Can some help - acid cleaner used on our new limestone floor - Tile Advice

[Withgill]

First off - hello to everyone on the forum - I hope someone here might spare the time to give me an opinion or some advice.

We have just had a new kitchen fitted with a smooth limestone tile floor. The floor was laid and the tiler used a cleaner to remove the stray grout. He asked us to mop it a couple of times and he would then come back and do the sealing stage.

After a couple of other issues - uneven surface and some cracked tiles that needed replacing - he finally finished and gave the floor another clean. He left us with with a tin of the sealant as "it takes 12 hours to dry and you shouldn't walk on it during that time". After he had left I thought that that was a bit odd.

We were going to have a go at sealing the floor tonight. Before we started I noticed some strange marks; they looked like streaks and small blobs. At first I thought it was dirt or some other residue so I fished out the cleaner the fitter left only to read:

"HG cement grout film remover. PLEASE BEWARE! Do not apply to calciferous natural stone such as marble, travertine..."

This started alarm bells ringing. The product contains phosphoric acid; we used to use bottles of dilute acid on Uni field trips to distinguish calcaereous rocks. I think that this cleaner has etched the tiles.

When the sealer is applied the tile look wet and shiny as you'd expect. When the sealer dries the etch marks remain as obvious as on unsealed areas.

I've attached a couple of photos, although they do show the damage all that well. I reality it looks much worse:







The bloke from the kitchen firm is coming round tomorrow to look.

If anyone could offer some advice or thoughts on how this can be put right I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Duncan

 

[DHTiling]

OOOOHH .. He has really knacked that floor hasn't he..

You are correct and he should not have used that product on Limestone..

You need to state this to the kitchen guy and demand it is replaced...you paid for a new floor , so do not let them try and hide that etching, let us know how it goes...

 

[Withgill]

Dave,

Thanks for your thoughts. Further inspection has revealed similar (and worse) patches all over the kitchen. One in particular is really rough to the touch - we reckon he must a spilt some of the cleaner and just left it. Also there are loads of scratches in the 'etched' patches.

The kitchen chap who 'provided' the tiler is going to get both barrels tomorrow (in a polite and calm way of course!).

I'll certainly post the results.

The same tiler made a bit of a mess of the wall tiling too and had to come back; we weren't 100% with the results but had decided to let it go and to tidy the job up ourselves. Needless to say we've now changed our mind about this. I guess the good thing is that we haven't paid the balance on the kitchen and other trades yet.

Thanks
Duncan

 

[DHTiling]

Then you have a bargaining tool to get this sorted.. Good luck and report back please.

 

[Gall.B]

ouch! Hope you get it sorted out, good thing there is a balance to pay.

 

[White Room]

Hope this is sorted soon..

 

[Perfect Tiling]

A costly mistake that was so easily avoidable...it always pays to read the instructions as a lot of these products from the same company are in similar tins. Don't let them try to fob you off with "keeping the floor and wall tiling for a discounted rate" as if you are not happy with it now...you never will be...get it replaced to what it should be.

 

[Withgill]

Thanks for all the posts - all much appreciated.

A bit of an update and I 'd be grateful for any more advice / comments.

I spoke to the suppliers on Saturday morning - spoke to one of the directors as it happened. He confirmed the mistake: the acid has eaten into the honed surface which can't be undone by chemical / washing etc. He said there are two options 1) in-situ re-honing (by a stone floor restoration firm) or 2) replace.

The guy from the kitchen firm has said "this will be sorted". The tiler behaved like a sullen teenager to be honest: tried to say it wasn't him, that a lot of the tiles were like that when he started and that he'd only used the product that his tile supplies shop gave him. He was barking down the wrong hole as I was most definitely not in the mood for that sort of carry-on and he got fairly short shrift.

I ended the discussion by saying that as it is their problem to solve, they could try whatever they liked to mitigate but if the result wasn't as new then I would insist that the floor is replaced.

I have heard from him today; he spoke to my contact at the tile supplier and is talking to a firm about coming to re-hone the floor.

Does anyone have any experience of this process? Is it any good and is an as new finish achievable? I am also interested to know how they will deal with edges & fiddly bits without damage to woodwork.

Thanks
Duncan

 

[DHTiling]

Hi Duncan , yes it is perfectly ok to re-hone the floor , but if you are not happy with the finish then you do not have to accept the result.

But yes it can be done and a good company will have it like new .

Let us know the outcome plz


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- Sent from my iPhone

 

[Withgill]

Thank you - that's encouraging.
Duncan

 

[Gall.B]

A profesional company with the right tools should have it as new, just make sure they protect everything.

Cant belive the Tilers attitude!

Good there getting it sorted