Charcoal Limestone Bad Experience!

[jc02]

Hi all,
recently had 600x600 riven charcoal limestone tiles laid in a 36sqm kitchen/diner. Tiles were grouted without sealing and impressive grout haze occurred. Tiler used acid-based HG Cement Grout Film Remover to remove grout. I had asked for a colour-intensifying sealer to be used. Instead he then put HG Golvpolish satin gloss polish on and finally HG Impregnator to seal. The result is a dog's dinner of white clouding (acid etching?), white marks (residual grout?), uneven colouring, sealed-in footprints and roller marks. Tiler was paid (doh) and is not now possible to contact.
Rang HG International. They advised HG Spot Stain Remover to remove sealer and HG Remover to remove polish and possible that HG Cement Grout Film Remover had damaged tiles. Have used Spot Stain amd Remover on a test tile and sealer came off fairly well, a few blobs of polish remained but white marks remained on stubbornly.

As not sure if white marks are removable stains or damage, I plan to used the Spot Stain Remover and then Remover on the whole floor to see what I am left with. I was intending to hire a Scrubber Drier to enable me to go over the floor multiple times. I have read online that a Tynex 46 grit brush will give it the most aggresive scrub. Can anyone advise what type of brush would be most appropriate for the Scrubber and any other comments on ways forward would be very welcomed.

[Dave]

Hello and welcome..

Impregnator on top of a topical sealer..?.. not the way to do it..


Can you please post pics, so we can see what you do, some close'ish up ones and some standing up please..

[jc02]

DSCF3112.jpgDSCF3114.jpgDSCF3115.jpgDSCF3113.jpg
To give you an idea.

[Dave]

Ouch,, not good at all..

This might well be knacked..

You can try some LTP Grimex to see if this will help. the scrubbing brush idea will be the best way to go as this will help get in the pores of the stone.. BUT if the tiler has used Acid cleaner that is not suitable for limestone then this could be the problem..

If you can get them clean then personally i would not use a topical sealer for them.. A colour enhancer would look best IMO but first lets see if we can get them clean.. but black limestone is a hard one..

[doug boardley]

looks like it's exterior too so could get probs with efflorescence

[doug boardley]

looks like it's exterior too so could get probs with efflorescence

looking at pic 3, it looks like it's outside, is this the case??

[Dave]

looking at pic 3, it looks like it's outside, is this the case??

quote from OP>>>>>

recently had 600x600 riven charcoal limestone tiles laid in a 36sqm kitchen/diner

[doug boardley]

quote from OP>>>>>

Must've been with Neale, when I had another look through pics, I thought "hmm, maybe not outside", but pic 3 looks like a patio/garden pic don't you think?

[Dave]

That is a bucket with what looks like a green wig and not a plant doug... how many beers u had..

[doug boardley]

eeeermmm,,a couple (maybe)

[doug boardley]

specsavers for me tomorrow!!

[Pebbs]

Im agreeing with Dave on this....that is efflorescence on it as well, bit of a mess. Ok lets try and clean these up first get out the grimex and scrub it hard!

Pebbs

[jay]

looks like a write off sorry to say not good practice

[Onlinetiler]

the white marks look like acid damage to me - i think the cement grout film remover is hydrochloric based and designed to attack lime deposits so it's quite likely it's got into the actual fabric of the tile.

I don't see how you can get it back to looking as nice as it should without replacing the tiles.

Such a shame but way too common.

[jc02]

Thank you all for your comments. I will get scrubbing this weekend and see if it can be saved. If it looks like it can't, is grinding it down likely to be a cost effective option or would replacement normally be cheaper. A number of the tiles have lips so the idea of grinding down is attractive. Would be quite happy with a honed finish. Presumably the adhesive leaves an uneven floor and more self-levelling will be required. Tiles were relatively inexpensive.

[jay]

think its best to remove and start again might be a good chance to change tilers to

[Dave]

Try the cleaner first,, you can also use a good enhancer to deepen the colour and lessen the whiteness but lets clean it first but i do think that the acid has knacked the surface.. very few cleaners are suitable for limestone..

Please do report back.. it is cheaper to try a couple things before either honing them or replacing..

[jc02]

Spent weekend scrubbing. Use HG Spot Stain Remover and then HG Remover as recommended by HG helpline. White marks still there despite repeated attempts. If anything, looks worse now that the sealer is off. Won't post any pics as it is too depressing and I think they would make the top ten of tile disasters and you'll all tell me and I'll feel worse!

Although I think further scrubbing would give some minor improvement and colour enhancing stain would darken and hide a bit, it looks very unlikely that the end result would be anything that anyone would want. Realistically, I think I am onto honing or re-tiling. So it is really a cost comparison exercise. My questions:
1. When tiles and adhesive are lifted, does the subsurface (self-levelling compund in this case) usually need renewal/repair?
2. What are the pros and cons of grinding an existing floor?
3. If within the rules of this forum, if anyone is within reach of Cardiff and wants to quote or give an indicative cost for grinding (or replacing) a 31sqm area, would be happy to receive PMs. I need an idea of comparative costs so I can choose a course of action.
Thanks you all for your help so far. Invaluable.

[Onlinetiler]

Not so much a recommendation as a maybe jc, but might be worth trying some slate oil. Haven't used it on Limestone before and to be honest not sure if it'll work, but it's a sealer that's got a slight brownish colour to it so I wondered whether it might deal with the white patches. Maybe a bit unorthodox but for a few quid may be worth a patch test.