How to Restore Painted Over Marble Mantlepiece

I am finishing restoring my old house and would like to restore my marble fireplace mantle. Currently it has many layers of paint. Wanted to find out what’s the best way to restore a marble mantle. Any pointers from the brownstoner community will be appreciated. Thank you.

deva

in Furnace Repair 11 years and 9 months ago

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Arkady | 11 years and 9 months ago

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I stripped mine w/ paint remover too. They all had some stains which I washed w/ soap & water (many, many times.) Mex works as well. The mantels & uprights were in good condition, the hearths needed polishing. Whatever you do, don’t use any products w/ ammonia.

Townie | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Don’t use any metal tools that may scratch the soft marble. Wood or plastic only to scrape off paint remover

Putnamdenizen | 11 years and 9 months ago

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I stripped the paint off my mantles myself. Tried a heat gun, but the stone acted like a heat sink (I think). Used paint stripper. A lot of it. Had to get little tools to clean out some of the crevices. They look pretty good. I could probably do another round. And polishing would help, I guess. You can do it.

curated | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Whenever we have restored old marble or stone mantles we remove them and take them off site where we strip all layers of paint and if necessary polish the stone. Time consuming and usually difficult to do in the home. http://brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/curated