Help please! - Cleaning and refinishing dark grey floor tiles

[embee67]

Hi there, totally newbie to tiling but have a situation where I don't quite understand what is happening or how to fix it.
Basically trying to sort out the tiles on my Mum's kitchen floor before selling the house. It appears that when they were laid originally the tiler washed and sealed them but left dust or grout residue on the tiles and they have never looked clean.
It looks like the tiles are ceramic or porcelain (in some kind of pseudo slate effect) and when we originally went to the tile shop for advice a couple of years ago they sold us some "Deterdek Acid Descaling Agent" which they said should fix the floors but having used it several times it didn't really do anything so we sort of forgot about it as other things took priority at the time.
Now that my Mum is trying to sell the house I've been back to do the floor and again been getting nowhere with Deterdek and PlasPlugs tile cleaners. I did though use a HG grout cleaner from Homebase which has brought the grouting up a treat but seems to have made a mess of the tiles in the process. There are now large patches of a lighter colour either side of the grouting and over some of the surface of the tiles (see pics).
I'm not sure whether this colour is due to some new residue stuck to the surface or an old residue having been removed from the surface so I don't really know what to do. Suffice it to say the tiles now look even worse that when I started , doh!
What I'd really like is to strip them all off, clean them properly so they are an even shade all over and then seal them in a semi sheen type of finish. Any ideas of how to get from this current messy state to a nice even finish would be very greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Mark

 

[diamondtiling]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum........

There are guys on the forum that do this sort of work all the time, Enduro springs to mind. He and others will be on later and will give you the expert advice you need.

All the best.

 

[jay]

:welcome: any chance of finding out what sealer was used would help ( looks like a trop sealer)

 

[embee67]

Thanks for the responses.

Regarding the sealer I am assuming they are sealed because we were vaguely told so by the tiler at the time and because the tiles don't seem to respond to the recommended cleaner. I suppose its possible they weren't sealed.

Have searched the receipts and now found they are "Elite Nero" porcelain tiles bought in 2004. They are supposed to be pretty tough but they now look awful so I really hope I haven't damaged them too much.

I have no idea what was in either of the tile cleaners as they don't list any ingredients but the HG grout cleaner contains "NTA nitrilotriacetic acid" if that is any help?

Again, thanks for your help
Mark

 

[diamondtiling]

Have a look here LTP Online | Sealing Products you can get everything from LTP's range from your nearest Tilegiant shop.

 

[White Room]

They look like glazed porcs anyway, would'nt have thought there would any need to have them sealed.

 

[enduro]

The acid will react with the grout causing more residue being left on the tile as it sounds like it is to strong. You may have to use Ltp Solvex to remove the sealer on the tile. Then a grout residue remover. You may need a rotary scrubber and a wet vac for doing this. Just do a test before using any of these on the tiles. How did you clean them?

 

[embee67]

Thanks very much for responding guys.

@Enduro - I cleaned them several times - initially did the grouting which came up well but seemed to have left an additional residue which i tried to clean with mop and bucket, then by hand with brush and sponge, then with wire wool and brillo pad I scrubbed every square inch again and again but it still made no difference. I used regular floor cleaner, then diluted deterdek, then moved up to testing it neat on a couple of patches. I left it on briefly before scrubbing then rinsing with lots of clean water, then tried longer and longer soaking up to 15mins on some tiles and stronger and stronger mixes. I probably did the whole floor between 8 and 10 times altogether. A few of the tiles showed a little improvement but overall there was very little change at all.

It was hard graft and pretty humbling to see no results but there you go.

If I understand everyone correctly I need to figure out if they really are sealed first but I have to say having looked at them again and again I'm not at all sure there is actually anything on them.

1. If they are sealed get that off with LTP Solvex
2. Use LTP Grout Stain Remover or similar with a rotary scrubber

One of these?
HSS Hire › Floor Scrubber/polisher › Large Image
or these?
HSS Hire › Small Scrubber Dryer › Large Image

3. Then make sure they are properly clean and apply something like LTP Glaze Protector (thanks diamondtiling).

Sounds good in theory but the cost is certainly adding up. It does concern me though that nothing has really lifted this haze at all so far. My knees and arms ache enough to tell me I've given it a pretty good go.