Removing grout haze

antiskeptic

Installed dark grey porcelain floor tiles a few weeks back and grouted today. Despite cleaning well after grouting and again after a few hours, there's residue I can't seem to wash/scrub-with-a-nail-brush off. It's not a general dust over the whole tile, rather it's settled into the slightly roughened surface of the tile.

I gave a couple of the tiles closer attention to test: plenty of fresh, clean water and a good scrubbing. They're better than the rest but still the residue

The tiles required sealing (they've a riven slate effect) which I did, twice, well before grouting.

Anyone recommend a product/method available in the Dublin area. I gather it's best to act quickly before the dust .. er .. settles.

sky6

Get yourself some Brick Cleaner. Guaranteed to cure your problem. Just be sure to wear Gloves and goggles and just be careful.
I've done it quite a few times and it always works. Great for Cleaning Grout also.

Just use it with a scouring pad in a circular motion and mop up with cold water.

antiskeptic

sky6 wrote: »

Get yourself some Brick Cleaner. Guaranteed to cure your problem. Just be sure to wear Gloves and goggles and just be careful.
I've done it quite a few times and it always works. Great for Cleaning Grout also.

Just use it with a scouring pad in a circular motion and mop up with cold water.

I'll take a look see. I'm worried that whatever I use will attack the sealant with which the tiles were treated prior to grouting. Adding further woe!

You ever put this stuff on sealed tiles?

Calahonda52

Sugar soap as used by painters might work either.

The brick cleaner might be a bit aggressive, maybe inquire here as the one sold by b7q is a bostik branded product
bostik ireland
they are in Swords
http://bostik.ie/index.php/diy/locations

sky6

Ah, you didn't mention that you had sealed the tiles before grouting. I would have thought it better to seal everything when finished.
The Brick cleaner works by attacking the Cement in the Grout but only at surface level. It's main ingredient is Hydrochloric acid.
you're probably in the Trial and error area now. The cleaner will do the job on the Grout sheen. As to your sealer I'm not sure. Maybe try a small test area in a corner to see what happens. Or Water down the Cleaner and see how that works.

Best of luck with it.

TopTec

Was it a sealer or an impregnation protector you put down before grouting?.. it should of been the latter. The sealer comes after grouting and cleaning.

TT

antiskeptic

sky6 wrote: »

Ah, you didn't mention that you had sealed the tiles before grouting. I would have thought it better to seal everything when finished.
The Brick cleaner works by attacking the Cement in the Grout but only at surface level. It's main ingredient is Hydrochloric acid.
you're probably in the Trial and error area now. The cleaner will do the job on the Grout sheen. As to your sealer I'm not sure. Maybe try a small test area in a corner to see what happens. Or Water down the Cleaner and see how that works.

Best of luck with it.

The tile box stated the tiles ought to be sealed prior to grouting - they're slate effect so perhaps in order to achieve the slate look, they can't fully glaze em.

As it happens, I tried Calahonda's suggestion, given the sealer was a bostik product. They recommended something to pull everything up: sealer and grout but suggested I try a gentler cleaner in the range first - it was an alkaline rather than acid based product. Did a test patch and it seems to be working okay - needed a second run to get some of the more stubborn stuff off but looking good.

Will seal again after finished, just to be sure.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

antiskeptic

TopTec wrote: »

Was it a sealer or an impregnation protector you put down before grouting?.. it should of been the latter. The sealer comes after grouting and cleaning.

TT

News to me - although sealing tiles at all is news to me, I've always used straightforward fully glazed tiles. One for the memory bank. Impregator protector...

antiskeptic

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Sugar soap as used by painters might work either.

The brick cleaner might be a bit aggressive, maybe inquire here as the one sold by b7q is a bostik branded product
bostik ireland
they are in Swords
http://bostik.ie/index.php/diy/locations

Thanks Calahonda. Got onto Bostik tech support and talked it through. Got an alkaline cleaner which appears to have done the trick. Phew..

cathpmr

antiskeptic wrote: »

Thanks Calahonda. Got onto Bostik tech support and talked it through. Got an alkaline cleaner which appears to have done the trick. Phew..

Hi
What is the name of the ptoduct?