We treat existing marble, porcelain, ceramic, terrazzo and quarry tile so wet floors grip instead of slide — for hotels, lobbies, retail stores, restaurants and office buildings across Manhattan. No coatings, no films, no replacement, and the stone you already own keeps its finish.
What the treatment changes
Wet slip resistance
Measured before and after with a pendulum slip tester — not a guess.
No film or coating
The surface itself is modified, so nothing peels, yellows or wears through.
Appearance preserved
Polished marble stays polished; honed stays honed. No dull patch, no grey haze.
Keeps its polish
Treated floors can still be honed and polished by our restoration crews.
Plain answers, no sales pitch
An anti-slip treatment is a service, not a product you apply yourself. We chemically modify the surface of the tile, stone or terrazzo you already have so that water beads and grips instead of forming a slick sheet. Nothing is added on top, so there is no coating to peel, flake or reapply.
A permanent change to the tile or stone itself, done on site by a trained applicator. The surface is cleaned, treated, neutralised and tested. It works on the entire floor, including grout lines, and it does not alter colour or gloss.
Anti-slip coatings & paints
A layer applied on top of the floor, often with grit mixed in. Peels, discolours, traps dirt and looks like a patch of gritted paint. We don't install these.
Anti-slip mats, tapes & stair nosings
Useful in some spots, but they collect water underneath, create a trip edge and are not acceptable in many Manhattan lobbies for design review.
Slip-resistant tile replacement
Buying new DCOF-rated tile means demolition, downtime and a lobby closed for weeks. Treatment works on the floor you already own.
Anti-slip vs non-slip vs slip-resistant: In everyday use these words mean the same thing. Technically, slip-resistant and non-slip describe the result — a surface that resists slipping when wet. Anti-slip treatment describes the service that gets you there. If a supplier talks about "non-slip coating," they are selling a product applied on top. We change the surface itself, which is why treated floors usually still measure slip-resistant after years of foot traffic and cleaning.
Where it's used
Almost every slip claim we hear about in Manhattan happens on the same few surfaces: a polished lobby floor near the entrance doors in the rain, a restaurant kitchen floor, a hotel bathroom in a guest suite, and a stairwell with a hard, smooth nosing. We treat all four.
Guest bathrooms and showers, lobby and lobby-adjacent marble, pool decks, spa floors, back-of-house corridors and service stairs.
Guest-suite tubs & shower floors are the highest-claim area
Marble, terrazzo and granite entry floors, revolving-door mats, elevator lobbies and corridor transitions where wet shoes arrive in bad weather.
Treated invisibly — design review stays happy
Polished porcelain and polished concrete sales floors, entrances, escalator landings and fitting-room corridors — treated after closing.
Installed overnight, trading resumes next morning
Kitchen floors under grease and water, dish and prep areas, walk-ins, back hallways and the wet egress paths that lead to the dining room.
Grease-tolerant, works on quarry tile and concrete
Patient and resident bathrooms, nurses' stations, corridors, entry vestibules and ramps — where occupants are most vulnerable to a fall.
Measured before/after for incident documentation
Schools, gyms and locker rooms, parking-lot stair towers, loading docks and lobby-to-concourse stairs in Manhattan mixed-use buildings.
Stairs, landings and nosings included
Choosing a method
If you are deciding between coating the floor, covering it with mats and tape, replacing the tile, or treating the surface itself, these are the trade-offs that matter — appearance, how long it lasts, whether the space stays open, and what it costs over ten years rather than one.
| Approach | How it works | Appearance | Lifespan | Downtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface treatment What we do | The stone or tile surface is chemically modified in place. Nothing is added on top. | Unchanged. Polished stays polished, honed stays honed. No film, haze or edge. | Years. No reapplication cycle, no recoating schedule. | Overnight or sectioned. Open next morning. |
| Anti-slip coating or paint | A film applied over the floor, often with grit mixed in. | Visible patch. Dulls, discolours, can yellow, and traps dirt at the edges. | Wears through in high traffic. Needs periodic recoating. | One night, but rework every few years. |
| Mats, tapes and stair nosings | A separate product laid or adhered over the finished floor. | Interrupts the floor design. Often flagged in design review. | Months. Adhesive fails, water collects underneath. | Minimal, but a trip edge and a cleaning problem. |
| Replacing tile with rated tile | Demolition, new substrate, new DCOF-rated tile installed. | New floor — but a different floor from the one specified. | Long, until the new floor wears or fails at the joints. | Days to weeks. Demolition, dumpsters, permits, inaccessible space. |
Concrete service stairs, back-of-house ramps and utility areas where appearance doesn't matter and the surface can't be treated. If that's your situation, a coating is cheaper and we'll say so.
Anywhere the floor is visible and specified — marble and terrazzo lobbies, hotel bathrooms, retail sales floors, restaurant kitchens with quarry tile. The finish stays exactly as designed.
Who does the work
MarbleBLU has been restoring marble and natural stone in this borough since 1997 — 29 years, in the same city, under the same name, from an office at 845 Third Avenue. Anti-slip treatment came out of that work: building managers kept asking what could be done about a polished lobby that turned into a hazard every time it rained.
That matters for one practical reason. The company treating your floor also polishes, hones, repairs and replaces it. If the marble needs restoring before treatment, or the treatment needs to come off for a maintenance polish, it is the same crew and the same phone number — not two trades blaming each other.
River to river, Inwood to Battery Park City. No travel surcharge, and no work outside the borough.
Our own trained applicators. Not a broker dispatching subcontractors to your building.
COI naming your building, manager or ownership entity, issued before work starts.
Highly rated by Manhattan clients for marble and stone work. References available on request.
Who to bring in, and when
Floors don't usually get assessed until after an incident. These are the moments when building managers, hotel engineers and retailers in Manhattan actually call — and what we do at each.
A new lobby floor, a renovation, a change of ownership, an insurance renewal. We baseline the floor and document it before anything happens, which is the cheapest position to be in.
A tenant, guest or employee reports a slip. We measure the floor at the exact location, so you have a reading in hand before the conversation escalates.
A claim has been filed. We treat the floor and produce dated before-and-after readings, a plan mark-up and a cleaning protocol — the record that shows the condition was addressed.
A site survey anywhere in Manhattan, at no cost and with no obligation. We walk the floor with you, test the areas that generate claims, identify which surfaces can and cannot be treated, and tell you honestly if your floor is one we shouldn't touch. You leave with written scope and pricing — not a verbal estimate.
The process
Four steps, typically across one or two nights depending on square footage. Most Manhattan commercial jobs are done after hours so the building or store is open as normal the next morning.
We measure wet slip resistance with a pendulum tester at the spots that matter — entrances, wet zones, ramps, stairs — and photograph the readings. You get a written baseline, which is the document that matters later if a claim is made.
Treatment only works on bare surface. We strip wax, acrylic, polymer dressings and grease first — a floor with a sealer or finish on it will not take the treatment, and that step is where most cheap jobs fail.
Our crews apply the treatment in controlled sections, hold it for the correct dwell time, neutralise and rinse. Marble, terrazzo, porcelain, ceramic and quarry tile each need a different dwell time — this is not a mop-and-go job.
We re-test the same points, document the after-readings, and give your facilities team a short cleaning protocol — neutral cleaner only, no acid, no wax. Then we walk the floor with you before we invoice.
Surfaces classed as hazardous ceramic tile (Unglazed Tile classification) take a different protocol and are not suitable for every commercial space — we'll tell you honestly if that's your floor.
Compliance & documentation
For a hotel, a landlord or a retailer, the useful question isn't "is it non-slip?" — it's "what does it measure, and can you prove it?" Here is the language your insurer, risk manager and premises-liability counsel will use.
The classic measure of how much grip a surface offers. It's reported as a ratio — higher is grippier. The long-standing benchmark for level walking surfaces is 0.50 or higher on a dry floor, and roughly 0.60 or higher where the floor gets wet.
DCOF measures friction on a wet surface, which is the number that matters in Manhattan lobbies between November and March. 0.42 is the commonly referenced minimum for level, wet interior floors in North American tile standards.
The pendulum tester is the instrument used for on-site verification and in UK and international standards. Results are reported as PTV; for pedestrian areas, values in the 36+ range are the usual target for level wet flooring. It's the test we run before and after.
No treatment can make a floor impossible to slip on. It raises friction and it removes the "polished marble + water = ice rink" condition. Walking behaviour, footwear, signage and matting still matter.
Heavy acid cleaning undoes it. If your janitorial contractor uses acidic bathroom cleaners or aggressive mechanical scrubbers on a treated floor, the effect is reduced over time. The cleaning protocol we leave behind is there for a reason.
It is not a replacement for maintenance. We're a restoration company — if the marble itself is worn, lippage is catching trolley wheels, or tiles are cracked and rocking, that needs fixing first. We do that too, in the same visit if you want.
Manhattan-wide coverage
We are a Manhattan-only company with our own crews — we work in every ZIP code in the borough, not just near our Midtown East office, and there is no travel surcharge anywhere in Manhattan.
Hotel row in Midtown West and Times Square · boutique hotels in SoHo and Tribeca · flagship retail on Fifth Avenue and in Hudson Yards · office towers in the Financial District and Midtown East · healthcare and senior living on the Upper East and Upper West Sides · restaurants in Hell's Kitchen, the West Village and the Lower East Side.
10021 · 10022 · 10028 · 10065 · 10075 · 10128
10023 · 10024 · 10025 · 10069
10016 · 10017 · 10022
10018 · 10019 · 10036 · 10001
10011 · 10001 · 10018
10012 · 10013 · 10014
10280 · 10281 · 10282
10004 · 10005 · 10006 · 10007 · 10038
What building managers, hotel engineers and retailers ask us most — with straight answers, including the ones that aren't in our favour.
Have a floor you're worried about? Ask us directly.
Call 212-627-2532
Free site survey & slip test
Tell us the building, the surface and roughly how many square feet. We'll come out, take wet and dry slip readings, and tell you honestly whether treatment will fix it — or whether the floor needs restoring first.
Phone
212-627-2532Office
845 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022
Scheduling
After-hours and overnight work available
Phones answered 24/7
For commercial properties in Manhattan. We'll call you back within one hour during business hours to arrange a survey.