Help!: How Do I Remove Stains?

[lincolntiler]

Hi everyone, I've just laid a light grey matt polished porcelain floor for a customer and was daft enough to use charcoal grout (never again!!!!). Some of the tiles have 'grubby' marks on them as if the muck went through the sealer (I sealed them with the right stuff the night before laying). I've asked Darren at NETT and he suggested asking you guys for any advice on how I can get rid of the marks and what the hell did I do wrong? Any ideas?

[robbo]

you could try this




Lithofin Stain-away
Special Remover
Disolves Hardened Wax Layers, Sealants, Stubborn Oil Stains And Grease Residues, Coats Of Paint And Lacquer, etc.

Coverage: ca.4m²/500ml


Lithofin Stain-Away May Be Used With All Varieties Of Stone, Wood And Metal. It Is Particularly Well Suited For Removal Of Stains Even From Porous Materials Such As Honed Limestone, Marble etc.

but before you use it make sure you test it out on a small piece first...

some one else many have a different idea, so stay tuned........

[TilingLogistics]

The muck should not have got past the penetrating sealer. Try grout haze clean up backed up with nanoscrub

Kev

[wetdec]

You can try as the guys have said but if you have shaddowing then its IN and you have to drag it back out..........will take more than a cleaner.






tiler

,,

[TilingLogistics]

Thats why I suggested Nanoscrub and if that doesn't work you could try a poultice

Kev

[Dave]

Just out of interest...what sealer was it you used..?..

[CJ]

Had the same happen to me a couple of years ago.

Customer was sold Polished Porcelain.........black/white chequer pattern she wanted.

Anyway.....Topps sold her the Porcelain sealer. So I laid them. Sealed them (Two thin coats)

And she wanted black grout.

Stained all the white tiles...........and it would not come out.

She was going daft at Topps manager...(not blaming me at all) because its wot they had recommended. It went on for months. Talk of Topps paying ME to rip up and do again.



Last I heard they had moved house instead

[NETT Darren]

I cant understand why the sealer didnt work if you have done it correctly and left it for the right amount of time, i think you will have a job on your hands to get it back looking as new, If you bought the sealer from the tile shop and followed the instructions go back to the tile shop and complain and see what they say

[CJ]

Or.........

(my fav song )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBikNb5oEcU

[lincolntiler]

Thanks to all of you for that!! I'm back on Friday so I'll let you know. Thanks CJ - ("Rip it up and start again!!" PMSL!). I won't be using '4-sponge grout' again in a hurry anyhow. Later guys......

[lincolntiler]

It was Fila Pol. Porc. Impregnator/Sealer by the way Dan

[Grace'sDad]

When I've faced this I've used Fila Intensive cleaner mixed strong 2:1
Plenty on the tile surface with a terry cloth - leave for 5 minutes and sponge off. It can change the surface colour slightly lighter but it definitely gets into the pores and shifts stains.

[CJ]

Thing is with my particular cock up.

I took a couple of white off cuts home.

Gave 1 bit a coat of sealer.

Left the other un sealed.

Slapped on some black grout.........left it for 20mins.

Ran them both under the tap.

BOTH showed signs of staining.

So wot is it with these sealers.............some say they Don't need sealing

Some say they do.

It was the only time I have had a problem with polished stuff

[Grace'sDad]

I sometimes think we must be missing a trick or two in the UK.
People want the "MTV cribs" look in their own home and so the market fills up to supply the demand. Only: we are too cheap to do it properly so the market fills up with rubbish quality porcs, terrible stone etc etc then we the poor fixers are left to create the homeowners delusional dream of a wonderful million-dollar bathroom or a bling-bling floor.

It's hard and frustrating to do a decent job with cack materials.

I'd love to have the opportunity to work abroad at a high-level, where they've got the experience and the techniques - and maybe more importantly - the right mindset towards the quality of materials.

(I just felt like a moan about this expensive, badly-dressed, Heat-magazine obessesed, politically-correct, chav-riddled country we live in! It's all fur coat and no-knickers)

[whitebeam]

Agree, The customers buy the cheap pack tiles and expect it to look like a million pound But they need educating, It's also the big sheds that need to change there policys and supply quality tiles, It's not going to happen while their making fortunes in profit with cheap and shabby tiles, The customer has got to change in their demand for a product

[CJ]

The country needs to garot the chavs

[TilingLogistics]

Thing is with my particular cock up.

I took a couple of white off cuts home.

Gave 1 bit a coat of sealer.

Left the other un sealed.

Slapped on some black grout.........left it for 20mins.

Ran them both under the tap.

BOTH showed signs of staining.

So wot is it with these sealers.............some say they Don't need sealing

Some say they do.

It was the only time I have had a problem with polished stuff

CJ

Most dealers regardless of make are some sort of penetrating sealers. They all depend on the carrier they use to penetrate whether that be water or some sort of solvent. The depth they penetrate to depends on the type and quality of the stone and the type of sealer you are using.

The problem you have explained has to do with the surface that is still relatively unprotected and this is where the problems in this post are occuring. Now you may think that a topical sealer here would help but topical sealers cannot adhere to stone with a high surface tension very well such as Polished Marbles, granites porcelains etc.

Generally the worse the quality the stone is, the bigger the problem because the manufacturers have to cut corners as well.

Kev

[CJ]

Its funny............not long after my episode.............Topps tile stopped stocking this particular porcelain. Forget wot it was now