A blog reader submitted the following question to us: “After removing the grout from our natural stone polished tiles, and before sealing, they were a couple of small stains which were probably water. We used Cillit Bang to remove this but has made worse. Are there any products that could remove this?”
And our suggested course of action was as follows:
” Sorry to hear of your predicament. I am assuming that what you have is a ‘polished’ natural stone, such as marble or limestone. Let me first tell you that you are not the first person to do this by a long way. The product you mention contains an acid and although acids can help break down cement and grout, they should never be used as cleaners on acid sensitive stone, which is what you have.
What I suspect has happened is that you may or may not have fully removed the cement residue, but in attempting to do that, the cleaning product has etched the polished surface of the stone. Basically the polish is created by grinding and rubbing the stone at the factory with diamonds or silica carbide blocks, working first with coarse grit all the way down to the finest, just like using different sandpapers on wood to get a smooth finish. With the surface now super-smooth, it is very flat and reflects light very well, creating the full color reflection and high gloss finish of polished stone. The acid in the cleaner has instantly reacted with the calcium carbonate in the stone, eroding it away irregularly (eating small chunks of the surface) this has the effect of putting it back into a very rough and unpolished state.
So what can you do? well it depends on how bad it is and how wide spread. If you have only a few spots then you may be able to re-polish with a hand re-polishing cream such as Renue. If the etch marks are deeper than that, then you may need to have the stone diamond polished again – this is usually a job for a professional.
If you feel it is hand polish – able then you still need to get all the grout staining off. For this I would recommend MicroscrubTM – it is a safe abrasive cleaner that will help remove grout deposits without harming the stone. Do this then examine the stone to see how bad the etches are. If however you feel that there could be a significant amount of etching all over, then cleaning the grout is not so much of an issue, as if you have to resort to calling in a stone professional, the process will also remove any grout residue.
Let us know if we can be of any further help.”
Copyright Ian Taylor and The Tile and Stone Blog.co.uk, 2013. See copyright notice above.
I used cillet bang on the gritting on my floor tiles however it leaked out onto the tiles when I rinsed it off it left a dull stained on tiles how do I get rid of this and bring it back up shiner hope you can help me
Hi Brenda,
It is hard to know without knowing what your tiles are: glaszed, metalic glazed, porcelain, natural stone, polished marble etc.
Usually, the dulling you describe is a result of the acid in the cleaning product, etching the surface. If this has happened and it was a polished calcium based stone like marble, then there may be a way to re polish it with a polishing cream or hand diamonds but if it is a delicate glaze that has bee damaged, it is likely to be beyond repair.
the only other thing I ccan think of is maybe the acid has pulled some fine cement out of the grout joints and left a haze on the surface, this would be removable.
I need more information
Hope that helps
Ian
Hello.
After reading your other replies I understand what may have happened to my red quarry tiles.
I used the cillit bang to clean a build up of grime from old kitchen quarry tiles.there are squirt marks where the neat product contacted.
The white stains look as if they have bleached the colour rather than eroding the surface.
Only a few tiles are affected and all the tiles have a slight tone and colour variation so I am considering using a stain
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Hi Peter,
You know I am thinking that the ‘bleached’ areas might be where the product has been more concentrated, and had longer to work and could in fact be biting into some ingrained grime, grime that is still all over the rest of the tiles, sometimes powerful cleaners will turn the DIRT white as it sarts to break it down
so, it might be worth adding some more cleaner to one of the ‘damaged’ tiles – you can’t make it any worse, leave it on for a few minutes and scrub/rinse, see if the white goes (finishing the job it had only started – in other words the white mark was partially broken down grime, second attempt may remove the rest) if this is the case, then it is just telling you that you need to do a very deep clean on the floor with a strong alkaline cleaner or maybe even a stripper.
I find it quite unlikely that the product you used would actually whiten the actual quarry tile (the grout yes, but not the tile)
I would check this out first and come back to me if it is not conclusive
Hope this helps
Ian
i used cillit bang limescale and shine on bathroom tiles, looking back, big mistake i think my tiles had some kind of polished or glazed surface. (maybe porcelain). they now look terrible just looks like u can see where i sprayed it on, and looks like lots of runs down it. please help any suggestions as to what i can do???
Hi Lorna,
I would not expect too much damage to a glazed or polished tile from that product (usually it is the calcium based stones that are the issue such as marble and limestone) . However it may be that you have some calcium or hard-water/limescale marks on your tiles that were not noticeable, which this product has partially dissolved, then as it ran down your tiles, it left streaky deposits of the lime on the lower tiles.
Try a microabrasive cleaner to see if it will remove the calcium deposit off the tiles. You may indeed need to use a mildly acidic product such as the one you used, if so, make sure to pre-wet the surface first then apply the product, scrub and rinse straight away with clean water, then buff the walls dry with a towel.
Hope this helps
Ian
Hi there,
I used cillit bang to clean the tiles in our shower, I’m not sure what type of stone they are but they’re dark with a metallic finish. The product has left light streaky marks everywhere it was used and no amount of scrubbing with hot water will shift them. I fear the acid in the product has caused the damage, is there anything I can do to repair them?
Hi Claire,
I don’t know too many stone tiles with a metallic finish (not to say that some stones don’t have some metallic elements in their make up and there are certainly some stones that have this kind of look, some black slate has a silvery sheen to it for example). There are also ceramic tiles that have metallic glazes. Some of this materials can be sensitive to acids.
I would need to know a little bit more about exactly the material you have but it does sound like there is some damage. There is a slight possibility that the streaks are not damage, but either fine deposits of cement from the grout joints, (dissolved by the cleaner then left behind), or if the tiling/stone was not brand new, and you have a build up of calcium or hard water on the surface of the tile/stone then the streaks could actually be clean streaks (where the acid has eaten through the hard water deposit) I have seen this on occasions, the deposits build up over time so we don’t tend to notice them, until a cleaner such as this leaves ‘streaks’ where it has removed the deposit (reealing the tile/stone beneath).
This can also be true of new tiling where there was perhaps a fine film of cement grout left on the tiles, which has now been removed.
Hope this helps, if you can provide any m,ore information or photos I might be able to pin it down a little better
Kind regards
Ian
Hi Ian,
Many thanks for your speedy reply, I’ve since found out the tiles are actually porcelain and it seems the product has taken off the layer of lacquer/varnish. They are only a year old so my only thought was to contact the supplier to see if there’s anything they could recommend.
Thank you again for your advice.
Kind regards,
Claire
Hi Ian,
Where can I buy Renue? It doesn’t come up on my internet browser. Is there any other brand name that might do the same job.
Many thanks
Rosie
Hi Rosie, Unfortunately That is a product that to my knowledge is no longer being brought into Europe. there are other marble repolishing compounds and systems around but not as easy to use as that was
sorry
Ian
Hi Ian,
Our porch area has red Edwardian tiles which we cleaned sympathetically and over the years developed a nice sheen. Sadly a new cleaner spilt/was heavy handed with Cillit Bang… we have a nice dull area with splashes on the porch floor… how do we resurrect the floor… it is 6’x7′
Glad I stumbled on your blog.
Thanks in advance,
David
Hi David,
OK, hard to know 100% but my usual issue with this product (and others like it) is that it features acid as an active ingredient but they have a range of products under that brand now so I am do not know which one you have used. In any case,, although it is possible that acidic products (in conjunction with elbow grease and abrasive pads etc) can damage the surface of these older tiles, it is not that likely in my opinion. More likely is that the product has removed the patina that has built up.
I don’t think that there is a quick fix for this, over time your tiles have developed a nice patina and it will just take time for that to come back again. There is no product that will replace the patina – the only other options would be to strip the whole floor back to the same bare, mat appearance and then allow it all to build back up again over time (so evenly) or apply some kind of synthetic colour enhancer or surface coating – but these are drastic or at least pretty definite decisions and personally I think I would just allow it to be for a little while and see if it starts to improve – as a patina build back up again
Hope that helps
Ian
Thanks Ian… what did Edwardian’s traditionally “polish” their tiles with?
Kind regards
David
Good questions, not sure I know for sure, but wax / boot polish for a guess or candle wax, paraffin, oil etc.
You could try asking the very knowledgeable people at the Jackfield Tile Museum in Telford
Hope this helps
Ian
Many thanks Ian…
Kind regards
David
Hi. We used cillitbang on our kitchen top as we thought we had water stains and it has left it whiter than before. Any suggestions how to clean it off please?
OK, if it has left white marks they are most likely acid damage, ‘etching’ this is not a stain, but the actual damage and removal of fine surface particles, a bit like chemical sand-blasting – it leaves the surface ever so slightly rougher (which you may or may not be able to detect by touch) but it scatters light in a different way and so the colour and shine are affected. Depending on what material your top is made from (you don’t say), it may or may not be possible re-polish it.
Hope that helps
Ian
I used colitis bang on French terre cottage floor tiles and its left large white stains on all the rooms what can I do to restore them as it’s not my house. Help
Hi Stacey,
OK, the acidic nature of the cleaner has done something. What I don’t know, with it being terracotta, is if it has etched the tile itself, or something that is on the tile.
I would not expect the small amount of acid in the product to be enough to harm a typical terracotta material, as most are fairly insensitive to mild acids – but it is not impossible. If, and as I say it is a big if, the tile itself has been etched, then I do not think there is much that can be done, perhaps taking a small piece of very fine emery or wet & dry paper to the surface and lightly sanding may be worth a try.
However before you investigate that, I would look to see if there is another possible reason; namely that the cleaner has etched something that has been (which up to this point unnoticed) on the tile – so, for example, some kind of wax or acrylic coating or polish, or traces of the original cement/grout/ mortar residue.
If the former, (they don’t normally react with acids but could have been partially removed by the general cleaning nature of the product) – this may be a case of striping back the finish and then reapplying it (something that is required periodically on terracotta anyway) Or it may be possible to just apply a little more of whatever coating/treatment is on it and buff it back – worth a try, but you would need to know what was used.
If it is cement reside the this is perhaps the easiest to understand, the acid will react with and etc (make lighter, duller and partially remove – leaving grey-ish white patches). This then would necessitate the complete removal of any remaining grout haze/cement residue – ironically something that would require a mild acidic cleaner that is designed for such a purpose. After this, the terracotta would most likely need resealing/treating.
I hope this helps, the key here is trying to identify exactly what has happened, if you want to sen a photo or two no problem, it may help me see what has bee done.
Ian
Thanks for that I will give it a go.
Hi Ian
Not sure if you still track this thread – hope so!! Like many others on the thread, we have damaged our shower tiles using viakal. We don’t actually know what the tiles are made from – some kind of natural stone with a smooth surface. Not porcelain, not marble, shiny but not glazed… The viakal has left streaks below each tile – it looks like a residue but it’s hard to tell if it’s residue or etching. Any suggestions on how to identify the damage or how to fix the damage?
Thanks!
Laura
OK, couple of possibilities as you eluded to. COuld be etching – if the stone is an acid-sensitive type (so if not marble could be limestone or travertine etc) then there could be some damage. However, streaks could perhaps suggest that it is just the residue from whatever the vikal was cleaning, or it could have pulled cement from the grout and left it on the tiles. If you are in a hard water area (London?) then it might be that the vikal has just left ‘clean streaks’ by that I mean it might be that you have a dull hard water residue all over the stone and the streaks are where the acid cleaner has removed some.
Try rubbing your finger over the streaks, do they feel rougher or smoother than the tile surface? Try using some very mild abrasive like cif cream cleaner with a white nylon pad – see if that brings anything off – it might be that the residue can be rubbed off.
Try that and come back to me, if you can send a photo that might help
Hope that helps Ian
Hi Ian
Thanks for replying!
Having rubbed a finger across the damage, the white streaks seem to be raised vs the tile. If anything the tile underneath seems a bit smoother, but both seem fairly smooth.
There’s one particular area where it looks like a cloth/finger caught the white residue and wiped it off before it dried – there’s original, smooth, darker tile beneath? Which doesn’t seem like etching, nor does it seem like limescale being removed from the tile (as that would also leave the ‘clean’ area as the lower of the two surfaces). Which would leave residue I guess? However, the cif on a white cloth didn’t do anything to lift it – no change before and after. If it is cement/grout residue how would we go about getting it off?
Very happy to send photos – can’t see a way to upload them onto this comment box (unless I’m missing something!) – is there somewhere to upload them or an email address I could send them to?
Thank you again!!!!
Laura
Hi Laura
OK, it does sound like a residue of some kind. Might have to resort to something stronger -but that is going to depend on the tiles. Please send photos to info@allforstone.co.uk
I’ll take a look
Kind regards
Ian
Hi. Hope you can help me as I am at my wits end! I used some ecover soap floor cleaner on my tumbled cotswold stone floor using a mop and bucket and when it had dried it left lots of light speckles and long light ‘veins’ all over it (they almost look luminous in the sunlight!) The floor was not like this when we bought it (it has a kind of honeyed hue) They are not raised and are smooth and almost look bleached. I have tried cleaning it again but it is like the colour has been taken out so to no avail. Please help as it cost us a fortune. I have been in touch with ecover and am yet to hear a reply from them. Thanks in advance, Emily
Hi Emily,
OK, what I don’t know is what the stone has been treated with, has it been sealed? what with, was it waxed etc?
It appears that the floor cleaner you mention has linseed oil within it, and it is intended to leave a thin coating – like a sealer – it may be that your tiles are sealed and that is causing the linseed oil to be left on the surface in streaks. I would suggest washing the floor again, but not with that product, you are going t need something that has no wax/oil or other materials designed to be left behind. If you know that there is no other factory or installer-applied treatment on your floor (wax etc) then you could use an alkaline cleaner to try to remove the linseed. IF that does not work you may need to use a solvent like white spirit or a proprietary sealer stripper. We just don’t want to be stripping any finish that may be on the stone. As always try to do a small test somewhere inconspicuous first.
Hope that helps
Ian
Hi. Thanks for your quick answer. The floor had been sealed by us a long time ago but most of that had worn off. I have tried vigorously cleaning it again with another cleaner(s) and it cleaned the stone but did not get rid of the streaks. I even lightly sandpapered an inconspicuous bit but to no avail. Looks like maybe we will have to strip, clean and refinish the whole floor. Thinking about asking ecover to pay for that! Thanks for your advice, Emily
Hi, could viakal damage a stone resin shower tray (“Just Trays” fusion tray)? I have some orange staining which will not wipe off easily. The orange I think is from hard water / iron in the water, which is fine, but the surface looks a bit perished in that area which I think is how the orange is penetrating and difficult to wipe off. My wife thinks I have damaged the shower tray with Viakal limescale remover but I have been primarily applying this to the shower door, it’s hard to see why I’ve got a circular perished patch in the middle of the shower tray. Any ideas? Thanks
HI,
OK, at a quick glance – I suspect that the answer is no. Viakal is a blend of acids (Formic and citric according to the SDS I found) – but ABS plastic is reasonably good at resisting acids – Formic can slightly damage abs under prolonged exposure – so my guess is that is not the issue.
Other things such as alkalines and hydrocarbon solvents can affect it though.
I think I would contact the tray manufacturer and seek their advice.
Hope that helps
Ian
Hi i have tried to clean terracota floor tiles which were very dirty i used bleach poured it over and scrubbed but when its dry it has the marks were i poured it what can i do 😭😭
Hi, Sorry for the late reply. You might, just might have now got what appears to be a stain, but what is, in fact a clean spot. Albeit it a super pronounced one. You have cleaned intensely in one spot, removing surface dirt, and in all likelihood, also removing some of what ever sealer/oil/wax/finish that was on the terracotta. You will really have to clean back the rest of the tiles to the same level. So I would try an alkaline deep cleaner. Ours for example is called Xtreme Clean and can be found on the All for Stone Website. If that does not remove everything including the surface treatment, then you would need to move up to a stripper (such as out Strip-It). It can be quite a job and is made easier by hiring a rotary scrubber and wet vac for rinsing and extraction, especially on larger areas. Once yo have it stripped back and dry then you can look at re sealing it.
Hope that helps
Ian