help - power wash marks on limestone

[sarah cilliers]

Just had grey/black indian limestone slabs laid - the builders gave them a power wash before sealing... but now left with squiqqly lines covering all the stone, and lots of white areas around the grout. I don't they used any product - just water - but obviously they used a concentrated jet. The sealing hasn't been done yet, while we try and figure how how to fix it. Can anything be done?

 

[White Room]

Let it dry out thoughly before anything else

 

[basshunter]

whitebeam is right,it sounds like there is still moisture in the tile

 

[basshunter]

builders+tiling :mad2:

 

[jay]

bet it doesnt go away when dry

 

[basshunter]

bet it doesnt go away when dry

why not jay?

 

[jay]

sounds like something ive seen before high pressure cleaners can do a lot of damage to slate limestone sandstone seem to remove the coloring and the fix relates to the cause if its white now when it dries it may disapear until the sealer goes on i would test seal in a small un seen area 1st

 

[wetdec]

When you use water under pressure on stone the pressure needs applying equally accross the surface.

As the water under pressure hits stone it cuts / fractures particles from the surface which could be compared to etching.

If the water is not applied equally then the effect is different at each stroke EG a close up stroke will cut a deeper trough that one further away. Its this that causes the stone to have marks on it.

It will dry yes but the surface will no longer look the same all over it will appear marked.

This will not apply to slate unless it is dirty or been sealed prior to washing.




..

 

[jay]

sarah can you let us know how it goes thanks

 

[sarah cilliers]

Hi guys - thanks for all your advice.

Good and bad news... builders came back and acid-cleaned the stones to get the power wash lines off, then put one coat of sealer on. It worked on the wiggly lines ... but has still left the cement/grout stains on the edges of some of the tiles. Any advice, before I attack the tiles with steel wool?!

 

[jay]

time to strip sealer and clean right sorry:mad2:

 

[jay]

hi just a thought the grout stain on the edges is it grout or is the sealer gone white some pics would be good:20:

 

[Terry Cottar]

Hi guys - thanks for all your advice.

Good and bad news... builders came back and acid-cleaned the stones to get the power wash lines off, then put one coat of sealer on. It worked on the wiggly lines ... but has still left the cement/grout stains on the edges of some of the tiles. Any advice, before I attack the tiles with steel wool?!

sounds like the cement and grout needs to be cleaned first

tel

 

[sarah cilliers]

hi tel - any ideas on the best way to do that? Power wash? More acid? Steel wool?! What would you suggest?

 

[enduro]

Hi guys - thanks for all your advice.

Good and bad news... builders came back and acid-cleaned the stones to get the power wash lines off, then put one coat of sealer on. It worked on the wiggly lines ... but has still left the cement/grout stains on the edges of some of the tiles. Any advice, before I attack the tiles with steel wool?!

Now you will have problems...Acid on limestone will seriously damage it, it will etch the stone the only way i can see you now solving this problem is to get someone to grind the top surface off and diamond polish back to the desired affect you want. This should be down to the builders now, they caused the problem and made it worst by putting Acid cleaner onto your floor. No matter what cleaners etc you use wont solve this problem now.

 

[Floor_Restorer]

I agree with enduro.

Basically, that is like pouring bleach on to sanded wood and leaving it.

Do you have any pictures of the flooring in it's current state that we could see?

Thanks,

Tom