Hi. I am a mum of 3 young kids. I've just had a new kitchen and extension and got a lovely, porcelain tiled floor throughout. Unfortunately though the tiles are hideous to clean! I actually have to scrub them with a scourer and fairly strong grout remover every time I need to clean them, which is pretty labour intensive a couple of times a week. Just mopping does not get off any dirt. This has only started since we sealed them, as they were initially unsealed tiles. We used the HG sealer for porcelain tiles. I don't know what to do to make them better! They are slightly non slip, but I don't understand why they were ok to clean before they were sealed as, if anything, they were a bit more abrasive. Any suggestions to make my life easier and help me to LOVE my tiled floor (I hate it right now), very gratefully appreciated.

can you tell us what the tiles are? ( where purchased, name etc) ?

Hi, I have been tiling for 25 years, i have not once recommended to seal a porcelain tile, granted, some manufacturers may recommend that you do, but personally i don't see the point, there are products out there that strip sealer off tiles, if it was easier to clean before you sealed them i would advise that you do that and see how you go, you can always reseal them at a later date if the outcome is not satisfactory, hope this has helped, kind regards, Jason

what about polished porcelain Jason? the polishing process opens up microscopic pores in the surface that grout, dirt bacteria etc get embedded into.

As i said Doug, some manufacturers recommend you seal them

so you still dont seal jd? even if its reccomended on some polished porcelain?

MMmmm, stain test for me, I've known some unsealed porc take a battering from all sorts of materials and liquids and they come off unscathed, others that I've fixed ..................... well let's say that I only marked them once over the cut line.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi. I am a mum of 3 young kids. I've just had a new kitchen and extension and got a lovely, porcelain tiled floor throughout. Unfortunately though the tiles are hideous to clean! I actually have to scrub them with a scourer and fairly strong grout remover every time I need to clean them, which is pretty labour intensive a couple of times a week. Just mopping does not get off any dirt. This has only started since we sealed them, as they were initially unsealed tiles. We used the HG sealer for porcelain tiles. I don't know what to do to make them better! They are slightly non slip, but I don't understand why they were ok to clean before they were sealed as, if anything, they were a bit more abrasive. Any suggestions to make my life easier and help me to LOVE my tiled floor (I hate it right now), very gratefully appreciated.

A number of options...

1: could be transit wax and sealing will not do anything.

2: did you buff off excess sealer before it dried..?

Originally Posted by jdceramics

Hi, I have been tiling for 25 years, i have not once recommended to seal a porcelain tile, granted, some manufacturers may recommend that you do, but personally i don't see the point, there are products out there that strip sealer off tiles, if it was easier to clean before you sealed them i would advise that you do that and see how you go, you can always reseal them at a later date if the outcome is not satisfactory, hope this has helped, kind regards, Jason

Oh how many times we have heard that old phrase...

Just because you have done it your way for X amount of years does not make it the right way Jason... we are all here to learn and maybe you can as well.. but as Doug has said the polishing process open pores and a suitable sealer does make the cleaning of this type of tile easier and it isn't just to seal the tile but to aid maintenance..

I agree, we are all here to learn, my advice may be wrong if it is polished porcelain, but if it isnt??????????

That old Phrase Dave.

I was tiling my mates kitchen floor about 5/6 years back, tiles over tile, they were rock solid but they had a glaze on them, I gave them a going over with a grinder to give a better key, nothing too severe.

Ideally i would have lifted them but they just wouldnt come up.

The night before i was due to start my mate said to me, "spoke to the tiler at our work & hes been tiling for 20 years & said just to PVA the tiles & they would be ok, no need to go at them with a grinder.

Experience counts for nothing if you have been taught wrong to start with.

Originally Posted by jdceramics

I agree, we are all here to learn, my advice may be wrong if it is polished porcelain, but if it isnt??????????

that's what I was trying to find out from original poster Jason, in my first post in this thread, if it was or wasn't polished porc, then we could take it from there

sorry doug, your post wasnt up when i posted mine

I've been tiling for 38years and I only listen to the WIFE!

nice 1 timeless,

I know of two shops who sell the same polished porcelain and one says seal and the other say not to. lol.
I'v seen sealed and unsealed and not much difference i say.

It sounds to me that as Dave asked - there must be excess sealer left to dry. We may need to know what sealer was applied to find out how to remove it. Sometimes you can re-activate old sealer with more of the same sealer then remove excess with a rag or buffer before it dries.

Originally Posted by timeless john

I've been tiling for 38years and I only listen to the WIFE!

I was going to say the same thing but would add.........I wish I'd listened her her mother......

LOl at these answers. Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. Birthdays, xmas, and obviously a lot kitchen floor scrubbing. Anyway, perhaps it is excess sealer as my hubbie did the sealing. They are Kerapen porcelain tiles, made in Spain. They say frost proof so maybe they are also suitable for outdoors (though they are quite thin). They are a tiny bit abrasive. I got them from Al Murad tiles on the A12 near Redbridge. They told us to seal them as did the builder. We used HG sealer. It did make the floor look lovely, brought out more of the colour. And before, when I mopped, you could see the mop marks when the floor dried. The sealing has stopped that happening - though to be honest, mop marks are better than difficult to remove dirt.

Would this be excess sealer? I can see now (after a good few scrubbings) patches where the sealer seems to be coming off. I was worried that the sealer was completely coming off, but maybe it's just the excess. I also bought some stainguard? Haven't used it yet? Would you recommend I don't? The tiles do get a lot of dirty traffic as they come right off the garden and also the sink/ cooker area which always gets filthy.

Thanks so much for your time. And yes, always do what your wife says!!

Oh the sealer was an HG porcelain sealer

It's great when there is a follow up as I often forget what advice I've given and in this case - None.

So if you go down the route of Dave and Topshop, reactivate the excess sealer and buff off.

I used to use HG products all the time for sealing but found an excess all the time. Still use the Golvpolish to protect Victorian tiles though.

Thanks again for the update.

John.

Thanks Timeless John. Do you think the stanguard stuff will have the same problem? Ie. if I remove the excess sealer and then stainguard it, will it happen again?

if the mop left streaky marks this sounds like the transit wax was not cleaned off properly?

No, mop doesn't leave streaky marks, but the marks which are on the floor don't come off. Eg. a cake crumb which gets squashed onto the tile...I have to scrape it off with a knife. Day to day dirt is the same, requiring a scourer.

It sounds to me that the tiles you have are Keraben Glazed Porcelain, not a polished porcelain. If they are a glazed spanish porcelain then there is no need to treat them with anything, you should simply fix correctly and grout.

The tiles could then be maintained using a regular household cleaner.

Check the name of the product at Keraben: Cerámica y gres para reformas, cocinas y baños

You can email them directly asking them for there fixing and maintenance specification.

polished porcelain honded porcelain need to be sealed with inpregnater seal this must not be allowed to dry on the surface of tile must be cleaned off compltety after no more than 10 minnits if this drys on the surface it will become very hard to clean the surface i serggest you need to clean the dried seal off the surface this should solve the problem ps glazed porcelian needs no sealing