Natural stones have become an important part of today's home décor. Several types of natural stones such as granite, marble, sand stone are widely used as wall cover and flooring material. However, these are naturally very beautiful but they are made more attractive with help of different surface finishes. Some of the mostly used marble and granite surface finishing are -

o Rough - This finishing keeps in their natural exterior. Such this are mainly used in exterior decoration. Few people use roughly finished natural stones in roofing too.

o Polished - Also known as mirror polished finishing, this is the most popular for finishing. In it, one side is finished by the action of the Abrasives on polishing head which gives a mirror finish on the stone. It gives a mirror like impression to marble and granite and makes them elegant.

o Honed Finishing - Honed is also a smooth finishing for stones but this is not polished. It is done by using a less number of abrasives on a polishing head. The use of abrasive leads to smoother but non-reflective surface.

o Sand blasting - Sand blasting is the finishing method applied for sand-stone. To do it, a blast of sand is fired with hi-speed on the stone. This finishing gives a coarse look to the stone.

o Brushed Finishing - this finishing is appropriate for some specific categories of natural stones. Few natural stone patterns integrate natural veins. With brushed finishing, backgrounds of such stones get suppressed while veins of the stone get highlighted. These are considered a favorite for wall décor in modern interior decoration.

o Hand Split or Cleft - This is a traditional treatment for finishing, in which the stone is split along its line of cleavage to open the same at the natural grain. Such finishing gives an unparalleled character to the surface of natural stones.

o Flamed - with this finishing method, this surfaces are flamed or burnt off, using a high temperature apparatus. This apparatus is similar to 'Blow Torch.' Flamed finishing of stones offers them a contoured finish which bases on their internal characteristics