Granite Floors Need Regular Polishing

Hard stone floors have unique challenges that need to be addressed after much research and if necessary, additional training. Following is a series of edited communications regarding floor care issues. 

The questioner stated: “We were told that to maintain the floor we needed to dust mop, sweep, damp mop with neutral cleaner and buff with soft buffing pad. This has been the process we followed. The granite floor has worn significantly in heavy traffic areas over the past 10 years and lost much of its shine. The floor has never (to our knowledge) been diamond polished. This diamond polish process should have been done years ago and on a regular basis. Now the property manager is checking the cost to do that and it is significant. Salespeople are saying the wear is not anything we have done or not done it is a simple case of wear because of the heavy traffic in this area. The refurbishing process will add labor hours our present steps.  Our contract hours were bid based on what we were doing. The contract calls for maintaining the floors. In your opinion would this change warrant an increase in hours? Please advise and give me your thoughts.”

From your description, you appear to be using commonly accepted practice for maintaining this type floor.  Polishing the floor by means of a specially trained diamond system is not considered ordinary maintenance and is not usually covered by the requirements of the Statement of Work. It is usually recommended such floors be examined by a professional stone service and a decision made as to polishing every two to three year to maintain uniform luster. You indicated this floor is close to 12 years old.  Regular polishing at least every four years would have been less expensive on a per time basis since extra effort in labor and materials will now be necessary to restore the floor to its original shine. 

We will continue with additional thoughts and recommendations in the next article.  Your comments and questions are always welcome.  I hope to hear from you soon.  Until then, keep it clean…

Mickey Crowe has been involved in the industry for over 35 years. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant. You can reach Mickey at 678.314.2171 or CTCG50@comcast.net.