Ceramic Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of Ceramic Tile and Grout Cleaning/Renovation work carried out in Cambridge

Cleaning Ceramic Tiles

Ceramic tiles are usually fully glazed and so do not have any pores that dirt can become ingrained into, because of this they are easy to clean with Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner and are generally low maintenance. Textured ceramic tiles however are one exception, they have a rough surface in order to make them less slippery and are often used around wet areas such as swimming pools. Dirt is easily trapped in the textured surface and to get these clean requires a more intensive clean ideally using a rotating scrubbing pad.

Due to their low maintenance we rarely get called to deep clean Ceramic tiles however grout is a different case. The top layer of grout is actually porous and due to it being recessed we find when they are mopped it leads to a build-up of dirt on the grout causing it to discolour. This can be resolved using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and then once clean and fully dry, seal the grout with one coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal using a pipette.

Ceramic tiles are used a lot in bathrooms and shower cubicles where again we find it’s usually the grout or silicone sealant that discolours before the tiles do. In these cases we often find the appearance can be greatly improved with the use of a Grout Colourant and replacement of the silicone.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products


Mosaic Swimming Pool Tiles Before After Grout Haze Removal Sandy

Removing Grout from new Mosaic Swimming Pool Tiles

A tiling company were in touch last month with an urgent request to assist on a project that had just completed tiling a swimming pool at a house in Sandy which is just south of St Neots. The company had done a lovely job of tiling the pool with 60m2 of blue mosaic ceramic tiles however were having issues removing the grout that was smeared on the tiles.

Swimming Pool Before Grout Haze Removal Sandy Cambridgeshire
Grout has come on a long way in the last ten years and manufactures are producing some very durable products using modern ingredients such as a resin cement which has high water repellence characteristics. It was a product like this that had been used to grout the swimming pool however given the warm weather and the large tiling area involved it had dried quickly and set hard on the surface.

The tiling company was now struggling to remove the grout haze and naturally concerned the owner would not be impressed with the result quickly got in touch looking for a solution. We deal with these issues all the time so given the area involved and a photo of the pool I was able to provide a quote over email which was accepted, and I was booked in.

Removing Grout Haze from Mosaic Swimming Pool Tiles

My solution was to apply a product called Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which pretty much does what its name suggests. It contains concentrated phosphoric acid and a cleaning agent, a formula specifically designed to remove light grout smears (grout haze) but also effective on removing mineral deposits such as efflorescence, rust staining and hard water marks.

Working in sections the Grout Clean-up was diluted with water and sprayed onto the tile. It was left for a couple of minutes to soak into the grout smears and then worked in with a black scrubbing pad. I was able to use a floor machine for this at the bottom of the pool and smaller pads fitted to a hand buffer on the wall tiling. After agitation, the area was rinsed with water and the soil removed using our vehicle mounted extraction machine which is very effective.

Swimming Pool After Grout Haze Removal Sandy Cambridgeshire
The job took about ½ a day to complete and as you can image the tiling company was quite relieved, I had managed to resolve the problem, they even left the following feedback for me:

Left a lovely job, very happy with the finish, would definitely recommend.
 

Professional Removal of Grout Smears from Mosaic Swimming Pool Tiling

Removing Grout from new Mosaic Swimming Pool Tiles Read More »

=================================

Cambridge Tile Doctor

================================= Read More »

Scroll to Top