Grout Haze Removal

Grout Haze Removed From Porcelain Floor Tiles Northampton

Removing Polymer Grout Haze following Porcelain Floor Installation in Northampton

This client from Northampton called contact me about their newly installed Porcelain tiles which appeared to be much darker than they remembered from in the shop. They were disappointed with their appearance and so I agreed a time to pop round, diagnose the issues and come up with a solution.

Grout Haze Before Removal From Porcelain Floor Tiles Northampton

Once at the property I quickly established after testing a couple of tiles that there was grout haze over the entire area from installation. This happens when the grout starts to dry on the tile before it is cleaned and fully rinsed off. This problem was compounded by the customer vigorously mopping the floor with several different products trying to resolve this issue themselves and the product building up and attracting more soil to the areas, therefore darkening it further.

Grout Haze Before Removal From Porcelain Floor Tiles Northampton

The test clean I conducted removed the grout haze to reveal the tile they had been originally expecting. Impressed with the results from the test they asked me to repeat the process on the whole floor which included the kitchen and adjoining dining area. I worked out a quote which was agreed and a date scheduled for my return.

Removing Grout Haze from a Porcelain Tiled Floor

Fortunately, the owner knew which grouting product was used when laying the floor, this was very useful as polymer-based grouts need a different approach to traditional grouts. As it turns out it was a polymer-based grout which makes sense as they are known to set faster and cause this problem as a result.

The process I used was to apply Tile Doctor Remove and Go to a workable section of the floor which was approximately 8m2. The solution was allowed to dwell for ten minutes or so prior to agitating with a rotary brush machine. This area was then rinsed off with water and a wet and dry pick-up machine. This process is used to break down the polymers in the grout but does not fully remove the haze from the tiles, that is covered in the next section.

Part two of treating the grout haze involves the application of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up to the tile and allowing it to dwell for a further ten minutes, a black buffing pad is then used with the rotary machine to scrub the product into the Porcelain tile. As before the soiled solution is removed with another rinse and extracted with the wet and dry pick-up machine.

Once that was done, I inspected the floor to ensure all the grout haze has been removed and repeated the 2nd stage process where required.

Sealing a Porcelain Tiled Floor

I allowed the floors to dry off overnight and returned the following day to apply Tile Doctor Ultra Seal Sealant over all the areas, this is especially good for protecting the grout lines from staining.

Grout Haze After Removal From Porcelain Floor Tiles Northampton

Given the dark colour of the Porcelain tiles it’s difficult to appreciate the improvement from the photographs, my customer was extremely happy with the result though and left the following glowing review:

“Fabulous service from Phil and great results really really pleased. Lovely man and very hard working. Thank you”

Before leaving I made sure to discuss aftercare cleaning, which for this floor I recommend using Tile Doctor pH Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a gentle but effective cleaning product designed for use on sealed tile and stone.

Grout Haze After Removal From Porcelain Floor Tiles Northampton

 

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Limestone Flagstones Before and After Renovation Clipston

Limestone Tiled Floor with Grout Haze Cleaned in Clipston

These photos are of a Limestone tiled floor which was installed in the Kitchen of a property in the small parish of Clipston, which is close to the towns of Market Harborough and Daventry, approximately three years ago. The customer was never very happy with it since it was laid as it never seemed to look clean asked me to cover over and work out what could be done.

On my initial visit I soon realised that the installer had not cleaned off all the grout from the tiles before applying the sealer. This effectively trapped the grout under the sealer and gave the whole floor a dirty appearance, this explained the problem the customer was frustrated with as she could never ever seem to get the floor looking clean.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze Before Cleaning Clipston
This issue is known as Grout Haze or Grout Smears and is a problem we often come across where the floor has been laid without the excess grout residue being completely polished off the tiles after the grouting. Some manufacturers recommend the tiles are sealed before grouting to make it easier to polish the grout off later. After discussing how we could remedy this I issued a quote which the customer accepted, and we scheduled the work to be done.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze Before Cleaning Clipston

Removing Grout Haze from Limestone Kitchen Tiles

I arrived on site on the arranged date, as it was a painted kitchen it was not possible to mask up the units, so I used a small hand-held polishing machine fitted with a six inch 400-grit burnishing pad to carefully clean around the edges and break through the sealant. This process was then repeated with a larger seventeen inch 400-grit burnishing pad fitted to a floor polishing machine throughout the rest of the area.

Once the original sealant had been removed using the burnishing pad the next step was to remove the Grout Haze by given the floor an acid wash with Tile Doctor Acid Gel. Being a gel, this product is easier to control than a liquid and sits on the surface where it’s needed to break down the unsightly Grout Haze. It’s left to dwell for a short period before being worked in with a special brush that is designed for this purpose. The resulting slurry is then removed with a professional wet pick up machine and the floor given a rinse with water to remove any trace of the product.

After treating the Grout Haze my next step was to refine the surface of the Limestone using a medium 800-grit and fine 1500-grit diamond encrusted burnishing pad which are applied with water and restore the polished appearance of the stone. The floor is rinsed with more water between the application of each pad to remove the slurry that is generated and then dried with the wet pickup machine.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

I returned the following day to buff the tiles with a white polishing pad as the customer didn’t want a high shine finish which is normally achieved with the 3000-grit diamond burnishing pad, this gave a low sheen honed look as the customer had requested. The floor was then sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is a natural look sealer that and will protect the newly restored and polished tiles going forward.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze After Cleaning Clipston
The customer was very happy with the results and has left the following positive feedback on our website.

‘Professional, floor looks much better’ – Vicki S, Clipston

I gave the customer some tips on maintenance and a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap to enable her to keep the floor looking its best, this product is designed for the regular cleaning of polished stone floors and is pH neutral, so it won’t prematurely degrade the sealer.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze After Cleaning Clipston
 

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