grout smears

Slate Shower Cubicle Renovation Attleborough

Removing Grout Haze from a Black Slate Shower Cubicle in Attleborough

This customer from Attleborough had a new shower installed with the walls clad in beautiful Black Slate tiles. Unfortunately, the installation of the tiles didn’t go according to plan and the Slate became stained with white crusty patches. The staining was completely resistant to any type of cleaning or limescale removal product leaving what was meant to be a very opulent shower cubicle looking very un-inviting.

Despite numerous consultations with the contractor, they were unable to resolve the problem or offer any solution that would renovate the stone and make it look as originally intended. Desperate for a solution she searched the internet, discovered Tile Doctor and I was asked to take a look and see what could be done. Attleborough is only about ten miles from my base in Norwich so its wasn’t long before I was able to pop round.

Slate Shower Cubicle Before Renovation Attleborough

After inspecting the installation, I ascertained that the problem here was two-fold. The primary problem was the installer and left a thin coating of grout on the surface of the Slate tiles. This is a common problem known in the trade as “grout haze” or “grout smears” and is usually removed afterwards by giving the tiles a good wipe down with a sponge. Clearly this wasn’t done sufficiently on this occasion. The second problem was the grout haze had provided the perfect moisture trap for the typical Norfolk hard water. Over a relatively short space of time, this trapped water had left hard limescale deposits which became firmly attached to the grout haze which, in turn, was firmly attached to the tile surfaces.

I mentioned earlier that my client had found that no amount of chemical cleaning could shift it. However, Tile Doctor products are designed for professional use and are far more powerful than those available in supermarkets and DIY stores. I also had available professional stripping and repolishing pads that can re-surface the stone so between the two I was confident of getting a good result and dramatically improving the condition of the shower cubicle walls.

Removing White Stains from a Black Slate Tiled Bathroom

The first job was to apply a liberal coat of Tile Doctor Acid Gel, which owing to its thick consistency, is the perfect choice for dissolving calcium-based contaminants on vertical surfaces. This coat was allowed to dwell on the tiles and in the grout lines for around thirty minutes with periodic agitation using a firm bristled grout and scrubbing brush. The solution was then rinsed off with clean water.

The process removed a considerable amount of the limescale but there was still a fair amount visible on the tiles particularly around the tap fittings. A further coat of Acid Gel was applied and again allowed to dwell for another thirty minutes before scrubbing vigorously using a black stripping pad fitted to a handheld Rotex random orbit polisher. After rinsing once again we found that all the limescale deposits and grout haze had been removed successfully.

The whole area was then dried off using a hot air gun and at this point the Slate had become pale and dry-looking after all the aggressive cleaning. Black slate is a type of oil stone which can often have its oil content stripped out by both chemical and physical cleaning.

Sealing Black Slate Bathroom Tiles

I had anticipated this issue however and the solution was to replace the lost oil in the stone using Tile Doctor Stone Oil which is a resin-based pre-polish sealer. It’s formulated to restore the slate’s attractive deep Black colour, improve the surface texture and seal against water absorption. I allowed the oil to soak in for a few minutes and then wiped off all excess product remaining on the surface before leaving it alone to cure for a couple of hours.

Once the oil had cured, the water resistance was then further enhanced by the application of a coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is a penetrating sealer designed for both interior and exterior applications. Finally, once the topcoat of Ultra-seal had dried, with some assistance from an industrial fan, the surface was buffed to a rich sheen using the Rotex polisher and a white nylon pad.

Slate Shower Cubicle After Renovation Attleborough

The client was very impressed by the finished result and hadn’t realised that her slate tiles actually had some flame-like pattern variation in their surface which had always been hidden before by the grout haze and limescale deposits.

For the aftercare of shower tiles, especially stone I recommend regularly spraying on a product called Tile Doctor Aqua-Pro which is a mild cleaner designed for use where the tiling has been sealed. A lot of tile cleaning products you find are simply too strong for use on sealed surfaces and can erode the sealer over time.

 

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Limestone Kitchen Floor Tiles Before and After Renovation Brockdish

Pale Limestone Floor Tile Installation Issues Resolved in Brockdish

If you have a pale stone floor such as this Limestone floor at a property in Brockdish you will find this article very interesting. Let me start by saying it’s always recommended that natural stone tiles such as Travertine or Limestone should be sealed after laying but before grouting. This is particularly important if the stone is very pale in colour as the water from the grouting compound can soak into the edges of the porous tiles leading to dark staining around the edges of each tile – this is referred to as “picture-framing” which is virtually impossible to correct as the staining is present throughout the whole depth of the tile.

Limestone Floor Before Renovation Brockdish

Also, without the protection of a sealer smears of grout left on the surface of the stone after grout can be extremely difficult to remove. This problem is often called “grout haze” or “grout smears” which you will find is slightly rough to the touch and because of this attracts dirt easily giving the pale floor a very unappealing dirty appearance which is impossible to wash away with generally available cleaning chemicals.

In this case, and to avoid the problem with picture-framing, our client had decided to apply a penetrating sealer all-round the edges of each of the tiles using a paint brush to ensure a thorough soaking. Unfortunately, he left the main body of the tiles unprotected and although he was able to wipe away grout from around the edges of the tiles it left a fine, slightly opaque film of grout in the middle which set and became firmly bonded to the tile surface.

Initially, all seemed to be fine but shortly afterwards our client noticed that the floor appeared to be developing lighter patches around the tile edges and the grout lines were becoming noticeably dirty; in reality, what was actually happening was that the middle area of the tile contaminated by grout haze were becoming dirtier by the day, whilst the sealed outer edges were responding well to cleaning. Additionally, because the grout itself had not been sealed the dirt from cleaning was becoming stained with the dirt that had been washed into the recesses during cleaning

Ordinarily, the way to correct a grout haze issue is to apply an acidic solution to the haze which dissolves the calcium-based grout material and makes it simple to rinse away; this is fine on ceramic tiles but can cause all sorts of surface etching issues and problems if the tile material is also a calcium-based stone like travertine or limestone. It was at this point that our client decided to get some help from a stone flooring renovation specialist such as ourselves.

Removing Grout Haze and Dirt from Pale Limestone Tiles

Having contacted us through the Tile Doctor website and after a brief exchange of emails, it was obvious to me what the problem was, and being aware of the issues surrounding Limestone I was soon able to propose an effective solution.

Our first job was to apply a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is an alkaline cleaning product designed for use on tile, stone, and grout. I used a strong dilution and applied it by hand to all the grout lines where it was allowed to dwell and soak in before being briefly agitated using a long-handled grout brush. Pro Clean is an extremely effective degreasing cleaner and, at higher concentrations, can also be used to strip acrylic floor finishes. It was the ideal product for sorting out the grout issues and in this instance made quick work of lifting the soiling pout of the grout lines.

Rather than rinsing the Pro-Clean away, we left it in contact with the floor and proceeded to cut the surface using a Tile Doctor 400 grit diamond burnishing pad fitted to our 17″ Klindex rotary machine. These coarse diamond pads applied in conjunction with the Pro-Clean removed all the grout haze and soiling. The resulting slurry was then power rinsed and extracted away using a Ninja 400psi machine, leaving the grout clean and the once picture-framed tile surface with an even and consistent colour.

After the application of the coarse pad, it was time to restore the appearance of the stone and bring up the polish, first with an 800-grit diamond burnishing pad followed by a 1500-grit, power rinsing and extracting between the stages. This left the floor completely clean with the beginnings of a pleasing overall sheen. We then left the floor to dry out thoroughly overnight with assistance from our large capacity dehumidifier.

Sealing a Pale Limestone Tiled Floor

On our return the following day, we were pleased to find that the Limestone had dried up extremely well which we confirmed by taking moisture content readings with our damp meter just to make certain that it was ready to have a sealer applied.

Before sealing, the surface sheen was improved further by spray burnishing the stone using the Klindex rotary fitted with a Tile Doctor 3000-grit burnishing pad. Lubricated by a fine mist of plain water from a trigger bottle this process raised the sheen level to a more noticeable shine and brought out areas of visually pleasing coloured veins within the structure of the stone which had been completely invisible up to now.

Having completed the burnishing, we applied a liberal coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is a penetrating sealer approved for use in food preparation areas which provides excellent fluid resistance yet is almost invisible. Having allowed the limestone to soak up as much of the sealer as it could, the excess product was removed, and the floor left to cure for an hour.

Limestone Floor After Renovation Brockdish

We then finished the process by spray buffing the floor with a white nylon buffing pad to remove any smears left by the sealing process and to polish the floor to a rich shine. Once vacuumed thoroughly, we conducted a series of fluid resistance tests to ensure that the whole floor had been sealed properly against liquid spills and our work was done leaving behind a very pleased, impressed, and grateful client.

For aftercare cleaning of a polished stone like this floor I recommend the use Tile Doctor Stone Soap which gently cleans the floor whilst helping to maintain the patina.

 

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