Education:
There's no substitute for knowledge, and there are some excellent instructors that can provide extensive marble training. Attending a stone care class or two will be a good investment toward your future development in this field. Yet you may just be surprised to learn that it's really not that difficult. The steps below covers all the basics. These instructions will make it possible for you to understand the steps involved to restore and polish a marble, terrazzo or concrete floor. Hopefully this information may open the world of marble care to you.

Marble Grinding DIAMOND FINISHER
Cimex CR48DF Machine Shown Above

First Steps:
Dust mop the floor thoroughly. No sand at all can be present.  If the floor has any floor finish/wax on it, you’ll need to completely strip the floor before you get underway. Diamond abrasives cut stone, they're not designed for polymer removal.

Prep The Room:
Remove any furniture from the room. Tape off moldings with 2” blue masking tape and cover the bottom sections of the walls with paper or plastic.

(Option 1)  Lippage Removal / Concrete First Step:

1.      Attach the 70-grit Grindex (segmented-sintered) disks to the Velcro drivers.
2.      Make 5 slow passes with the Cimex. Keep the floor wet.
3.      Overlap 50% moving to your next row and then make 5 more slow passes.
4.      Repeat steps 2 & 3 across the entire floor.
5.      Make additional passes if required to remove lippage and scratches.
6.      Wet vacuum the slurry before it dries and rinse the floor.
7.      Stay approximately 5 inches away from the walls with this grit.
8.  Now you're ready to begin with the Starburst 50-grit resin diamond disks.
 

(Option 2)  Slight Lippage Removal / Deep Scratch Removal:

1.      Attach the 100-grit Metalex (metal bond) disks to the Velcro drivers.
2.      Make 5 slow passes with the Cimex. Keep the floor wet.
3.      Overlap 50% moving to your next row and then make 5 more slow passes.
4.      Repeat steps 2 & 3 across the entire floor.
5.      Make additional passes if required to remove scratches.
6.      Wet vacuum the slurry before it dries and rinse the floor.
7.     Stay approximately 5 inches away from the walls with this grit.
8.  Now you're ready to begin with the Starburst 50-grit resin diamond disks.
 

Step 1 Grinding & Scratch Removal:

1.      Attach the 50-grit Starburst resin-diamond disks to the Velcro drivers.
2.      Make 5 slow passes with the Cimex. Keep the floor wet.
3.      Overlap 50% moving to your next row and then make 5 more slow passes.
4.      Repeat steps 2 & 3 across the entire floor.
5.      Wet vacuum the slurry before it dries and rinse the floor.
6.      Stay approximately 5 inches away from the walls with this grit.
7.        Now do the edge grinding with the 50-grit FlexDisk and Palm Sander.

Step 2 Light-Grinding / Honing:

1.      Attach the 120-grit Starburst resin-diamond disks to the Velcro drivers.
2.      Make 5 slow passes with the Cimex. Keep the floor wet.
3.      Overlap 50% moving to your next row and then make 5 more slow passes.
4.      Repeat steps 2 & 3 across the entire floor.
5.      Wet vacuum the slurry before it dries and rinse the floor.
6.      Stay approximately 4 inches away from the walls with this grit.
7.      Now do the edge grinding with the 120-grit FlexDisk and Palm Sander.

Step 3 Honing:

1.      Attach the 220-grit Starburst resin-diamond disks to the Velcro drivers.
2.      Make 5 slow passes with the Cimex. Keep the floor wet.
3.      Overlap 50% moving to your next row and then make 5 more slow passes.
4.      Repeat steps 2 & 3 across the entire floor.
5.      Wet vacuum the slurry before it dries and rinse the floor.
6.      Stay approximately 3 inches away from the walls with this grit.
7.        Now do the edge grinding with the 220-grit FlexDisk and Palm Sander.

Step 4 Light Honing / Polishing:

1.      Attach the 400-grit Starburst resin-diamond disks to the Velcro drivers.
2.      Make 5 slow passes with the Cimex. Keep the floor wet.
3.      Overlap 50% moving to your next row and then make 5 more slow passes.
4.      Repeat steps 2 & 3 across the entire floor.
5.      Wet vacuum the slurry before it dries and rinse the floor.
6.      Stay approximately 2 inches away from the walls with this grit.
7.     Now do the edge grinding with the 400-grit FlexDisk and Palm Sander.

Step 5 Polishing:

1.      Attach the 800-grit Starburst resin-diamond disks to the Velcro drivers.
2.      Make 5 slow passes with the Cimex. Keep the floor wet.
3.      Overlap 50% moving to your next row and then make 5 more slow passes.
4.      Repeat steps 2 & 3 across the entire floor.
5.      Wet vacuum the slurry before it dries and rinse the floor.
6.      You can go all the way up to the walls with this grit.
7.     Now do the edge grinding with the 800-grit FlexDisk and Palm Sander.
 

Edge Grinding / Honing:

1.   Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a DeWalt 5" Heavy-Duty Random Orbit Palm Sander for $69.
2.  Use the thin resin-diamond FlexDisks for hand grinding. Attach each successive 5” FlexDisk directly to the bottom of the Palm Sander. The colors and grits of the FlexDisks match the Starburst disks and should be used in conjunction with the successive Cimex grinding steps.
3.  Repeat the Grinding/Honing steps the same as shown above using  the Palm Sander with each corresponding grit, moving progressively from 50-800. Keep the floor wet.
4.  Recover the water and slurry before moving to the next grit.

Powder Polishing:

1.  Put standard beige FiberPlus pads onto the Cimex.
2.  Spritz a 2’x3’ area of floor with a squirt bottle of water. Sprinkle about 1-2 tablespoons of 5X powder onto the floor like sprinkling parmesan cheese.
3.  Go over the floor slowly. Work the slurry outward spreading it over a 3’x5’ area. Spend at least 20 minutes or more polishing each 3'x5' section. The machine may begin to bind up as it dries. So you'll need to keep spritzing more water onto the floor to maintain wetness until you achieve a killer shine. If you should have to stop the machine during polishing, lift the Cimex head off of the floor. Work backward to polish over the Cimex wheel marks.
4.  Use a floor squeegee to transfer the slurry to the next section of the floor to be polished. Inspect the section you’ve just polished and if the desired shine has not occurred yet, repeat the process. After each section is finished, rinse it right away. Continue to use the 5X slurry on the next section of floor. Add more powder and water as needed to maintain coverage.
5.  After you’re finished polishing, put some fresh FiberPlus pads onto the Cimex, and scrub over the floor drenching it with water (add clear ammonia at 1oz per 5 gal to offset the acidity of the powder). Wet vacuum and rinse the floor. You may need to rinse the floor a couple of times with clean water to remove all slurry.

Dry Polishing:

Put a set of clean, dry, FiberPlus pads onto the Cimex. Run over the floor one time to buff off any haze left behind after rinsing. You can spritz a little water as you dry buff if necessary.
 

Diamond Abrasives, Polishing Powder, and Cimex Machines.

VISIT OUR: STONE CARE PRODUCTS PAGE and our CIMEX SPECIALTY BRUSH PAGE