What are the Different Polishing Methods for Stone Floors?

Source:www.stonediamondtool.com Date:2020/5/8 Read:347

There are four basic methods used today to create a shine on natural stone floors: Buffing with polishing powders and compounds, grinding with diamond abrasives, crystallization and applying barrier coatings. Each method may not be effective on all stone types and the use of more than one may be necessary.

Polishing Powders and Compounds are fine grains of aluminum or tin oxide abrasive powder that are buffed or rubbed on the surface of the stone to create the shine. This process is actually the same as sanding with diamonds except that the powder is a much finer abrasive. This process is most often augmented by the addition of oxalic acid or oxalate to create a reaction similar to crystallization. The powder is put on the surface and wet with water to make a paste or slurry that is buffed into the stone with a 175 rpm weighted floor machine and a hogs hair or white pad.

Grinding with diamond abrasives is done by grinding the surface of the stone with various grits of industrial grade diamonds that are usually in three to four inch diameter pads or discs. Three to six discs are placed on the bottom of a floor machine drive plate and held on with Velcro. A low speed (175 rpm) floor machine is used to drive the plate and sand the stone surface with the diamonds to remove scratches. The process is repeated with finer and finer grits of diamonds until a mechanical shine is achieved.

Coatings are commonly known as “waxing” the surface to create an artificial shine. A liquid or semi-liquid form of wax, acrylic, urethane or other polymer is applied or “coated” on to the surface with a mop, roller, lambs wool applicator or sprayer. Some are left as applied and others must be “buffed out” to achieve the shine. This is generally done with a high speed burnishing floor machine and fiber or hogs hair pads. This process is not recommended for porous stone.

Crystallization is a process in which a chemical called fluorosilicate is sprayed onto the stone and buffed in with steel wool pads causing new, glassy like, crystals to be formed on the surface. A standard 175 rpm floor machine with a special heavy drive plate is used to create the heat and friction needed to form and polish the crystals.