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Polishing Granite Floors

Wednesday 14th April 2010

Of all the natural stones that you can choose for flooring granite is by far the hardest material and the most hardwearing. It is also resistant to staining and acid and alkaline chemicals. This is the reason it is the kitchen worktop of choice and the flooring material of choice.

Despite its hardness it is still capable of being scratched by quartz. Quartz is sand like material which makes up the biggest proportion of dirt brought into a building on the underside of footwear. Traffic going over this then moves the small particles of sand over the surface of the granite causing minute scratches. The scratching effect on granite will be much less than that on marble for instance but non-the-less it still scratches. This effect can be minimized by the correct maintenance programme. A typical maintenance programme for granite flooring would be to dust mop the floor each day to remove these particles of dirt and once or twice a week depending upon traffic wash the floor with stone soap. This reseals the floor and enhances the colour. This is then wet vacuumed up and the floor then washed with pure water which is also wet vacuumed up. This wet vacuuming prevents the possibility of water staining.

At frequent intervals which depends upon the number of people walking over the floor the granite should be treated with a crystallising chemical and then buffed using a high speed buffer. The intervals between these treatments could be as short as one week in a very busy commercial environment but in a domestic setting where shoes are probably not worn it could be a yearly event. This process helps to remove the majority of these small invisible scratches and brings back the shine. The next process should be carried out every 2 - 5 years in the home and every 6 months in commercial buildings. In this process a more abrasive chemical is used along with a slow buffer fitted with steel wool pads. This takes much longer but the effect is to remove all scratches and restore the granite floor to its almost mirror like, brilliant shiny surface.

Following this excellent maintenance programme will ensure that the granite floor retains its mirror like srface for a lifetime with the minimum of expenditure.

If however there is no good and correct floor maintenance programme in place then the scratching will build up eventually producing a very dull surface. If this was a marble or limestone floor then this would happen much faster. However if it was a neglected marble floor then by using different grades of diamond pads the marble could be restored relatively easily if not cheaply! The same process can be applied to neglected granite however because of its hardness it takes much longer, uses more diamonds and is therefore a very very costly procedure. On top of which the results cannot be guaranteed. This regrinding of the granite can sometimes result in quite significant colour changes which of course can upset the customer!

The use of diamond grinders which on limestone or marble might take 20 minutes to achieve a shine on granite will probably take 3 - 4 hours and use up 3 -4 times as many diamonds in order to achieve a mediocre shine. Consequently it should be evident why it is a very costly procedure.

In the processing plants marble is ground for about 40 minutes to achieve the high gloss effect. Granite on the other hand will be ground for several hours to achieve the same effect. There is no way that once the granite is in place this process can be replicated.

Consequently if you have a granite floor and it dulls and somebody offers to restore the shine by re-grinding it do not bother. You will end up with a floor that may be shiny but has probably changed colour and it will have cost you a small fortune. Take care of it from the outset and you will never be in this position.