Porcelain tile problem

[hogjowl]

Really shiney tile in a Chevrolet dealership. New construction. Only been down a couple of months. They say it has a haze from some "epoxy". I am assuming it is an epoxy grout haze they can't remove. The mfg. has had them try several things, but the only thing they have used that worked was Bar Keeper's Friend ... according to the caller. She said the problem was Bar Keeper's Friend also turned the grout dark. Not to mention the fact that they are tired of being on their hands and knees scrubbing.

Any suggestions of what I can try?

Are there things I need to avoid ... like can an acid be used on this?

 

[davegillfishing]

If it were me I'd hit it with some powermax and 800 psi with the turbo!!

 

[KP]

Acid will not hurt or help it Merty.Miracle makes an epoxy haze remover, as Im sure there are others.Remind me never to buy a Chevy in Alabama.

 

[clean image]

shinny porcelain, is it polished or a glazed porcelain
some polished, no glaze, can have problems out of box. some honed porcelain can be a nightmare, with sub surface pores
epoxies can be effected by strong acids, soften them
with large expanse of tile, with allot of light, it will be unforgiving
find out what kind of epoxy if possible, and what manu recommends.
I would try as above, alkaline, and turbo, then to a polishing compound for porecelain to mechanically remove, chemicle last, as true epoxy takes the nasty stuff to remove

 

[Lance Golden]

If it is an "epoxy", I have used this to remove, Poly's and epoxy... and I have used it indoors...

http://www.jracenstein.com/item/89-860/bio-solv-acetone-replacement-pt/

 

[Charlie Lyman]

I've been taking this stuff off of these tiles in some apartments:

They told me it was Epoxy. I've been using powermax and a lot of dwell time. PSI at 1000 and go over it slowly. One apartment was real bad and I had to bust out some floor stripper.
Cool thing is no one else could get it to budge. Now I got the whole complex for move outs. Carpet and tile.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

Marty I have a huge office space here with some shiny porcelain. Put alkaline of your choice, dwell, Whittaker and extract 800-1200 psi.

You will prob take the haze off fine. Then the first time they mop a haze will be back. My place here even haze's up from clearwater mop.

Just another smuck selling someone crap.

 

[boazcan]

I've been taking this stuff off of these tiles in some apartments:

They told me it was Epoxy. I've been using powermax and a lot of dwell time. PSI at 1000 and go over it slowly. One apartment was real bad and I had to bust out some floor stripper.
Cool thing is no one else could get it to budge. Now I got the whole complex for move outs. Carpet and tile.

Strong strippers have been the most successful for me over the years. Some aggitation. Test it yourself with acid first to see if it reacts. If it does use it, if not put it up and grab the stripper.





Sent from my GT-P5113

 

[hogjowl]

I still have not seen this job. I go out there later today, but she called me back yesterday afternoon and informed me that the haze was not on the gloss finished tile, but it's on the matte finish tile in the back. So, am I thinking correctly that it's probably something fairly easy to remove that mopped off the gloss tile, but is in the pores of the matte finish? I will be happy as a lark if it just spinner up with a bit of alkaline pretreatment.

 

[hogjowl]

I still have not seen this job. I go out there later today, but she called me back yesterday afternoon and informed me that the haze was not on the gloss finished tile, but it's on the matte finish tile in the back. So, am I thinking correctly that it's probably something fairly easy to remove that mopped off the gloss tile, but is in the pores of the matte finish? I will be happy as a lark if it just spinners up with a bit of alkaline pretreatment.

 

[hogjowl]

Good grief ... I just went and looked at the job. It's dirt. Just dirt. Mop on some Oxyblaster, might have to scrub it a little and rinse with my spinner. I sure love it when customers attempt to do it themselves. They usually talk themselves into thinking it's a much bigger problem than it actually is. Oh, and the floor has only been down 5 weeks, not months. 5 weeks and it is filthy!

So, this 2500 to 3000 s.f. of tile is going to pay me very well, AND will be a case for continual maintenance.

You just can't beat that.

 

[Connor]

You just can't beat that.

Obviously you haven't heard of essential services, that's when you get paid when people use their cell phone or electricity.

 

[hogjowl]

Is that one of those Brian thingys?

 

[Art Kelley]

I will be happy as a lark if it just spinners up with a bit of alkaline pretreatment.

Sounds like a dream job.

[video=youtube_share;D-J9MBg7aIo]http://youtu.be/D-J9MBg7aIo[/video]

 

[FB7777]

Well thanks for bringing this non problem to the board so everyone can speculate on the possibilities,before you have the sense to take a peek or better yet take your Alabama Polaroid out to show people in case you're still stumped

I am impressed you figured out it was dirt tho

Great job sparky

 

[hogjowl]

The whole purpose of this thread was to get you to talk to me.

Thank you. My life is now complete.

 

[BLewis]

Congrats on the big paying job! Can you buy my wife a new pair of shoes? Her feets getting cold this winter! lol

 

[Mikey P]

Is the grout color a close match to the tile color?

Grout haze will soil quicker and darker than the tile will. The soil will clean right off BUT the haze is still there and will resoil again quickly..

 

[hogjowl]

The tile is a buckskin color and the grout is like a dark gray. The tiles I cleaned look to be haze free this morning.

I suspect resoiling will always be a problem due to the environment ... and possibley grout haze residue.

7966 s.f of resoiling tile ...

I am thinking I will probably average 400 s.f. per hour ... since I have to scrub the tile first ... so if that figure is correct, it's gonna take me 20 hours to clean this floor.

YIKES!

 

[Mikey P]

What will you be scrubbing with?

 

[hogjowl]

175 and a green pad.

 

[Mikey P]

If you see yourself becoming a tile f@g get a Malgrit Brush for your 175 from Jon Don..the ultimate scrubber

 

[Blue Monarch]

X2

 

[hogjowl]

That brush suggestion got my interest and I went to Jon-Don and pulled up a picture of it. I though I had seen that brush before and got to thinking ... I went to the storage area of my office and started digging around. I found one that I have had for years and years and just forgot about.

How does my 400 s.f. per hour figure sound ... accurate?

 

[Mikey P]

No chimp? Yes 400 to 500 at best if you need the mop down the client, scrub and rinse.
With your spawn along you could do twice that

Are you resealing the grout?

 

[Mikey P]

No chimp? Yes 400 to 500 at best if you need the mop down the client, scrub and rinse.
With your spawn along you could do twice that

Are you resealing the grout?

 

[hogjowl]

Depending on when they schedule it, I will have my boy along with me. He needs the money and I need his help.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

Take a helper and get it down to 10 hours. Just be careful with the Malgrit, it will do alittle slinging if go thru a puddle of cleaner. 2 of us used to do 3000sqft of trashed hotel lobby tile in 4.5 hrs.

Mopped and scrubbed with Host machine, While I ran the spinner and edged.

 

[hogjowl]

Thanks Brad ... now that I think about it ... I believe I threw that brush into the storage room for that exact reason.

 

[mcatt]

Powermax