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Frequently Asked Questions – Grout Sealer – Do I Need To Seal My Grout?

March 22, 2008 / / 2 Comments

This is a very frequently asked one. The answer is that if you use a Grout Sealer then this will help keep the grout looking like new for a longer period of time. It will also make the cleaning process much easier because any dirt will be kept at the surface and hence will be easier to wipe away. Using grout sealer will also prevent the growth of mildew because the pores in the grout will be sealed and make it much tougher for mildew and mould spores to prosper.

Copyright Ian Taylor and The Tile and Stone Blog.co.uk, 2013. See copyright notice above.

Porcelain Tiles – Are They All They Seem? Part 2

March 14, 2008 / / 2 Comments

When Porcelain tiles were first launched, they were produced by just a few companies in Italy and they set pretty exacting standards. The resulting products had the following typical characteristics:

  • The tiles were much more dense and harder-wearing
  • They could be coloured in a much greater variety of shades, opening up design possibilities
  • They had extremely low water absorption figures for example, they could have a WA figure of 0.5% or lower compare this with 2 -3 % for a typical unglazed quarry tile of the time.
  • All the advantages of being unglazed (better slip resistance, harder wearing) without the colour or design restrictions
  • They could also be glazed

These first generation porcelain tiles were easy to keep clean and in general were so dense and non-porous that they did not need sealing. However, things have changed, a lot. In future articles I will discuss each of the issues in greater detail but for now at least anyone considering buying porcelain (and as more and more factories are switching to porcelain production, it almost unavoidable) should be aware of the following ‘potential’ issues.

As the popularity of porcelain has grown, and with the growth in the worldwide economies, there has been huge increase in porcelain production, all over the world; the biggest producer now by far is no longer Italy but China. With this proliferation, comes a greater variety of standards and quality control. Companies looking for a competitive advantage or areas where they can cut costs can take seemingly small short-cuts or use lower cost raw materials and/or production equipment and machinery, all of which can result in issues such as:

  • Staining, due to exposed micro pores in polished porcelain
  • Fine scratches due to poor polishing quality control
  • White marks fused to the surface (from ‘kiln release’ transfer off the back of the next ‘tile in the stack’)
  • Grid-mark impression in the face. Again from the back of adjacent tiles
  • General cleaning issues of standard finish porcelain due to micro-surface texture
  • Factory-applied wax coatings that can be difficult to remove
  • Residues from factory-applied nano-sealers

In future articles, I will look at the causes and some possible solutions to these issues but for now the phrase “buyer beware” comes to mind.

Copyright Ian Taylor and The Tile and Stone Blog.co.uk, 2013. See copyright notice above.

Porcelain Tiles –Are They All They Seem? Part 1

March 12, 2008 / / 2 Comments

There is much debate about Porcelain Tiles at the moment and it is a subject that I will no doubt return to again and again in the future but I wanted to give an overview to begin with. Look on any tile-related forum, walk into any tile shop, read the trade press etc. and you will see references to porcelain tiles, and increasingly, to a number of associated problems and issues. So what are the issues?
The main ones are:

1. Do they need sealing?
2. How do I get them clean?
3. How do I keep them clean?

In order to answer these questions we need to understand a little about the history of porcelain tiles, what they are, how they have evolved and that is what I hope to do in this article. So what is a porcelain tile? Well defining porcelain today is part of the problem. We need to look back at when it was first invented, or at least when it was launched commercially.

Back in the Early ‘80s, a few companies in Italy started to produce ceramic materials with a number of perceived advantages over the traditionally produced ceramics. Up to this point, ceramic tiles were typically glazed or unglazed, with the glazed types offering more design possibilities but the unglazed being more durable and harder wearing, especially on floors as there was no glaze to wear off. But, the unglazed tiles of the time were very limited in terms of design as they were basically restricted to the colour of the clays from which they are made. These clays could be tinted a little and different firing methods could induce shade variations but the designs and available colours were not wide-ranging. Another disadvantage the unglazed tiles have over the glazed variety is that they tend to be harder to keep clean and some could be quite porous which makes staining a real possibility. Part 2 to follow

Copyright Ian Taylor and The Tile and Stone Blog.co.uk, 2013. See copyright notice above.

Cleaning Slate – Expert Advice on Cleaning Slate and Slate Floors – Part 2 »

March 10, 2008 / / 88 Comments

Some detailed instructions with regard to cleaning slate floors:

If the slate floor is adversely covered in cement or grout residue:

1. Use water to pre-wet the floor.

2. Apply some phosphoric acid-type cleaner solution to the floor – mixed with 1 part cleaner to 5 parts water to begin. (You can use a stronger mix if required). **PLEASE NOTE: Always conduct a small test on a relatively inconspicuous section of the floor first, before you begin.

3. Leave the cleaner to dwell on the floor for a few minutes

4. Agitate the floor and cleaning solution with a scrubbing brush (nylon bristle and not metal).

5. Soak up the cleaning solution remaining on the floor. Rinse well with fresh water, agitating again so you can get rid of any residual acid cleaner.

6. Make an assessment of the floor at this stage. You may need to apply an additional treatment of the cleaner.

If your slate floor only requires routine cleaning we would recommend a neutral cleaner like Ezy Clean by All for Stone – this is a mild cleaner and is safe and suitable for cleaning slate on a regular basis.

For more intensive slate cleaning, where the dirt is not mineral- based, we would recommend the use of a heavy-duty alkaline cleaner like Xtreme Clean. This a powerful cleaner and degreasing solution. When applied to the floor, leave to dwell for between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on how bad the contamination. Then agitate by scrubbing with a nylon or natural bristle scrubbing brush. Clean up remaining the dirty solution and rinse well with clean water.

The critical elements here are the dwell time and the rinsing. Alkaline-cleaning solutions need time to work. Once you have “extracted” the dirt from the floor it will be suspended in the solution so you absolutely must remove it – on no account leave it to dry naturally.

Copyright Ian Taylor and The Tile and Stone Blog.co.uk, 2013. See copyright notice above.
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