Faux marble floor cleaning

[Steve Lawrence]

Greetings,

I've been requested to clean and seal grout for this tile floor at an apartment community center. The floor was just cleaned and sealed (customer is attempting to find out exactly what was used to clean and seal) but the results were not acceptable as the grout lines are still pretty dirty.

Customer also does not know what the flooring material is. It appears to be a faux marble as it is very shiny and hard but has a pure white uniform appearance, no striation like natural stone would have. Customer thinks it may be porcelain or ceramic. We are trying to find that out, too.

Do any of you have experience with this type of floor? If so, do you know what it is and have any suggestions for effective cleaning products. We will likely use oxyblaster mixed with tile detergent from Cobb's, Turbo and TM. We're going to do a test to see if we can bust through that sealer and successfully remove soil in the grout lines.

Thanks for any help.

Steve

View attachment 1904View attachment 1905View attachment 1906

 

[Rob Fairfield]

At first glance I thought it might be a thassos marble but the level of light being reflected is higher than the general reflection you see from this stone. The grout joints seam to be fairly wide and the grout looks to be sanded. Both point to porcelain or ceramic tile. I believe your customer is correct. Does it have a crystalline look to it? Even if by chance it is thassos your cleaning procedures wouldn't change. What kind of sealer is on it? Why do you have to break through it? Unless it is topical, like a wax of some sort it shouldn't have any bearing on cleaning the grout. If you can't get to the dirt enough to satisfy your customer hard water deposits that have bonded to the grout over time is most likely the reason.

 

[J Scott W]

It looks like porcelain to me, not natural stone. Porcelain will not absorb any sealer. Sealer will just look hazy. It should be on the grout lines but no on the tile. If there is sealer on the tile, use an alkaline cleaner (In our line Viper Venom) or floor finish stripper and a brush or pad similar to stripping finish from a VCT floor.

Grout is so porous it can have deep stains that won't come out short of physically removing the grout or hiding them with a color seal. You might test a few products along with a grout brush and see what progress you can make. Just do a small area and check the results. Likely the original cleaning was done with an alkaline. Try Hydro-Force Peroxibright Powder for the acid side plus a peroxide brightener.

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

While cleaning did you see any difference in the grout lines coming cleaner? Did you do a test spot with acid after you cleaned?

 

[Mikey P]

I've cleaned that stuff before in a Tile retailers showroom


have no fear.

 

[Steve Lawrence]

At first glance I thought it might be a thassos marble but the level of light being reflected is higher than the general reflection you see from this stone. The grout joints seam to be fairly wide and the grout looks to be sanded. Both point to porcelain or ceramic tile. I believe your customer is correct. Does it have a crystalline look to it? Even if by chance it is thassos your cleaning procedures wouldn't change. What kind of sealer is on it? Why do you have to break through it? Unless it is topical, like a wax of some sort it shouldn't have any bearing on cleaning the grout. If you can't get to the dirt enough to satisfy your customer hard water deposits that have bonded to the grout over time is most likely the reason.

I should get more information about the floor and what was done to it soon.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll post again when I get some more info or after I test.

 

[Steve Lawrence]

Okay, I got some info on the products used by the cleaner who couldn't solve the problem.

For a cleaning product he used something called GFCR, whatever that is.

The sealant that he applied over the dirty grout line was 511 Miracle Impregnator.

Has anyone ever had to dissolve that 511 stuff to clean grout? What might work?

 

[ted mcfadden]

511 impregnator is a silicone based penetrating sealer. If you are going to be using a high alkaline and/or an acid on this you dhouls not have a problem with it. It looks to be like this floor has been abused a little. The grout looks like the color of concrete.

I am curious as to the grout color that was chosen. All the whites (except bright white) from Customs and many other manufacturers are darker white than this tile. The grout as presented in the pictures, actually looks Antique White to me. If that is the case you may wish to explain the limitations of cleaning and offer color sealing. Color sealing guarantees the results that your customer may be expecting (which is usually just this side of perfection).

 

[Ron Lippold]

I believe gfcr is a acid based grout haze remover. 511 impregnator is easy to dissolve, I like a product from husky I think it's called 410.

 

[ted mcfadden]

I use Dicone to remove 511. It is a silicone digest-ant. Spray it on scrub it, vacuum it, rinse it, and done.

http://www.prosoco.com/Products/f6df7cd4-4a03-4d4f-a490-19e68fc6cfa4

On closer look, this appears to be Glassos.

 

[Cameron DeMille]

Ted might be right with the Glassos. It's manufactured hard surface, but you can still damage it. Treat it like natural stone.

 

[dealtimeman]

Thank you, I think he might be able to clean it now with that information you have provided!

 

[markspend01]

Hey Bruce well I think that the important point to use an acid after cleaning.Thanks for sharing!!

 

[markspend01]

Hey Bruce well I think that the important point to use an acid after cleaning.Thanks for sharing!!

Limestone Benchtops