Different Types of Stone Finishes & Their Maintenance?

Different Types of Stone Finishes & Their Maintenance?

Are you nearing the final stages of constructing your home or property, or are you looking to give it a refreshing facelift? You've likely considered incorporating natural stone into your development.

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Given the wide range of stone finishes, selecting the perfect one for your project can be daunting but crucial. The right stone finish helps maintain the overall theme of your designed space.

Along with stone color and cut, stone finishes influence the aesthetics, durability, and maintenance requirements of natural stone surfaces, floors, and countertops.

Continue reading to discover five of the most popular stone finishes and how to maintain their charm.

Polished Stone Finish

To achieve a polished finish, quarry workers polish stones by repeatedly applying abrasive treatments. This polishing results in shiny and resilient surfaces with minimal porosity.

The polished finish enhances the properties and color of natural stone surfaces, making it a common choice for interior floors and wall dressings. It's also popular for kitchen and bathroom countertops. However, its minimal slip resistance makes it unsuitable for outdoor paving.

Polished stone finishes require regular re-polishing to maintain their elegant glassy appearance.

Honed Stone Finish

If a glossy finish is not your preference, look to the honed finish for a more rustic look. The honing process removes scratches, etches, and abrasions on natural stone surfaces, resulting in a flat, dust-free finish. A honed finish is ideal for lobby floors and other high-foot-traffic areas, as well as soapstone counters.

Depending on the type of stone, your honed surface might need annual resealing with a penetrating sealer to prevent and delay staining. For instance, granite would require sealing, but soapstone would not.

Leathered Stone Finish

A leathered stone finish is achieved by brushing stone surfaces with various brushes to give them an undulating look and a smooth, warm, and soft texture. This finish is best achieved on darker stones with a non-uniform structure like granite.

A leathered stone finish is excellent at hiding fingerprints, water spots, and smudges. It is more stain- and slip-resistant and requires minimal maintenance.

Tumbled Stone Finish

A tumbled finish is obtained by tumbling stones in a solution of mild acids, small pebbles, sand, and water to wear and soften them. This process gives their surfaces a scuffed and weathered look.

A tumbled finish is renowned for its decorative purposes and the fact that it does not require significant maintenance.

Flamed Stone Finish

A flamed finish is achieved by heating the stone intensely and then cooling it rapidly. This process burns most of the stone's carbon content, giving it a gentle rustic coloration.

Apart from regular cleaning, a flamed finish does not need significant maintenance. Its toughness makes it an excellent choice for outdoor projects like hallways and entrances.

Stone is an affordable and versatile choice for wall, floor, and countertop finishes. As a reliable stone surface importer and supplier, Francini Inc. offers a wide range of stone finish options.

Contact an Expert Stone Importer

Whether you need Limestone, Soapstone, or Granite, we are your go-to supplier.

Contact us today to help you choose the stone finish that best accentuates your home’s look and matches your personality. You might also find our slab galleries helpful.

Polishing Methods For Stone Floors

While laying the flooring for your home is just one part of the story, ensuring it is polished properly is crucial. Polishing stone to make it shiny and bright is a task for experts. Here are four methods used to achieve that shine on natural stone floors:

1. Buffing with polishing compounds and powders
2. Using diamond abrasives for grinding
3. Crystallization process
4. Application of Barrier Coating

Choosing the right method depends on the type of stone. Here’s a closer look at these methods:

1. Polishing Powders and Compounds

These fine grains of aluminum or tin oxide powder are abrasive. They are buffed on the stone surface to remove the top abrasive layer and expose the shiny part. The process, similar to sanding with diamonds, is done carefully over several days.

The process can be augmented with oxalate or oxalic acid to create a reaction similar to crystallization. The powder, combined with water, creates a paste buffed into the stone with a 175 rpm weight floor machine.

2. Polishing with Diamond Abrasives

Using diamond abrasives involves industrial-grade diamonds of various grits. These diamonds are attached to the drive plate of a floor polishing machine and used to sand the stone surface, removing scratches. The process continues with finer grits until the desired mechanical shine is achieved.

3. Crystallization Coatings

Crystallization uses a chemical called fluorosilicate, which is sprayed on the stone and then buffed with steel wool pads. This results in shiny, glassy new crystals forming on the stone surface. A 175 rpm floor machine creates the necessary heat and friction for this process.

4. Barrier Coating

This method, also known as waxing, creates an artificial shine using semi-liquid or liquid wax, urethane, acrylics, or other polymers. The substance is applied using a mop, sprayer, lamb’s wool applicator, or roller. High-speed burnishing floor machines then buff it to achieve the desired shine. This method is not suitable for porous stones.

We hope these polishing methods give you the right answer to the question, "How to polish stone flooring?"

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