Historic Marble Preservation and Restoration Rundown

We at Sungloss Marble Restoration Company are dedicated to operating all aspects of our stone restoration, polishing, cleaning, honing, and sealing business as Green as we can.  We accomplish this very well, by using water-based stone sealers, limiting our use of toxic stripping or polishing agents, driving fuel efficient vehicles, and even making sure our car’s and wagon’s tire pressure is right-on (which helps maximize efficiency).

The one thing that overshadows all of our focused day-to-day Green efforts is the fact that the very business we are in—stone preservation and restoration—is Green to begin with.  Our clients of all walks—banks, City of Chicago buildings, Federal (Government) buildings, developers, construction companies, commercial real estate managers, and homeowners—have already chosen a Green path when they call us, whether they realize it or not.  They want to maximize the life of their stone (sustain it), instead of giving up (scrap and/or install new stone), which leads to greater energy consumption and use of resources.  The fact that restoration is fractions the cost of the alternatives only sweetens the deal for our clients.

While we take all our work very seriously, restoration projects with historical implications elicit more gravitas in our team than an average job.  When we work in architecturally significant historic building (sometimes over a hundred years old), we encounter marble, travertine, limestone, granite, terrazzo, onyx, and other natural stone that is just as gorgeous as what we encounter in brand new buildings.  It really is a testament to the tradition of high quality architectural design in Chicago, as well as the transcendent beauty of natural stone.  Projects that come to mind include the Fisher Building in downtown Chicago, and historic estates in Lake Forest and elsewhere.  We’ve removed soot from limestone fireplaces, cigar smoke from marble columns, and polished and darkened bleached-out, dull black marble and terrazzo, among other work.  This type of work also has huge rewards; when we can restore historic spaces to their former as-new glory, it touches our hearts more than any other job.

A quick internet search yields some diverse articles on the subject of historic marble restoration.  None of these articles are projects we are involved in, but they offer some interesting information on the subject:

Augusta, Georgia courthouse restoration: http://www.americanmarbleworks.com/marble-historic-preservation.html

Brief articles mostly on the cleaning of historic building exteriors: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief01.htm

A historic library in Los Angeles: http://www.preservationarts.net/index.php/los_angeles_central_library.html

Removing graffiti from historic masonry: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief38.htm