Recommendations for what to do with this stone floor

[FloppySock]

Hi all,

We've tackled the living room, bedrooms and bathroom and now we're ready to tackle the kitchen/dining room and looking for opinions on what to do with the floor. I've attached a picture to show the current state of it.

This was originally just a dining room with the kitchen in the extension, but we're going to bring the kitchen into the dining room with the existing kitchen being more of a utility space with the washer, fridge, dishwasher & leaving the sink in there.

The dining room will become the cooking area of the kitchen diner with a range cooker in the chimney breast (will be boarded and plastered when I have the gas supply moved), and units around the top and right hand walls. Then a dining table towards the left where the pic was taken from. We were originally going to lay laminate down on the assumption there'd be a plain old concrete floor underneath.

We ripped the carpet up and the floor is made up of large stone slabs which are in decent condition in some areas, but the cement (or whatever it is in between) is chipped in a lot of areas. Were thinking we may just leave the floor exposed as it does make a nice feature and when polished, reflects the light quite nicely.

The question is, what steps should we take to best clean up the flooring to smooth it out and be more presentable. Is it worth laying a clear epoxy resin floor or something like that? Is it worth trying to 'diy' it or do you think it's best I just call in a flooring specialist in order to get a good finish?

Is it worth it or am I better off just looking into other flooring options?

Sorry for the pic - it's the only one I had saved on my phone. Room is approx 4mx4m

 

[StephenStephen]

I'm no expert, but if it were me, I'd try cleaning the stones up (start somewhere less visible) with hydrochloric acid (spirit of salts) - the fumes are pretty dangerous, and it will eat the cement and your hands, so be careful. If it works, I'd then clean up the mortar between slabs, and be looking for a decent penetrating stone sealant, and then a nice rug to cover up any dodgy bits.