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I have this floor in the entry foyer of my home. You can see there's a small portion (near the top of the photo) that is shiny, but most of it is dull and scuffed (like in the rest of the photo). How can I give it a mirror shine again?

floor

Here is another angle of the same portion of floor as in the first picture.

floor

I have never shined a floor before. This floor has looked like this since I bought it. I'm not even sure what to call this tile. I have some different tile in my kitchen and bathrooms, what I understand is ceramic tile, that is not meant to shine. Is this porcelain tile?

I thought I might rent a buffer from Home Depot like I saw maintenance workers use in my schools and office buildings, but then I saw this video trying to explain the difference between buffers and burnishers. I don't know which I need. I don't know what stripping the floor means. Do I need to do that?

That video says not to use buff spray, but to use a "restorer". When I search Home Depot for floor restorers, they're all for wood floors. So now I'm really lost.

I want a shiny floor. How do I do it?

John Freeman
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  • Why is there a sharp curved line in the upper third of the image where the lines between the tiles do not match? – Andrew Morton Nov 20 '21 at 20:03
  • That's the curved edge of the glossy tile floor, forming a step to another floor below (faux wood tile). I added another picture. – John Freeman Nov 20 '21 at 20:23
  • Oh, that makes it easier to see. Do you have a rich relative who you wish to, err, I meant, do not want to, slip to their unfortunate accidental untimely demise on a slippery floor? – Andrew Morton Nov 20 '21 at 20:53
  • Haha no, I just want it to look like new again. – John Freeman Nov 20 '21 at 22:09
  • It looks like stone or porcelain tile. You'd want to polish it probably your best bet it looking at how people polish concrete floors as that will walk you through rough to shiny. Probably you want a 5" angle grinder with diamond abrasives that go from 200 to 800 grit and walk through the grits. I'd get a similar piece of tile to work on that isn't part of your floor so you can get the hang of it and are reasonably confident of not messing up your floor worse than it is. – Fresh Codemonger Nov 21 '21 at 00:39

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