Honing Marble

The latest how-to movie from my friend A’nge of www.aquamix.com.au in Australia shows how we use Knock Down by Aqua Mix, to hone a marble floor. When you see the end result you may be forgiven for initially thinking it looks dull, compared to the way it was at the start, so why do we do this? – There are a number of reasons; first of all, if a polished floor is badly worn and scratched then the only way to repair it is to re grind and or re polish depending on how bad it has become. However sometimes we may not want the polished finish anyway as it can be harder to maintain. Or, the stone could have been supplied in a honed state in the first place and  it needs to be re-honed.

Also some stones such as travertine, do not always polish well, or consistently, they can suffer from hard and soft areas resulting in dull (or chalky) and shiny spots. In such cases it can be much more pleasing to the eye to have a nice, flat, smooth and even finish – hence honing.

You will see that scratches and marks are easily removed leaving the floor with a flat, clean and smooth but non-reflective finish. Once the floor is dry, it should then be sealed (as the honing process removes sealer too). If the loss of colour is an issue, then no problem,  make use of an enhancing sealer such as Enrich n Seal to bring back the full colour, but with out the polished surface.

Enjoy!

Ian

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