General Guide

All about stone restoration

Advice: Restoring & Repairing Natural Stone

Natural stone is a choice for life. The material is robust, timeless, and often gains a beautiful patina over the years. But accidents happen. A heavy pan falling, a bump against a threshold, or a settlement crack: damage can never be 100% ruled out.

The good news? Natural stone is one of the few materials that you can repair almost invisibly. In this guide, you will read which product you need or when it is better to call in our craftsmen.

Step 1: The basic rule for every repair

Whether you are a professional stonemason or a handy DIYer: the result stands or falls with the preparation. Glue and fillers never adhere to grease, oil, or dust.

  • The solution: Clean the damage and the immediate area with AKEMI Cleaner A.

  • Why: This is an acetone-based cleaner that degreases powerfully and evaporates quickly, leaving the stone bone dry.

Step 2: Choose the right repair product

Not every stone or every damage is the same. We have split the scenarios for you so you can choose the right product immediately.

Scenario A: Minor damage to Belgian Blue Stone (Hardstone)

Type of damage: Chipped flakes, pits, or pieces out of sills/tiles (up to approx. 2 cm).

Blue stone has a specific colour. A transparent glue would remain visible as a dark 'eye'. Therefore, use a coloured polyester glue.

  • The Product: AKEMI Marmorkitt 1000 Thixo (Dark Grey)

  • Why: This paste is thixotropic, meaning it is firm and does not sag (ideal for vertical edges on sills). The colour is perfectly matched to blue stone.

Scenario B: Minor damage to Marble, Granite & Composite

Type of damage: Pits in countertops, window sills, or 'other' stone types.

With these stones, you want to camouflage the repair by mimicking the stone's own colour.

  • The Product: AKEMI Platinum (Transparent)

  • The Technique: This is a transparent, epoxy-acrylate glue that dries very quickly and does not yellow.

    1. Take a little glue from the can.

    2. Mix this with AKEMI Colouring Pastes that approximate the main colour of your stone.

Pro-Tip: Don't have the chipped piece anymore? Scrape or drill a little dust from an invisible spot (e.g., underside of the window sill) and mix this stone dust into the glue. This way, you get exactly the texture of your stone.

Scenario C: Major damage & Structural bonding

Type of damage: Breaks larger than 2 cm, broken slabs that need to be glued together, or heavily loaded floors.

For the "heavy work", polyester is not strong enough. Here we switch to Epoxy.

  • The Product: AKEMI Akepox 5010 (Transparent)

  • Why: This is the powerhouse among stone glues. It hardly shrinks, is weather-resistant, and extremely strong.

Watch the mixing order: With epoxy, the chemical balance is crucial.

  1. Mix Component A and Component B carefully in the correct ratio first (see packaging).

  2. Only after A and B are mixed, add the colouring or stone powder. Do not do this the other way around, or the glue will not cure properly!

Scenario D: Filling cracks and deep scratches

A crack in a tile or sill not only looks untidy, but dirt can also accumulate in it. Filling this requires precision.

  1. Open the crack: This sounds contradictory, but for good adhesion, you sometimes need to carefully deepen or widen the crack slightly in a V-shape (with a rotary tool or sharp knife). This gives the glue more grip.

  2. Remove dust: Vacuum all dust out of the crack and degrease thoroughly.

  3. Fill: Use a liquid repair resin or stone glue (epoxy). Because the crack is narrow, the product must be fluid enough to run deep into it.

  4. Level & Sand: Smooth the surface with a spatula and sand the surface after curing.

Note: Is the crack 'moving' (e.g., a settlement crack in the floor)? Then filling with a hard glue makes little sense, as the crack will return. In that case, an elastic joint sealant in the right colour is a better (temporary) solution, or you should consult an expert.

Step 3: Finishing and Cleaning

Did you spill while working?

  • Fresh glue: As long as the glue (especially Epoxy) is still soft, remove it immediately with AKEMI Cleaner P.

  • Hardened glue: Then there is no other option than mechanical removal (scraping, sanding, or grinding).

Don't want to do it yourself?

Restoring natural stone is a craft in itself. Do you doubt your handiness, is it a complex break, or do you simply want the certainty of a perfect result?

Call in our Home Service. We are not only a supplier of products but also experts in execution. Our craftsmen come to your home for:

  • Repairing cracks and holes.

  • Renovating and polishing floors.

  • Crystallizing marble.

Contact us for a non-binding quote.