Resin fireplace makeover...

BertieUK

The fireplace in our living room we believe to be madefrom a type of resin, made to look like a black marble finish. We have not usedthe open fireplace in the three years that we have been here. I notice withinthe hearth there is an old gas pipe which has been closed off, so we areassuming that was the most recent form of heating that was used.

We would like to give the hearth a makeover because theshine has been rubbed away in places by someone using abrasive means. There area number of very dull patches that are in need of attention.

Any ideas please as how to restore its lustre.

Kind regards

Bob

HarriDec

As long as the marbled effect underneath has not been damaged you could restore the shine with a couple of coats of lacquer.

rustyboy21

I wouldn't use a lacquer IMO, you may may it look worse then it did before.

Just to confirm with you. You say you have a resin based surround, but the back panel and hearth are made of Marble ( pure or congolmerate)?

Water can take the shine off marble, I put a glass of water on my old hearth years ago and left it overnight. When I moved it the following morning, there was a dull ring on the hearth, that was just from the water on the base of the glass.

Marble is highly polished in production, to get the shine back is difficult, but possible. Try some of this and buff away quite hard, should do it.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=marble+wax+polish&hl=en&qscrl=1&rlz=1T4ADRA_enGB421GB424&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=37189454&ion=1&biw=1280&bih=601&wrapid=tlif135196112598810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=4225354206592826954&sa=X&ei=O0qVUI_sC6nJ0AWr9YHIBA&ved=0CFsQ8wIwAA

Just to make you aware, if your surround is resin, DO NOT try and use a real coal/wood fire with it. It will melt ! You will also have an issue with the back panel and hearth, as they could be a man made marble with resin in it, which will also melt, or crack with the heat. It would need to be slabbed up and cut into pieces first.

This polish does work, just needs a lot of elbow grease !

BertieUK

rustyboy21 Thanks for your input.

Yes the surround I believe is made of resin, made to look like black marble.

Originally it was an open hearthed fire as determined by the chimney stack, and at some time the occupier has removed the surround and replaced it with one made from resin.

The Briwax that you have suggested using, looks to be a good choice + elbow grease, that will bring it back its lustre. It looks as though a previous occupier has used what appears to be boot polish or the likes, so it will need a real good clean before the wax is applied.

Thanks for the warning about the surround melting if we decided to use the open fire again. That could make a real mess of everything plus being a fire hazard.

Kind regards
Bob

BertieUK

Looking more closely at the condition of the hearth I notice that there are quite a few quite deep scratches in the surface of the resin which really need to be removed.

Would it be possible to remove these scratches by using various fine grades of wet & dry sandpaper? I have the feeling that by ending with one of the finest grades it would then polish the surface, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Kind regards
Bob

BertieUK

rustyboy21 wrote: »

I wouldn't use a lacquer IMO, you may may it look worse then it did before.

Just to confirm with you. You say you have a resin based surround, but the back panel and hearth are made of Marble ( pure or congolmerate)?

Water can take the shine off marble, I put a glass of water on my old hearth years ago and left it overnight. When I moved it the following morning, there was a dull ring on the hearth, that was just from the water on the base of the glass.

Marble is highly polished in production, to get the shine back is difficult, but possible. Try some of this and buff away quite hard, should do it.

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=marble+wax+polish&hl=en&qscrl=1&rlz=1T4ADRA_enGB421GB424&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=37189454&ion=1&biw=1280&bih=601&wrapid=tlif135196112598810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=4225354206592826954&sa=X&ei=O0qVUI_sC6nJ0AWr9YHIBA&ved=0CFsQ8wIwAA

Just to make you aware, if your surround is resin, DO NOT try and use a real coal/wood fire with it. It will melt ! You will also have an issue with the back panel and hearth, as they could be a man made marble with resin in it, which will also melt, or crack with the heat. It would need to be slabbed up and cut into pieces first.

This polish does work, just needs a lot of elbow grease !

As I said in my previous post that I noticet that there are some deep scratches that need to be removed and wondered if I used wet / dry sandpaper in a variety of grades, ending with a really fine grade, would you think that this polish would bring back the shine, or would the surface remain matt?

Having never worked with a resin base I am looking for ideas please.

Regards
Bob

BertieUK

BertieUK wrote: »

As I said in my previous post that I noticet that there are some deep scratches that need to be removed and wondered if I used wet / dry sandpaper in a variety of grades, ending with a really fine grade, would you think that this polish would bring back the shine, or would the surface remain matt?

Having never worked with a resin base I am looking for ideas please.

Regards
Bob

Do we have anyone that has removed deep scratches from a resin based hearth/fire surround to help please.

Regards
Bob