Master technicians Doug Hoover and Roddy Lane have the skills and experience to make natural stone look better than brand-new.
Roddy Lane and Doug Hoover
Training is useful, but there is no substitute for experience.” The oft-quoted line from the 1963 James Bond film, From Russia With Love, applies to almost any situation requiring specialized skills. You can watch a You Tube video, read a textbook, attend a class, or even go to college, but becoming an expert in any field requires time and practice in the real world.
From hairdressing to heart surgery, nobody wants to take a chance on a disaster born of inexperience. And that’s what can happen to your expensive stone floor or those exquisite marble countertops when you hire the technician straight out of his three-day certification class.
What your stone surfaces need is a series of diamond grits used in the proper order by a master technician who is proficient in their use. Enter Doug Hoover and Roddy Lane of Stone Restore, with over 30 years of combined experience in the industry.
“The process of cutting stone is multi-tiered,” Hoover said. “All stone is different, and over many years, you build the skill to read and listen to the stone. The stone talks to you; it makes a sound when it is cutting properly, and it all has to do with the particular grits you’re using. We have a plethora of tools … many different grits of diamond products and diamond powders. There are a million combinations you can use to get a floor to shine, and it’s knowing what that recipe is.”
When Hoover and Lane begin a job, the first day is what they call discovery, where they take a small section of the floor and “decide what it wants.” They do a test spot and interpret what the floor can do based on the Mohs Hardness Scale. “Different diamonds react very differently to the hardness level of the stone. Some will actually do damage. But that same diamond on a different stone will do a perfect cut,” Hoover explained.
Hoover and Lane make adjustments as they feel and hear what the stone is doing underneath the diamond, recording the grit numbers and rotation numbers to get what they call a prescription. “The skill level to be able to do that is very elusive,” Hoover said. “It takes many, many years.”
According to Hoover, there are places you can go and pay someone to train you to do this, but all they do is train you on the products they want to sell. “When you go to school, they have a few pieces of stone for you to work on. They know exactly what the process is to work on that particular stone because it is a test piece in a classroom situation. That is the exact opposite of the skill level you need,” he said.
“And there are so many other issues you’re confronted with from job to job,” Lane added. “It’s more than reading the directions on a box of diamond powder.”
Do your stone surfaces need some love?
If you’ve invested in stone floors or countertops, you know they can get abraded, etched, stained, or otherwise damaged, thus looking tired and lackluster. Hoover and Lane can bring all your surfaces back to life, making them look not only like new, but better.
“You invest in stone because it can be maintained. Natural stone can always be made new,” Hoover said. “Once we’ve done your floor, there is no reason you can’t have a perfect floor for the life of the house.”
Periodic tune-ups are recommended, and repairs can be made easily. “If you have an accident—say drop the pickle jar or spill wine—we can fix it like that,” Lane said with a snap of his fingers.
“You live in your home. You’re going to mess up your floors,” Hoover added. “But just know that five years down the road, you will need a kitchen tune-up. We can bounce you back to brand-new in an hour to an hour and a half, and you’re ready to go for another five years. All I have to do is match my prescription, and we keep a record of that.”
Hoover and Lane can bring all your surfaces back to life, making them look not only like new, but better.
Get to know the team
When you hire Stone Restore, you can be assured that Hoover and Lane will be there personally to do your job. It is a two-man operation, and they keep it that way for the sake of quality and consistency. They don’t have a showroom, a website, or an Instagram account. What they have is the passion and pride that ensures superior work.
Both Hoover and Lane served in the Marines prior to going into business. After retiring from the military and before opening his own floor restoration business, Hoover worked for Grainger Industrial Supply. At the time, he owned a home in Hilton Head Plantation with travertine floors he hated because they had not been maintained. He began investigating how to restore them and realized nobody else was doing this. He had found a niche.
His original business was First Floor, specializing in VCT. But as he began seeing more and more stone floors in homes, he narrowed his focus and, for the last 16 years, has strictly been restoring stone.
Lane moved to the area from Tallahassee, Fla., where he met his wife Melissa, a dedicated schoolteacher. While looking for business opportunities in the Lowcountry, he met Hoover at a local restaurant, and the two marines hit it off immediately. “Doug brought me on to do a nightmare job, stripping Saltillo (Mexican tile). Then we started getting into more stone. I stuck with him, and I’m still here,” Lane said. That was 17 years ago.
The two are perfectly matched for the work they do, Hoover said. “Roddy has an enormous eye for detail. He gets a handle on it very early on, which makes our efficiency so much better. We have many complementary attributes.”
Hoover and Lane are the most respected stone restorers in the area. (Ask your neighbors or ask for references.) They were also recently hired to restore the massive stone floors in the F-35 hangar at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort. Joining a government contract and getting through the clearance process was a big feather in their cap, Hoover said. “It was a beautiful marble terrazzo floor, but it was in unbelievably bad shape. We made it look brand-new.”
In addition, they have been doing historical work in Beaufort and, most recently, a centuries-old home in Savannah. “It takes a certain level of confidence to bring someone into a situation like that. It’s more than just fixing a floor. It’s respecting that this is a very delicate home. You have to be very careful, and you have to know what you’re doing,” Hoover said.
Stone restoration is truly an art and a science. If you are looking for expert service with no mess and minimal disruption to your life (they move all the furniture and put it back exactly where they found it at the end of the day), and if you appreciate professionals who show up on time, you will love Hoover and Lane. “We are totally committed to making it a no- to low-stress experience,” Hoover said. “And we are never late—ever.”
To schedule your complimentary consultation, call Stone Restore at (843) 422-6799.
