[tstex]

Hello to all and Happy New year

We have 2 bathroom vanities made of cultured marble, about 45' sq ft.

The sheen or luster in some of the places seems to have been worn off when you look at it w the light at an angle. There's no cracks, pits or depressions, just a dull look in some places.

Is there a way to restore the luster and sheen as a DIY'er project? The color is an off white. if you need some pic's, pls let me know.

thank you,
tstex

 

[lug-nuts]

It's like detailing a car. Use a buffer with cutting wax, polish wax, then finish wax just like you would on a car.

My second thought, and I have been contemplating doing this myself. Remove the counters. lightly sand then use a tack cloth to remove any latent dust. Pick up a nice natural stone contact paper sized for countertops. The contact paper I have seen are vinyl so you can use a heat gun for bubbles.Then coat the whole thing in 2 coats of clear epoxy resin.

Or you could go without the contact paper and do a nice metallic powder(or leave it clear if you like current look) in the resin and add effects of marbling and mineralization. The nice thing is sky's the limit on color, its all up to you. Plenty of how to's on utube

I have done a few counters in my home with the epoxy, and it looks really cool. You could do the job for under 200 bucks with the epoxy. Check it out on Utube.

 

[lug-nuts]

Here's a epoxy counter I did in my bathroom. Its 2 pcs 3/4" mdf glued and screwed together. Then coated.

 

[lug-nuts]

Also did my kitchen counters

 

[tstex]

Wow lugnuts, you've done a lot of work.

Have you ever restored cultured marble ? If so or anyone else, can you pls list the specifics products used and reference any videos, links or instructions? I would be indebted to you.

Here's what I'm dealing with..if you look at the last picture, you can see where it's dulled & spotted

Thank you

 

[lug-nuts]

I did the clean, and wax method on a shower I had a long time ago. It works pretty good. It seemed like once the cultured marble is at that stage of wear it never goes back to what it once was 100%.

If your after shining it up, then clear epoxy over a lightly/fine sanded surface would definitely give you that. A 1 gallon kit of epoxy would easily do 40 square feet one coat, and cost about 95 bucks. I used stonecoat countertops epoxy their website has a ton of videos you can watch.

 

[Mike Milam]

Can't say with authority, but I have always been under the impression cultured marble had a gelcoat coat on it?

 

[stadry]

OLD cultured marble mix = colored german cement/marble chips which was then cast & polished,,, the new stuff is polymer-modified cement & marble mix'd & polished

 

[tstex]

Yes guys, cultured marble is crushed marble dust w a polymer, then a gelcoat. Mine was made circa 2005.

With that being said, does this change anyone's approach? I am not going to attempt using an epoxy on our home in the city; the ranch I might, but I would have hxll to pay if anything went wrong.

So, if there is any information you need from me to make a recommendation, I would very much appreciate your help - thanks tstex

 

[stadry]

granquartz for diamond polishing pads