Granite’s surface finishes

Once natural stone is extracted we have the chance to modify its aspect depending on what its future use requires.
When choosing the stone’s finish we need to consider several aspects:

• What are we going to use the stone for? Depending on its use, we will find more delicate finishes, like the ones we could use for kitchen countertops, for instance, or more robust ones, for garden limit walls.
• Where are we going to place the natural stone? Humidity, temperature or indoors/outdoors locations are elements that will affect our choice.

Finishes can be done in different ways for every side of the granite piece, so we could find a
polished side together with rustic ones.
What are the most common finishes? In our quarries, we offer the following ones:

BUSH-HAMMERED

Production: One of the most traditional ones, it is created by hitting granite manually with a bush hammer with steel heads.
Result: a flat surface with a certain rugosity

We advise it for: outdoors paving works such as those for squares, streets… since it becomes non-slip material in humid conditions. We don’t advise it for indoors purposes because of its rugosity or in any other place that needs to be cleaned frequently (same as flamed).

 

SAWN

Production: It is the result of cutting granite with a diamond-serrated disc or with steel hoops.

Result: Smoot, coarsed surface that doesn’t turn into a change of the natural colour and provides a high protection for granite exposed to weather conditions.

We advise it for: vertical indoors finishes and outdoors ones (like façades).

FLAMED

Production: It has to be made on previously serrated granite, by applying a high temperature that creates a thermal shock and therefore it detaches small fragments of granite.

Result: we will get a smooth surface, slightly rough with a mate, clear tone.

We advise it for: outdoors paving works such as those for squares, streets… since it becomes non-slip material in humid conditions. We don’t advise it for indoors purposes because of its rugosity or in any other place that needs to be cleaned frequently (same as flamed).

 

SHOT BLASTING

Production: it is the one you get by blowing compressed air through a steel shot at a very high speed.

Result: Final surface is similar to bush-hammered one with a visible relief that also looks uniform.

We advise it for: paving works and both outdoors and indoors purposes but, same as the bush-hammered, it is not advisable for indoors pavings or locations that require frequent cleaning.

RUSTIC

Production: It is a natural cut made with a shear with very little retouch, just a light hand planing

Result: The final surface is very rough and irregular

We advise it for: outdoors garden limit walls, paving works such as the ones made on the streets.

 

POLISHED

Production: It is made by polishing machines that apply grain metal shots, which results in a glazed side.

Result: we obtain a completely smooth and shiny surface that looks darker and with a very low porosity; closing pores offers a better resistance to external agents.

We advise it for: indoors paving or lining works, and specially for kitchen topcounters, the
most popular purpose.

HONED

Production: it is the result of abrasion applied with rotating grindstones with different gradings. The process is similar to polished, but it is not as shiny.

Result: We get a smooth, mate surface.

We advise it for: indoors paving works and façades

In our projects, most of them related to civil works, we frequently use flamed (the most popular one), followed by bush-hammered and shot blasting.