Porcelain Removal grout residue face of porcelain tile

[Makone]

Evening good people. I have a major issue with roughly 200sqm of porcelain floors grouted by my now very much ex apprentice. I have a serious amount of residue left on the face of the tiles. The kid was doing fine while I was watching over him but when I left him alone, well its all gone to rubbish. I have a good 4 plots (I'm subbing, new build) to go back over. I've been paid already and its obviously my responsibility. So yeah, nightmare. More fool me, you live you learn eh?
Just wondering does anyone know of where I can source decent polishing pads for my stone polishing multi speed grinder? Is this even a thing? Obviously I'd need to do it on a slow speed, but I have a lot of ground to cover so really don't wanna be doing this all by hand. Was gonna use it with an acid wash so any recommendations for that would also be appreciated.
Cheers in advance.

 

[One Day]

What type of tile? Polished, textured?
What type of grout? What colour?

 

[Makone]

Mostly polished, some polished-ish so not super high gloss but not too porous. Grout is Nicobond flexible silver grey.

 

[Makone]

What type of tile? Polished, textured?
What type of grout? What colour?

Mostly polished, some polished-ish so not super high gloss but not too porous. Grout is Nicobond flexible silver grey.
Apologies only just realised I can reply direct.

 

[J Sid]

porcelain or stone ?
internal I take it

 

[J Sid]

have you a pic?

 

[Makone]

porcelain or stone ?
internal I take it

porcelain, internal, kitchen floors 40 to 50 sqm each. no pics I'm afraid. Basically from what I can make out he rinsed the washboy sponge out about twice, three times max. Judging by what I found him doing halfway thru another floor.

 

[J Sid]

try
Produkte | Lithofin - http://www.lithofin.co.uk/en-gb/__i/Lithofin-KF-Cement-Residue-Remover

 

[One Day]

Silver grey is a life-saver I think.
I would try Fila Deterdek at suggested dilution along with some scotchbrite pads. Maybe even hire a floor machine for 200sqm as that's a lot of elbow grease.
Test first carefully for grout colour change and scratching tiles.

Nuclear option would be brick acid but could ruin the grout.

 

[Makone]

Silver grey is a life-saver I think.
I would try Fila Deterdek at suggested dilution along with some scotchbrite pads. Maybe even hire a floor machine for 200sqm as that's a lot of elbow grease.
Test first carefully for grout colour change and scratching tiles.

Nuclear option would be brick acid but could ruin the grout.

I'm taking all the grout out anyway as this kid really screwed it right up. Knocking up the grout too wet I think by the look of the finish. I'm absolutely furious with him if I'm honest. As the first 4 or so plots where I was checking all his work it was spot on. Just proper laziness.

Interesting what you're saying about the brick acid wash tho, as this site uses that for the build clean later on. They're a bit slack when it comes to protecting the floors, so they just acid wash them. However they then have been coming back to me saying the grout has colour variance. It hadn't occurred to me that the acid wash may be the problem, having never had a need to use it on any floor I've done. The back and forth between the house builder and the firm I sub for has been centred around what grout has been used. so we've just swapped from nicobond to weber. Bit of a game changer that. As they've acid washed all these floors before calling me back. Do you think the wash may have brought residue out on to the tile face? or is that a stretch too far?

 

[One Day]

I'm taking all the grout out anyway as this kid really screwed it right up. Knocking up the grout too wet I think by the look of the finish. I'm absolutely furious with him if I'm honest. As the first 4 or so plots where I was checking all his work it was spot on. Just proper laziness.

Interesting what you're saying about the brick acid wash tho, as this site uses that for the build clean later on. They're a bit slack when it comes to protecting the floors, so they just acid wash them. However they then have been coming back to me saying the grout has colour variance. It hadn't occurred to me that the acid wash may be the problem, having never had a need to use it on any floor I've done. The back and forth between the house builder and the firm I sub for has been centred around what grout has been used. so we've just swapped from nicobond to weber. Bit of a game changer that. As they've acid washed all these floors before calling me back. Do you think the wash may have brought residue out on to the tile face? or is that a stretch too far?

Acid will usually in effect bleach grout. Turns everything a bit procul harum.
If they've been acid washing after you've grouted then certainly they could be responsible for the patchiness.

 

[Andy Rhodes]

Give Nicobond technical a ring they may be able to advise you on what to use worth a phone call

 

[Makone]

Acid will usually in effect bleach grout. Turns everything a bit procul harum.
If they've been acid washing after you've grouted then certainly they could be responsible for the patchiness.

Much thanks for the info bud. This could significantly change the amount of snagging I'm receiving. I assumed the house builder wouldn't be using something that would affect the grout adversely. I should of learnt by now, new house builders cut corners. I'm guessing this apprentice of mine definitely was just cutting corners himself then also. I'm pretty sure he was slacking with the washing off, as opposed to it being the acid wash, washing residue on to the tiles. Ah well, if I do it myself I know it won't go wrong. Sod apprentices, more trouble than its worth. Thanks again.

 

[Makone]

Give Nicobond technical a ring they may be able to advise you on what to use worth a phone call

Not a bad shout, tho that phone call I will be delegating to my office.

 

[Qwerty]

@Nicobond are a forum sponsor now and may respond directly in here

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Of all the apprentices I’ve had I don’t believe I’ve ever left them unsupervised to complete a job beyond their capabilities. I know where I’d portion the blame!

 

[Makone]

Of all the apprentices I’ve had I don’t believe I’ve ever left them unsupervised to complete a job beyond their capabilities. I know where I’d portion the blame!

Tbf as I mentioned, we did a good 5/6 plots together where he was left to do it alone but i was in the same plot checking as he did. I felt I could trust him as he was definitely capable. The kid just started to slack when left fully alone. I'm assuming because he didn't realise the consequences of a half arsed job. And at the speed we were going thru those plots we've got way further ahead before any snagging. But I accept ultimate responsibility, which is why i won't be getting paid this week. But aye cheers for the input.

 

[Andy Rhodes]

Look the apprentice made a mistake but he young & human & if you had given him a chance he would have learned from it & if anybody on this forum says they've haven't made mistake congratulations,

 

[Andy Rhodes]

out of curiosity how old was he

 

[Tile Fix Direct]

Agree with all the posts above, but beware that after cleaning there may be polymer residues left on the tiles as the grout cleaners will not always remove the polymers. Polymer residues can be hard to see, but will attract dirt and make the floor hard to clean. If this is the case alkaline cleaners can help remove the polymers.

 

[J Sid]

good point, try cleaning with Produkte | Lithofin - http://www.lithofin.co.uk/en-gb/__i/Lithofin-MN-Power-Clean after grout residues are gone.

other manufactures have similar products

 

[Tile Fix Direct]

... and of course available from TileFix!Lithofin Power Clean - https://www.tilefixdirect.com/product/LFPC1L

 

[Sean Kelly]

A bit of a nightmare to say the least.

In the not too distant past I searched and searched for 8" round white and black emulsifying pads like.......

I found them at www.janitorialdirect.co.uk. Just do a search for 'floor pads' and you will find them. They come in loads of sizes. I used them on a cheap multi speed hand held polisher to clean a floor. It only took a couple of hours to clean 30sqm.

I was at a trade show at Topps Tiles recently. There was a demo from Fila and their new product 'First Wash'. It is used to wash off excess grout from the surface of the tile. Maybe give that a go.

Good luck.

 

[Makone]

A bit of a nightmare to say the least.

In the not too distant past I searched and searched for 8" round white and black emulsifying pads like.......

I found them at www.janitorialdirect.co.uk. Just do a search for 'floor pads' and you will find them. They come in loads of sizes. I used them on a cheap multi speed hand held polisher to clean a floor. It only took a couple of hours to clean 30sqm.

I was at a trade show at Topps Tiles recently. There was a demo from Fila and their new product 'First Wash'. It is used to wash off excess grout from the surface of the tile. Maybe give that a go.

Good luck.

Sean you're a diamond mate exactly what I was looking for. Its taken me all day to grind out about 30m of grout and then acid wash and scrub back. Again mate you're a star.

 

[Makone]

Agree with all the posts above, but beware that after cleaning there may be polymer residues left on the tiles as the grout cleaners will not always remove the polymers. Polymer residues can be hard to see, but will attract dirt and make the floor hard to clean. If this is the case alkaline cleaners can help remove the polymers.

Defo something to bear in mind, I'll have a look at what i did today in the morning. But it looked like it came up pretty good. Here's hoping!

 

[Makone]

Look the apprentice made a mistake but he young & human & if you had given him a chance he would have learned from it & if anybody on this forum says they've haven't made mistake congratulations,

Mate. I appreciate where you are coming from but he's been with me for over six months. He should of got this by now. He's had chances before to rectify his mistakes. Which he did and was fully paid for. When I said 5/6 plots I just meant at this site. I maybe should of made that clear. Even then those plots he did with me there add up to about 1000m of tiling by themselves. Thats a lot of ground to cover. To then go on to **** up that badly over a further 4 plots is unforgivable in my opinion. 2 to 3 rinses of a washboy over 40/50m floors just don't cut it, its cutting corners and he knew the consequences because we'd been thru it on previous plots. He's also a trained groundworker/landscaper and 33 yrs old so he's not green. Geezer knows the coo and he fucked up anyways. What can I say. I'm good with my decision.

 

[Andy Rhodes]

Oh when you said apprentice I thought you was talking 18/19 not bloody 33 and if he's done ground work he should be more then aware of what cement based products dry like if not cleaned down correctly,you could try a floor cleaning machine with one of those 8 inch pads that was posted earlier it might save your back & knees