If you follow us on social media, you may already know that we have just come back from Las Vegas after presenting a stone restoration class at The International Surface Event.
I love Las Vegas: the shrill ringing of slot machines, the sounds of laughter and cheers around the craps tables, the sense of excitement in the air, but what I really enjoy is observing the marble floors in the casino. Yes, I am that weird person that is staring at the floor as I walk through a building. (As you can tell, I’m also not a big gambler.)
Think about it: how do these casinos and hotels keep their stone floors so shiny even with the thousands of people walking on the floor daily?..and I mean really shiny- a very high gloss finish.
There are several ways to polish a marble floor: diamond grinding, compound (powder) polishing, wax, and the ever so controversial crystallization process.
Our crews do not polish the Las Vegas casino floors, but here is my theory:
For the casinos that do not use a wax coating, I believe they use a non-wax, aggressive acid-base hardening and polishing compound that works well on calcium-based stones such as marble, travertine, limestone and terrazzo. This process would produce the fastest and deepest shine on marble.
Every night I see a crew working on polishing the marble casino floors; they have to work on the highest traffic areas nightly because so many people walk on these floors daily. On observing the marble floors in the daylight, I notice there is not as much clarity (which would be achieved through diamond grinding), but the polish is extremely high. These busy hotels don’t need the floors to be absolutely flawless with a perfect reflection. They just need to have an overall high shine appearance. This is when an acid-based compound is really the right way to go.
Late one evening, after dinner, I ran into a crew polishing the marble floor in one of the major hotels and asked what they were using. The supervisor said they used to crystallize the floor nightly, but have switched to powder polishing with 10X because it gave a more natural look to the stone.
Although many hotels have this look on their marble floors, my photos are of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. I just love the high shine, not only on its main lobby floors, but also on the mosaic marble tile floors in the conservatory. Due to the constant maintenance of the floor, you do not see wear patterns and the floor has a nice consistent shine.
The next time you find yourself in Las Vegas, never mind the ornate ceilings and décor; ignore the scantily clad cocktail waitresses. Take a good look instead at the gorgeous marble floor that you are walking on and admire the work that has gone into its awesome shine!
