New to Stone Polishing - questions

[Kevin Lietz]

Hey everyone! So We are going to be expanding into stone polishing and I have a couple of customers that are going to let me do some "practice work" on their flooring and countertops. I have been looking at some of the posts here and doing some research, and I think I've got the "gist" of it, but wanted to get a fresh conversation going on this topic for myself and maybe anyone else that maybe looking to jump into this field.

Currently I have all the tile cleaning tools I need (full Gecko set up except the squeegee head, but I'll be getting that next week), turbo, and I have a 175 to be able to use... Really the major hangups I have right now is what type of pads I'll need to get started, and what chemicals.

1. Compounds - Stone Pro has a good selection, and from what i've seen from advice here on TMF, they sound like the "most recommended" bet. If you disagree, please enlighten me! 5x seems to be a fan favorite.

2. Pads - This is a part that I get a bit confused on... Diamond impregnated pads, diamond resin pads, DOT pads, and then these 3in diamond pads which look totally different (are they for countertop polishing?).

3. Any tips on how to start on this? I have experience with a swing machine, and VCT work as well, so I'm not a complete rookie As I said earlier, I have some friends/customers/family that are willing to allow me to use thier floors as a training ground, which is great... they also know that I'm a rookie as this... I want to make sure that I get a good feel for what I am doing so any tips/advice would be GREAT!

 

[Ken Raddon]

I have the complete set of monkey pads that I never used and I live in West Jordan so come and get them and I'll teach you some stuff.

 

[Todd the Cleaner]

Take Ken up on his offer. That’s invaluable.

 

[Kevin Lietz]

I have the complete set of monkey pads that I never used and I live in West Jordan so come and get them and I'll teach you some stuff.

Thats fantastic ken! I'll DM you!

 

[PistolPete]

DIP pads are the easiest to quickly get comfortable with.
IMHO if you're going to do this a lot, then take some classes.
Then you can move into diamond pucks which cost more to buy but are way cheaper to use than DIP.
I only do a few jobs a year so I just use DIP from https://shop.truckmountforums.com. (only because they ship fast).
I also have relationships with some stone polishing pros that I can refer more challenging jobs to.
It's one thing to pop a shine on a floor, it's a whole other ball game to to get into serious sq ft or restoration.

 

[Ken Raddon]

I don't know what DM means so text me atezerowonsevenwon2wonsixfivefor. <<<I spelled it like that to keep bots from getting my number.

 

[rob allen]

Direct message or private message.

 

[john martinez]

I don't know what DM means so text me atezerowonsevenwon2wonsixfivefor. <<<I spelled it like that to keep bots from getting my number.

Hey Ken I noticed your friendly offer when I was about to post about stone care to see if my question had already been answered. Did the guy ever take you up on your offer? Anyway I'm assuming you've worked with stone floors before I apologise if I misunderstood this fact so I too am looking to get into stone floor care (cleaning polishing and sealing) and do have pretty good experience with carpet cleaning with extractors, carpet cleaning with cotton bonnets and tile and grout cleaning with a CRB called the MultiWash made by Powrflite that scrubs the hard floors clean after they've been pre sprayed and does a pretty good job of PU the dirty solution as it goes. Then of course I rinse the floors and dry them with microfiber mops so to make a short story long I definitely enjoy cleaning floors and have a good handle on carpet and ceramic tile so in an effort to start doing stone floors I purchased 3 DIP pads from Bonastre (Red then Yellow then Green) but I haven't used them yet BC I lack the confidence and don't want to own someone's new stone flooring. I also want to buy weights for my 175 20" Nobles Tennant floor machine to assist in the polishing process & although it's not made for weights I did compare the units specs and it has the same 1.5 HP motor as the HD machines but I don't know if it has the same torque or triple planetary transmission whatever that means. BC the top of the machine is not made to accept weights I stopped into an older floor clare business in South Phoenix and he offered me a weighted pad driver that fits my machine that supposedly 3M stopped making 20 years ago and this thing is a concrete monster! so for $400 I could have plenty of weight. Also the bottom of the weighted pad driver has several round pieces Velcro to accept diamond pucks or even my DIP pads. He also said I can polish without weights using I think steel wool and oxalic acid. Would you recommend I add this discontinued weighted pad driver from 3M for stone floor care and do I use weights only when using diamond pucks or with DIP pads too like my Bonastre? And can I do stone floor polishing with just the 175 or do I need to rent a burnisher for certain work? What pads if you recommend a high speed burnisher? TIA! Sorry for the long message BTW just really want to learn what gets good results from someone who knows how to

 

[katilicous]

This question was never answered, but it is safe to say that all of those questions are normal for stone care and you really shouldn't jump into stone unless you know someone who can mentor you first. You will be very disappointed if you jump into stone thinking it's anything like anything else. The little things make the job a failure or success. If you don't have anyone who can show you in person then talk to the guys at Stone Pro who give or gave weekly classes for free on Fridays at some point or take the master course for a month at stonecareedu and just take the classes that are for the jobs you have coming up. It's a resource that can't be beat and as a seasoned stone restorer I found many goodies in the classes that upped my game after doing stone for the past 10 years. It's $60 a month for the master course and so worth it. You can really mess up stone easily and be disappointed.