This is a Limestone floor that had been sealed by the original owner before the new owner purchased it. Their main concern was getting the floor clean looking and maintainable. We ground the Limestone flat to best serve their goals. Grinding the floor flat removed the uneven tile edges; the Sealer coating that had been applied, and allows us to use our power float and stone fillers to fill all the holes that had opened up during in the traffic areas.
In the process of refinishing the stone, it was clear that there was allot of color and character being hid under the coating that appeared to turn cloudy white. This may have been due to some coating sealers will turn cloudy white when subject to moisture transmissions coming from most floors in Florida on a concrete slab. The results were spectacular, and the wife who had left during the refinishing process, could not believe they were the same floors upon her return. This floor was finished to a hi-hone finish.
When a stone floor is install “butt installation”, or no grout lines, it take a expert installer so there is no raised tile edges, as seen in this before picture. Some tiles can warp during the manufacturing process making installing a flat floor impossible. Not only do uneven tiles make daily cleaning more difficult, it also can have sharp edges.
Grinding stone floors flat not only allow the tiles to be flat with one another, when done correctly, you can have the grout lines filled and flat with the surrounding stone as well. This allows for one of the easiest to clean floors as there is no recessed areas for soil to get trapped.
Limestone sealing was the last step to protect and ease the maintenance cleanings. The impregnating sealer is allowed to dwell 10-15 minutes then any access is remove by floor buffing any excess.
This close up of the before shows how irregular the surface is. The after picture shows how smooth the floor has become. This was achieved by diamond grinding the floor flat and machine force filling the filler material into the pores of the stone surface.