Stone Cleaning

CARE AND CLEANING OF
STONE FLOORS
By JOYCE K. SAYLAN
There's more than a mop bucket and soap suds required to keep your stone and tile floors in great condition. Although stone floors seem impervious to anything even an active family can dish out, there are some very important points to remember when attacking the winter's build up of dirt, oils, and stains. Preventive maintenance is critical to keeping your floors looking new.
CERAMIC TILE
Ceramic tile floors should last a lifetime and still look great when your grand children come to visit. Daily dusting, vacuuming and a routine mop-up with a mild detergent, or a little ammonia and water will get the dirt off the top of the tile. That's it! That's what to do! However there are a few "not to do's" that are important to mention. Take care choosing your detergent. "Avoid cleaners containing acid, even vinegar, or any abrasive cleaners," cautions Scott Byrd, General Manager of Bond Tile. Ceramic tile itself can withstand a vinegar bath without damage, but the grout will react with strong acids and begin to deteriorate into a powder. An abrasive cleaner may scratch the tile glaze.
Tile that is near a doorway should be protected by a rug. "Sand from outdoors carried in on shoes is sheer disaster for tiles and most stone floors. Sand is made of quartz, the second hardest mineral after diamond, and grinds into the glaze scratching and dulling the tile," says Tom Cosky, President of Master Tile. Because the color and design of a ceramic tile is baked only onto the top of the tile, damage will be obvious as the pattern and color is worn away. A ceramic tile damaged in this way is not repairable. At best you can replace the tiles or throw a rug over them.
The real cleaning effort is concentrated on cleaning the grout. Grout is porous and holds the dirt, food stains, and oils. To remove grease spots,try a heavy duty tile cleaner that has a strong alkaline base. Ammonia will help dissolve calcium deposits from hard water. Cosky advises that "The best remedy for dingy grout is to clean it well and then stain it to a permanent color like an Antique White grout." Available in a sparkling clear, water-based epoxy formula that seals too. "Looks like a million bucks!" Applying a sealer to clean grout will help protect against water and oil stains, but it will not repel dirt. "Grout is the sin of the tile business," bemoans Cosky. "Too bad ugly cement and sand comes between those beautiful tiles."
PORCELAIN, QUARRY, AND MOSAIC TILE
These tiles are unglazed tiles. The color isn't baked on; it's one material and color throughout each tile. It can be worn down considerably and would still be the same color. Unglazed tile is more susceptible to stains and dirt lodging in the pores of the tile. Phosphoric acid is the cleaner of choice (Aqua Mix $8.00 qt). Stubborn stains might require a poultice to pull the stain out. A poultice cleaner contains an absorptive clay with a mild abrasive in powder form. Avoid harsh abrasives. Unglazed tiles are found in the bottoms of shower stalls or other applications where a non-slip surface is necessary. Quarry tile is a pressed clay throughout and is embossed with a tread-like design for added traction. Quarry tile is great for outdoor applications where it is virtually maintenance free.
SALTILLO TILE
Saltillo tile is purchased either finished or unsealed. The sealers, applied by the manufacturer, are left to dry at room temperature. Additional sealant may be applied after cleaning, but will eventually wear off. (International Finish or Mex Seal @ $25 to $35 a gallon covers 300-500 sq ft)
Unsealed tiles are absorbent and will stain, but would be slippery if sealant is applied. It's best to have purchased the appropriate type of tile for the area rather than to try to alter the surface. Hard water deposits can be removed with Super Shine All.
LINOLEUM AND VINYL
These are easy: just a good mopping up with a mild detergent, but rinse well. Soap residue builds up and dulls the floor. Many of these floor coverings have permanent no-wax surfaces and will dry to a high shine year after year.
If your waxed floors are looking gray with dirt imbedded in the layers of wax, strip off that heavy build-up with a commercial stripping product or ammonia and water (ventilate well when using ammonia). Your floor will be wonderfully clean and ready for a fresh coat of wax.
TERRAZZO
Terrazzo is a combination of 80% marble chips and 20% Portland cement applied in one flat surface. "It's the single most durable floor you can put in your home," says Jerry Maltz of Marblelife. These floors were popular in the 1950s and 60s and are regaining that popularity because of their great looks and durability. Cleaning, however, is for the professional.
Many old floors must be reground to remove old dirt and decayed grout. Choosing the proper abrasive and technique is best left to professionals. Properly done, the regrinding and polishing will create a natural shine that will last for years. The grinding to a high gloss allows the true colors of the marble to come out. The industry is moving away from acrylic wax because "slick on slick won't stick." Marbles are not porous so the wax lays on top and just doesn't last.
Stain removal can be difficult if the stain is throughout the cement. Again, call a pro! Mistakes can be extremely expensive. If you tire of the color of your floor, over 250 oxides as color enhancers can be applied that will change the color of the Portland cement mixture without altering the striations of the stone. Even faded driveway pavers can be made really black!
MARBLE
Marble is installed in 12 x 12 tiles with irregular edges. The more traffic that hits these tile edges, the more they are abraded and the edges wear off. This wear pattern opens areas on the marble that deteriorate faster than would a Terrazzo floor. This "lippage"(the unevenness inherent in applications over mortar and grouted) is the one most aggravating frustration for homeowners, and there's nothing you can do about it. Cleaning: when dirt and the grout gets wet you get mud and stains. Don't risk damaging either the marble surfaces or the grout components, call the pro's.
An alternative to coping with that "pillow case puffiness" is to grind the whole floor flat. Marblelife has one of only five Ultimate Grinding Plates (UPG) in the US that can grind a floor completely flat so that even the grout lines are polished. This polishing closes all the pores in the marble and the grout so there is no place for dirt and water to go. An application of Interbond seals the whole installation. "Over forty percent of the problems with marble are housekeeping related," says Maltz.
If you have to mop that marble, do it with Intercare Cleaner. "It cleans everything from ovens to painted walls (clean from the bottom up to avoid run marks) anything but windows! It's residue free." There is a difference between black marble and black granite. Black marble is a soft stone and readily shows scratches. Black granite is durable and virtually indestructible.
SLATE
Slate is a "cleft stone," that means it's layered. You can see where layers start and stop. It's not a flat stone. When slate is installed and grouted, the grout seeps into the clefts and makes the slate look dirty. If a penetrating sealant is used to clean slate, it can change the color of the slate to a darker "wet" look. Some brands of cleaners will not change the color. Ask your retailer, manufacturer, or installer to be sure of the results before you buy. However few homeowners have the equipment or the technical knowledge to determine the proper procedures and products to do the job themselves. Again, call a pro. Even for installations in new constructions, it's best to call a professional to do a "post construction clean and polish." It's a very well-spent $1.50 a sq ft to clean and protect that new floor.
FLAGSTONE
Flagstone is a great stone. It's popularity is coming back. Flagstone can be fashioned into tiles, left as a cleft stone, or applied in random patterns with a rough surface, perfect for outdoors. It's very durable and has a matte finish. (Interlock Sealant will seal Flagstone and dry without a shine.) The stone is virtually indestructible. According to professionals, stone-floors are 100 percent predictable. The average stone floor is 175 to 250 million years old. Made from the actions of heat, friction, and minerals, anything that can go wrong, already has.
Although every job is unique, it's the less-than-professional treatment that ruins marble, slate floors and other stone flooring. If you're considering purchasing a stone floor, consult with manufacturers and dealers of the stone, not just the designers, at length until you fully understand what it takes to maintain and preserve the beauty of a stone floor. The value it adds to your home can be destroyed with the swish of an uneducated mop. Don't let that happen.
The bottom line in caring for your stone floors is getting someone who cares enough about stone to know what he's doing, has the experience and a network of professionals behind him to do the job right the first time. When you have a great looking floor to show off, don't allow just anyone to touch those beauties.

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