This ceramic tiled floor at a house in the old coal mining town of Barnsley was trapping dirt and bothering our client who was finding it impossible to keep clean. In fact, she got in touch with Tile Doctor to explain that however they cleaned the floor they just couldn’t get the tiles cleaned and looking bright.
Barnsley is my local town, so it wasn’t long before I was able to pop over to the property and survey the floor. When I got there I could see that the tiles, which had been laid throughout the Hallway and Kitchen, were Textured Ceramic which have the advantage of being anti-slip but the disadvantage of being a pain to keep clean. The rougher textured surface traps dirt easily and in this case no amount of mopping was going to clean them.
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My customer explained they had tried numerous household cleaners but had been unable to get them really looking clean. I was confident the floor could be deep cleaned and brought back to life using Tile Doctor products and that the job should only take a day to complete. Happy with the quote, we worked out a mutually convenient date for me to return and clean the floor.
Deep Cleaning a Textured Ceramic Tiled Floor
I started by giving the floor a really long soak with a medium dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, the long dwell time allows the product to soak right into every bit of dirt that was clinging to the tiles and break it down. Pro-Clean is a concentrated, multi-purpose high-alkaline cleaner, stripper and degreaser which can be diluted in different ratios dependent on the situation. In this instance we diluted with 3 to 5 parts water to use as a very effective cleaner which is the recommended strength for removing inground dirt from areas that have been neglected or subjected to heavy use.
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A black scrubbing pad was then fitted to a rotary floor buffer and run over the floor at slow speed to attack the dirt. It wasn’t long before the Pro-Clean turned dark with the loose dirt and the tiles started looking lighter in colour. The now thick brown slurry was removed using a wet vacuum and then the floor was given a rinse with water which was also extracted with the wet vacuum. The process was repeated over the entire floor and doubly so where the muck was proving stubborn to remove. After we had finished the floor looked lighter and much cleaner, the grout lines also looked cleaner too.
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Our client was so relieved to have the floor looking like new again, it had been bothering her for quite some time. As you can see from the pictures the difference was quite apparent.
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Before leaving we discussed the best way to keep the floor clean. Normally I would recommend a pH neutral tile cleaning product for cleaning tiles however in this case with no sealer present (ceramic tiles don’t usually accept a sealer) and given the textured surface I felt the continued use of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean would be their best option.
Source: Ceramic Tile Cleaning and Renovation Service in Barnsley, South Yorkshire
