We are often called on to refinish stone flooring. One of the simplest and most effective ways to return a floor to its natural look is by using abrasive honing powder or honing brushes. We typically follow this procedure with a sealer application. This article pertains to stone that is hone finish to begin with. If your stone is polish finish, quit reading now, unless you wish to have the floor changed from polish to hone, and some of this will apply.

Interestingly, the honing powder we use is a byproduct the stone milling process. As the stone goes through the saws, the resulting powder is made into honing powder. The powder is distributed in different grits, like 120, 180 or 330 grit.

During the instillation of the floor (sometimes years earlier) a couple of things happen that can effect the floor for years to come. Typically an installer will leave a slight amount of grout residue on the surface of the tiles. This grout is never removed, and may be barely visible. The installer may also preseal the tiles (to help him remove the grout residue) or will seal the floor after the installation. This sealer is often applied improperly.

A stone floor will be mopped we are assuming with a neutral stone cleaner. Soils and the cleaner residue are also removed during the honing process.

As far as scratches are concerned, honing powder will remove many of them, but deep scratches, like those that are visible after a piece of furniture is dragged over the floor, will not be removed. These will require using abrasive diamond disks. This is a far more involved procedure. Please see the section of this blog on grinding floors that demonstrates the abrasive disks. (This post shows a floor with excessive lippage that had to be ground flat before honing.) But the light scratches from moderate foot traffic can be removed completely with honing powder, using the procedure we are describing.

Low ph etch marks (the ones that look like water marks that you cant clean off) can be removed in some cases, but like the scratches above, if a particularly strong chemical leaves a deep etch mark, deeper abrasive action will be necessary.

So the goal in honing a floor using honing powder or brushes is to remove: fugitive sealer residue, any grout haze, soil and mop water build up, and light acid etch marks and scratches.