it, protecting it as we go. Very heavy or valuable pieces are best moved before we arrive, and we say which ones when we quote. A stone dining table is usually worked in place rather than moved, since it is heavier than it looks and the risk of damage in moving it is higher than the inconvenience of working around it.
Will a chip repair be invisible?
On a plain stone, close to it. On a heavily veined marble, no, and we would rather say so than surprise you. A chip is filled with a colour-matched resin, shaped to the edge profile and polished with the surrounding stone, so it is smooth, durable and the right colour. What it cannot do is reproduce the veining running through it, so on a stone like Carrara or Arabescato the repair reads as a small plain patch from close up. From standing height it disappears. We show you the result on the first repair before doing the rest, and if the visibility bothers you there are alternatives, including a small edge profile change that removes the chip rather than filling it.
What is the difference between honed and polished, and which should I choose?
Polished is the mirror finish; honed is matte. Both are produced by the same abrasive sequence, stopped at different points. Polished shows the depth and colour of the stone at its best and reflects light, and it also shows etching and wear more readily. Honed hides small marks, gives a softer look, and is the usual choice for floors in busy houses and for travertine. Neither is more durable than the other in the stone itself; the difference is in how visible wear is. If you had polished and are tired of seeing every mark, honing is an option. If you had honed and want the depth back, polishing is the same work in the other direction.
Some tiles sit higher than others. Can that be fixed?
Yes. That is lippage, where adjacent tiles were laid at slightly different heights, and it is the main reason to grind a floor rather than just polish it. Grinding takes the whole floor down to one flat plane, removing the high edges so the surface reads as a single sheet of stone rather than a grid of tiles. It is more work than polishing alone and it produces the most dramatic result, because a flat floor reflects as one continuous surface. It also removes the edges that catch dirt and feet. Once ground, the floor is honed and polished as normal.
My marble shower looks cloudy. Is it ruined?
Almost certainly not. The cloudy film on a marble shower is soap, shampoo and hard-water mineral build-up sitting on the surface, not damage to the stone. Domestic cleaners either do nothing to it or, if they are acidic, etch the marble underneath while leaving the film in place. A stone-safe strip removes it and the stone underneath is usually fine. The reason it built up is nearly always a failed or missing sealer, so the job finishes with a penetrating sealer that resists the build-up coming back as fast. You will also want a cleaner that is pH-neutral, which we leave with you.
What causes water marks on marble, and do they come out?
Water marks on marble are usually one of two things, and both come out. Around a basin or on a shower ledge, a white ring or haze is mineral deposit from hard water evaporating, which strips off. A dull ring where a wet glass or bottle sat is etching, where the acidity of what was in the glass has dulled the polish, and that is honed and re-polished. The two look similar and are handled differently, so a photo helps us tell you which you have. Neither is a reason to replace the stone.
How often should marble be sealed?
It depends on the surface and what it takes. A kitchen benchtop or a shower, which see acid, oil and water daily, are usually resealed every twelve months. A floor or a table in a lower-traffic room goes two years or more. The honest test is the water bead: a few drops left on the stone for ten minutes should sit up. If they soak in and darken the stone, the sealer has worn and it is time. We add every surface we seal to a reminder list and message you when yours is due, so you do not have to remember.
The holes in my travertine are getting bigger. Is that normal?
Yes, and it is fixable. Travertine is naturally full of small voids, and most travertine is sold with them filled. The fill wears out over time, the holes open up, and they start collecting dirt and holding stains, which makes them look bigger than they are. Restoration means refilling the open holes with a compound matched to the stone, honing the whole surface so fill and stone sit level, and sealing so the pores stop taking on stains. The result is an even surface again. Travertine is usually finished honed rather than polished, because a high gloss on a stone this porous rarely holds.
I do not know what kind of stone I have. Does that matter?
Not for getting a quote. Send a photo and we can usually tell, and the difference between marble, limestone and travertine changes the method more than the price. If you want to check yourself: marble is usually veined and takes a high polish; limestone is more uniform and often honed; travertine has visible holes; granite is speckled and much harder; engineered stone is uniform with no natural veining and does not etch. A drop of lemon juice on an inconspicuous spot will etch marble and limestone within minutes and do nothing to granite or engineered stone. Wipe it off straight away either way.
Do you work on engineered stone or Caesarstone?
Some of it. Engineered stone is a resin and quartz product, and it behaves differently from natural marble. It does not etch, but it does scratch and it can be burnt by hot pans, and both of those can usually be improved in place. What it cannot be is polished the way marble is, because the resin does not respond to the same abrasives. From July 2024, engineered stone has been banned from new installation in Australia; work on legacy benchtops already in homes is permitted under strict dust controls, and we only take it on where we can meet them. If you are unsure whether your top is natural or engineered, send a photo. We can usually tell.
What if I am not happy with the result?
You see it before we finish. The test patch is inspected and approved before the rest of the surface is done, and on a multi-surface job each surface is signed off before the next. If something is wrong at handover, we fix it then, not on a return visit you have to chase. Our make-good position is written into every quote: make-good wording to be agreed with the owner. What we cannot guarantee is that a filled chip will be invisible on veined stone or that every stain will lift completely, and where that applies we say so before starting, in writing.
Is there anything you will not do?
Yes, and it is written down. We do not polish outdoor sandstone or paving, we do not take on structural cracks through a benchtop, and we do not work on engineered stone outside the legacy repair rules. We will tell you when a stain is not going to come out fully rather than promise it will. Every damage page on this site carries a status line that says Serviced, Assessed case by case, or Not serviced, and the last one comes with a suggestion for who to call instead. A trade that only says yes is not one you should trust with an irreplaceable surface.
Which areas do you cover?
Sydney-wide, based in the south. Most of our work is across the eastern suburbs, the inner west, the lower north shore and the Shire, and we travel further for floors and whole-house jobs. Travel is built into the quote rather than added afterwards, and the minimum attendance fee covers a job anywhere in the metropolitan area. The jobs page shows recent work by suburb, which is the honest way to answer whether we come to yours.
Do you do commercial work, foyers and strata?
Yes, where the job suits the way we work. Foyer floors, reception benches and common-area bathrooms are the same stone and the same method as a home, at larger scale and usually after hours. Strata and building managers get a written scope, a schedule that works around residents, and the insurance certificate before we start. We are a small operation, which means one person is accountable for the job from quote to handover, and it also means we say no to work that needs a crew on site every day.
Why do you photograph every job?
Because a claim without a record is just a claim. Every job on this site is shown as we found it and as we left it, with the date, the stone, the surface and what could not be fixed, so that anyone deciding whether to let us near their benchtop can check the work rather than take our word. We shoot before we start and after we finish, from the same spot in the same light, and nothing is retouched. If you would rather your job stayed private, that is your call at quote stage, and a no is fine.
Send a photo. Get a price.
Two or three photos, your suburb, and what is bothering you. Most benchtop, vanity and table quotes come back the same day.
