I was originally called to this home in Leigh to deep clean approx. 100m2 of porcelain floor tiles in the living area after recent works, but plans changed somewhat when I arrived.
On my arrival the owners informed me that since my last visit to quote for cleaning the Porcelain floor a leak had come through the ceiling. This had left the previously dark grout in the textured ‘plank’ effect porcelain looking washed out and, leaving the floor in need of a refresh. I strongly suspect it wasn’t the leak that caused the problem, but the use of strong cleaning products used afterwards to clean up the mess, a lot of these cleaning products contain bleach, and this can wash the colour out of grout.
Out of interest the main issue we encounter with this type of flooring is grout haze, which occurs when the installer doesn’t manage to remove all the grout. This results in a thin film of grout on the surface which detracts from the final appearance. This probably happens with all installations but is certainly very evident on porcelain. The solution is to give the floor an acid wash using Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up, but most tilers don’t bother.
After discussion it was agreed to re-focus the time, we had available on the grout. However, after a deep clean it became clear the grout would need recolouring to look it’s best.
Grout Colouring Porcelain Floor Tiles with Chocolate Grout Colouring
Applying a Tile Doctor Grout Colourant in Chocolate colour was the ideal solution and after an urgent call to Tile Doctor HQ I set up a delivery to ensure it would be with us the next morning.
In the meantime, I continued the preparation of the grout and cleaning of the tiles using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which not only removes the grout haze but will also etch the surface of the grout to ensure a superior bond with the colourant.
That afternoon we also discussed the high gloss porcelain floor in the hallway, the owners had spent a lot of time polishing it themselves since installation and were not completely happy with it. I setup a floor buffer fitted with a 3000-grit pad and dry burnished a small section in the hallway. The difference was obvious, and they could see an immediate improvement, as a result they decided to rebook me to do a day polishing as well once the living room was completed.
I returned on day two to find the colourant had arrived and so started the process of recolouring the grout with the chocolate colourant. This is a straightforward process but very time consuming as with these thin planks there were a lot of grout lines to cover.
Afterwards the tiles were gently buffed with a White pad before leaving to dry. The owners were very pleased with the result commenting we had done a “brilliant job in the front room.” Later he added the following feedback:
They also booked us in to do the polish on the next available date, but I’ll discuss that in a separate post.
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Source: Porcelain Tile Cleaning and Renovation Services in Leigh Greater Manchester