Hello.
I have a ceramic tile floor in my kitchen which also spills over into
my connected breakfast room. The tiles are a light beige/taupe color.
When we had it put in several years ago we obtained 16"X16" large tiles
that did not have a glossy/shiny surface, at least not entirely.
They've always been a challenge to clean and keep clean.
We would have preferred, in retrospect, to have gotten and installed
the shiny/high gloss tiles simlar to what we have in our bathroom
(12X12 tiles).

My wife has tried using bleach on a few tiles which really do seem to
clean them rather well. I question whether the bleach might be doing
surface damage, even over time, to the tiles. If we did all the tiles
I have a feeling that we'd be forced to clean all the tiles using
bleach every few months....forever. I was thinking it might be better
to bite the bullet and have all new tiles installed (of course
obtaining the shiny tiles we should have gotten in the first place).

Any thoughts on the best most effective way to clean non-glossy ceramic
tiles? Also any thoughts on if using bleach (other than the problem
with toxic fumes) would damage the tile surface over time?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Walley

"Wally" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello.
I have a ceramic tile floor in my kitchen which also spills over into
my connected breakfast room. The tiles are a light beige/taupe color.
When we had it put in several years ago we obtained 16"X16" large tiles
that did not have a glossy/shiny surface, at least not entirely.
They've always been a challenge to clean and keep clean.
We would have preferred, in retrospect, to have gotten and installed
the shiny/high gloss tiles simlar to what we have in our bathroom
(12X12 tiles).

My wife has tried using bleach on a few tiles which really do seem to
clean them rather well. I question whether the bleach might be doing
surface damage, even over time, to the tiles. If we did all the tiles
I have a feeling that we'd be forced to clean all the tiles using
bleach every few months....forever. I was thinking it might be better
to bite the bullet and have all new tiles installed (of course
obtaining the shiny tiles we should have gotten in the first place).

Any thoughts on the best most effective way to clean non-glossy ceramic
tiles? Also any thoughts on if using bleach (other than the problem
with toxic fumes) would damage the tile surface over time?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Walley


My previous house had those hexagonal white matte finish tiles that were
popular in the 1940s. I found that toothpaste cleaned them well, but
obviously, that gets expensive. So, I tried two scouring powders:
Barkeeper's Friend and Bon Ami. Both work well, if applied with a sponge
mop. When you use them on dishes, they can leave a slight powdery film, so
you have to follow with the usual sponge & dish soap. For the floor, you
might have to rinse a couple of times with the mop and clear water.

Wally writes:

Also any thoughts on if using bleach (other than the problem
with toxic fumes) would damage the tile surface over time?

Bleach? Why? You misundertand the chemistry. You're not going to oxidize
this type of dirt.

If bleach worked at all, it is because is so strongly alkaline to preserve
the chlorine content.

You'd be better off with an alkaline butyl cleaner, like 409, Fantastik, or
ZEP industrial, and scrubbing.

But I suspect you're grinding and embedding material into a relatively soft
ceramic bisque, in which case, nothing is going to do a great job of
cleaning it.

Flooring, like parents, should be chosen carefully.

I suspect that maybe the tiler who did the work
left a polymer film on the surface when grouting.
This is easy to do on a tile that is not shiny, and
difficult to see on a matte or multitextured surface.
One way you could tell is, assuming you have an
extra tile put away, compare the non-installed tile
to the installed tile and see if the never-used tile
is more glossy.
As a professional who has to get this final bit of
film off job after job, I recognize the film on tiles
in the course of life, while in a commercial bathroom,
in friends homes, etc. I often see this film, and
the dirt that is sticking to it. No matter how much
you wash it, the dirt will stick quickly to the surface.

Generally tiles are so hard and waterproof (the glazed
surface) that is seems unlikely they would be "hard
to clean", unless something else is going on.

As previously mentioned in a response to your post,
bleach isn't the cleaner of choice. Your "dirt" is
the result of grease and oils that spill in the kitchen
onto the floor, then when you mop you combine these
with dirt and mix the solution all around.
Therefore you need a grease-cutting cleaner like
pine-sol or spic-and-span pine or something to break
down this greasy dirt.

I've mentioned sulfamic acid many times in this forum.
It is a relatively safe and easy to use solution. If you
scrub your floor with it, it isn't necessarily a grease
cutter, but it will dissolve any remaining grout film
that may be on your tiles.

BTW, bleach may not hurt a high quality glaze, but
is will damage your grout over time. My basic
instructions to customers about cleaning (keeping it
simple so they will remember) the tiles is "use anything
but bleach".

Your problem is a common one, but is difficult to
diagnose "on-line". You have to do some of the
experimenting as described above.

thetiler

thetiler wrote:


I've mentioned sulfamic acid many times in this forum.


thetiler


Rich Trembley?