How to Polish a Stone Floor
Cleaning and maintaining stone flooring is essentail if you wish to keep it in top condition and protectect it from surface wear and damage. Periodically the stone floor should be polished to assist in the upkeep and ensure it continues to look beautiful.
Polishing stone floors should be a fairly simple procedure so long as the floor is in good condition.
The depth of the shine that can be achieved upon the floor will be reliant upon how finely honed the floor is and also to what extent of wear the floor has been subjected to.
If the stone floor has suffered extensive wear and is excessively worn or pitted it may require full stone floor restoration by means of a wet grinding and diamond polishing process. This level of restoration is best left to the professional stone floor cleaners.
Assuming the floor has been well maintained and protected from surface scratching it can be surfaced cleaned using a stone soap and then polished by a mechanical rotary polisher that can be hired from a tool hire shop.
It is of the upmost importance that before using a mechanical rotary machine upon any floor that the floor has been thoroughly vacuumed to remove any loose grit or contaminates that may scratch the floor if they get caught under the floor pad.
When the floor is free from all contaminates and has been cleaned to remove any surface soiling it will then be ready to start the floor polishing process.
In order to achieve a good level of shine a compound polishing powder will be required. This can be purchased from a specialist supplier of stone products. A polishing powder will achieve a natural shine upon the floor. This is not the same as a stone polish that may be offered for sale from general tile suppliers.
Working in small sections of the floor is the best method to adopt for this work, as trying to attempt an area too large will make it difficult to maintain an even shine to the floor.
Sprinkle the compound polishing powder evenly over an area no larger than two square meters. Then using a small bucket add a small amount of water at a time to the powder so the floor is wet but not soaked. The process you want to achieve is a mixing of the water and powder until it becomes a paste.
Using the rotary floor machine fitted with a tan coloured floor pad, very slowly move the machine in sweeping movements over the solution until the paste is at a consistency that is neither too runny or too dry. It will take a while to get the right mix by occasionally adding some extra water or powder.
Once you have the correct mix then slowly work the solution into the floor surface at a coverage rate of roughly five to six minutes per square meter. Do not allow the solution to dry out during the polishing. After the selected area has been polished extract off the slurry using a wet vacuum cleaner.
The area just finished will also require mopping with a fresh water to remove any remaining residue. Repeat this process over the entire area and then for good measure give the whole floor a couple more washes using fresh water.
Allow drying, then using a white pad buff the entire floor at a standard buffing speed. This will buff up the polished stone floor surface to make it shine.
Polishing stone floors should be a fairly simple procedure so long as the floor is in good condition.
The depth of the shine that can be achieved upon the floor will be reliant upon how finely honed the floor is and also to what extent of wear the floor has been subjected to.
If the stone floor has suffered extensive wear and is excessively worn or pitted it may require full stone floor restoration by means of a wet grinding and diamond polishing process. This level of restoration is best left to the professional stone floor cleaners.
Assuming the floor has been well maintained and protected from surface scratching it can be surfaced cleaned using a stone soap and then polished by a mechanical rotary polisher that can be hired from a tool hire shop.
It is of the upmost importance that before using a mechanical rotary machine upon any floor that the floor has been thoroughly vacuumed to remove any loose grit or contaminates that may scratch the floor if they get caught under the floor pad.
When the floor is free from all contaminates and has been cleaned to remove any surface soiling it will then be ready to start the floor polishing process.
In order to achieve a good level of shine a compound polishing powder will be required. This can be purchased from a specialist supplier of stone products. A polishing powder will achieve a natural shine upon the floor. This is not the same as a stone polish that may be offered for sale from general tile suppliers.
Working in small sections of the floor is the best method to adopt for this work, as trying to attempt an area too large will make it difficult to maintain an even shine to the floor.
Sprinkle the compound polishing powder evenly over an area no larger than two square meters. Then using a small bucket add a small amount of water at a time to the powder so the floor is wet but not soaked. The process you want to achieve is a mixing of the water and powder until it becomes a paste.
Using the rotary floor machine fitted with a tan coloured floor pad, very slowly move the machine in sweeping movements over the solution until the paste is at a consistency that is neither too runny or too dry. It will take a while to get the right mix by occasionally adding some extra water or powder.
Once you have the correct mix then slowly work the solution into the floor surface at a coverage rate of roughly five to six minutes per square meter. Do not allow the solution to dry out during the polishing. After the selected area has been polished extract off the slurry using a wet vacuum cleaner.
The area just finished will also require mopping with a fresh water to remove any remaining residue. Repeat this process over the entire area and then for good measure give the whole floor a couple more washes using fresh water.
Allow drying, then using a white pad buff the entire floor at a standard buffing speed. This will buff up the polished stone floor surface to make it shine.
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