A blog reader submitted the following question to us: “After removing the grout from our natural stone polished tiles, and before sealing, they were a couple of small stains which were probably water.  We used Cillit Bang to remove this but has made worse.  Are there any products that could remove this?”

And our suggested course of action was as follows:

” Sorry to hear of your predicament. I am assuming that what you have is a ‘polished’ natural stone, such as marble or limestone. Let me first tell you that you are not the first person to do this by a long way. The product you mention contains an acid and although acids can help break down cement and grout, they should never be used as cleaners on acid sensitive stone, which is what you have.

What I suspect has happened is that you may or may not have fully removed the cement residue, but in attempting to do that, the cleaning product has etched the polished surface of the stone. Basically the polish is created by grinding and rubbing the stone at the factory with diamonds or silica carbide blocks, working first with coarse grit all the way down to the finest, just like using different sandpapers on wood to get a smooth finish. With the surface now super-smooth, it is very flat and reflects light very well, creating the full color reflection and high gloss finish of polished stone. The acid in the cleaner has instantly reacted with the calcium carbonate in the stone, eroding it away irregularly (eating small chunks of the surface) this has the effect of putting it back into a very rough and unpolished state.

So what can you do? well it depends on how bad it is and how wide spread. If you have only a few spots then you may be able to re-polish with a hand re-polishing cream such as Renue. If the etch marks are deeper than that, then you may need to have the stone diamond polished again - this is usually a job for a professional.

If you feel it is hand polish - able then you still need to get all the grout staining off. For this I would recommend Nanoscrub  - it is a safe abrasive cleaner that will help remove grout deposits without harming the stone. Do this then examine the stone to see how bad the etches are. If however you feel that there could be a significant amount of etching all over, then cleaning the grout is not so much of an issue, as if you  have to resort to calling in a stone professional, the process will also remove any grout residue.

Let us know if we can be of any further help.”

In my last article I mentioned the coatings that certain factories are applying to their porcelain tiles. In truth there are lots of different types of coating being used. Their purpose is to afford some protection to the tiles during transport, handling and of course, installation. Why are they doing this? Well, many newer porcelain tiles are not being manufactured to quite the same exacting standards that they once were, particularly, those emanating from the Far East.

They are intended to be removed before, during or after grouting. Many of them use standard, paraffin-type waxes which are relatively easy to remove but others however use more modern, polymers that can be much harder to remove and each can require a different chemical.

For standard waxes, the easiest and safest way to remove them would be to use a product designed specifically for this job, such as Nanoscrub by Aqua Mix. We have talked about this product (and its many other uses) before, but this is the task it was actually designed for. The process is simple; just pour some Nanoscrub onto the tiles, add a little water and scrub with a white nylon emulsifying pad, rinse and you’re done.

For the more difficult types, it could involve a bit of trial an error I am afraid. Some respond well to strong alkaline cleaners such as Heavy Duty Tile and Grout Cleaner, while others really require a solvent-type product. You have to be careful with solvents- not just for the obvious reasons but also, because some of them can darken the tiles or leave behind an oily residue themselves. We would try Sealer & Coating Remover - it is a far safer and much more user-friendly solvent cleaner. You may be forgiven for thinking, “well I will go straight to the solvent, just in case the alkaline does not work” but it does not always work like that; coatings that respond to alkaline cleaners do not always necessarily respond to solvents, and visa-versa. A useful tip is that Nanoscrub can be added to either to boost its performance.

The last type of coating issue I am going to discuss is the new wave of so-called nano-sealers that are also factory applied. The word nano is being used a lot these days; in the case of both the Nanoscrub that we mention and these nano-sealers - all that the ‘nano’ technology is doing is reducing surface-tension, this allows for a greater and easier penetration of both the cleaner and in this case sealers, into the small (but very problematical) pores of many polished Porcelain tiles. It does not indicate if the sealer is good, poor or mediocre. The problem we have seen is that the factories, due to the speed of production and less than scrupulous quality control, do not always remove the sealer residue, this then dries to form a haze. Some of these sealer residues can be removed with one or a combination of the types of product we have talked about, but for some, unfortunately, at this point there would appear to be no effective solution - it is still a work in progress!

I said I would be back talking about problems and issues with porcelain tiles and here I am. This won’t be the final chapter either. Having had yet another call today on ‘cloudy marks’ on newly laid porcelain floor tiles I thought should bring it up as a blog topic.So, what is the problem? An increasing number of porcelain manufacturers are applying coatings to their tiles at the factory. This practice is predominant (but not restricted to) manufacturers in China and some other Eastern countries. Basically there are several types of coating that can be applied, from easy to remove waxes, to much more stubborn wax-type coatings and now even new ‘nano’ sealers.

The reason that these coatings are applied is two-fold; firstly, it is applied to the face of the tiles to help prevent damage caused during transit; (with the tiles being stacked against each other, they can scratch). Secondly, it is intended to provide a small degree of protection on site.

The problem is that the coatings need to be removed before or after grouting, but certainly upon completion (depends on the coating). This is where the problem arises, as it is not always easy to remove, and, furthermore if it is not removed it will leave the tile looking, dull, patchy, cloudy or hazy. Sometimes it is so bad it looks like grout staining.

Some large retailers have had so many issues that they now (finally) tell their customers that there is a wax and that it should be removed, although they do not seem to be too proficient at telling them how to remove the coatings.

In general terms, most of these coatings are a wax and typically they need removing before grouting. Some professionals prefer to leave the wax on whilst grouting but I have seen many problems with this, although the wax can help, it does not always prevent staining from grout. The grouting process itself can partially remove the wax and this does two things:

1. It leaves a patchy, partial wax coating and,
2. It means some grouts, especially the pigmented ones, can now stain the unprotected areas of the tile. So, my preferred system would be as follows:

1. Lay tiles
2. Remove wax
3. Apply a good quality impregnating sealer such as Ultra-Solv
4. Grout
5. When completely cured, apply final coat of the same sealer (this way you make sure the tile is properly sealed, and chances are, if it was waxed, it is the type of porcelain that needs sealing - plus, you also seal the grout.)

Next time I’ll talk about ways to remove the wax and also about Nano sealer residue.

Granite has become a very popular natural stone used in our homes. One of the main reasons of this is that it just looks so luxurious but it’s also very heard wearing and relatively easy to keep clean. Granite worktops and countertops are now quite ubiquitous in many homes across the world and granite floor tiles are increasingly found within houses.

Granite itself is found in many countries but the most commercial quarries for this igneous rock are found in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, India and in African countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola. As a material it was used in construction by the Ancient Egyptians and the Red Pyramid of Egypt is famous for the light crimson hue of it’s exposed granite surfaces.

Popular types of granite - black galaxy granite is one of the worlds most popular choices although it’s very success is causing a problem in that you need to be sure of it’s quality. Black Galaxy is mined in Andhra Pradesh, India and can be broadly split into 3 types - these being large specked black galaxy, medium specked and small specked - depending on the size of the ferrous rich Enstatine, gold colored specks. Originally this granite was known as Star Galaxy and since the volume mined from this location is relatively low, it does not reconcile to the number of dealers purporting to sell it. Care is therefore needed when buying it.

Most sky blue granite varieties are mined in Brazil and Zambia. The best quality material has a medium to fine grained crystalline groundmass composed of blue, white, and black crystals. In some varieties there are additional greenish colored crystals as well.

Homogenous blue granite varieties tend to be expensive and are typically mined in Norway and the Ukraine. Granite colors of blue homogeneous stones range from light to dark blue with many hues and shades in between. Homogeneous blue granite is used on both interiors and exteriors. This stone is used for flooring, facings, countertops, and in luxury furnishings.

I recently had a friend call me and ask me what travertine was? Well, here’s an explanation:

Travertine is a sedimentary rock, a natural chemical precipitate of carbonate minerals. In basic terms, calcium carbonate is deposited from mineral spring water or rivulets that are saturated with calcium bicarbonate and this water can be cold, warm or piping hot.

When carbon dioxide-rich water percolates through rocks in limestone regions, water dissolves the limestone and becomes saturated with it. When the environment the water runs through, changes significantly e.g. a change in pressure or temperature, this causes the water to release the carbon dioxide as gas, much like in carbonated drinks like Coca Cola. The calcium carbonate then recrystallizes and small debris, scrub and living biotic material like algae and moss are encrusted. The biotic material may survive and continue growing on top. Rich deposits of aged, dried and hardened travertine have already been mined by the Romans. The rock typically remains quite porous with numerous cavities. When exceptionally porous it is known as “Calcareous Tuff”. When pure and fine, travertine is white, but often is brown to yellow due to impurities other than carbonate minerals.

Extensive travertine deposits can be found in Tivoli, Italy, a short distance from Rome. You can also find numerous travertine dams in places like Croatia, Afghanistan, Sichuan China, Turkey and Guatamala.

Want to know the most famous building in the world that is constructed mainly of travertine? The Colosseum in Rome believe it or not! Other notable buildings constructed from it include the Sacre Coeur Cathedral in Paris and the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Travertine is commonly used for flooring as tiles but also used in gardens and and for patios.  The stone is characterized by pitted holes and troughs in the surface which can be filled or unfilled and you can purchase each variation. It is also commonly used as a facade or wall cladding material and this can be seen in UCLA Medical Center where the walls are are constructed of thick travertine.

So what do you do if you have a shape to cut out, like an ‘L’ shape around a window for example? Well, for that we need a wet-saw. It’s not just for shape cuts though, most stone will not cut on a manual scribe and snap cutter and will need the water-cooled, diamond cutting action of a wet-saw.Like the manual cutters, they come in many shapes and sizes and in all budgets; prices start from around £30 for anything remotely serviceable to, well in excess of £2,000 for professional models - quite a range. For most DIY jobs a small, sub-£100 machine can be quite adequate, indeed many tile fixers will opt for economy rather than quality, preferring to buy a new machine every 12 months (or less) rather than spending in excess of £500 for one that could, in theory, last them a decade or more.

So what are you paying for with the more expensive machines? Well the quality of the build for one, cheap machines tend to be constructed mainly out of plastic, which is obviously, far less durable than the metal. The quality of the diamond disc or blade is another. I would also argue that long-term, the accuracy of the ‘professional’ machines is inevitably better, allowing for greater consistency in cutting. If you are looking for a solid, reliable mini-wet say that will cut a variety of materials (and last a while, with the comfort of knowing that you can get spare parts) then I would recommend a mid priced machine such as:

The Raimondi Supereco 98 Tile Cutter

Then there is the issue of size, with stone floors in particular, but increasingly with modern porcelain tiles, small cutters are just not capable of handling the large formats that we are buying. Larger tiles and slabs (because that is what they are becoming) mean larger cutters, if you have a tile that is 600 x 300 mm, then you (or your tiler) are going to need a cutter that has a ‘cutting bed’ of at least 600 mm - obviously. The most popular type of larger wet-saws are known as Bridge Saws due to the system of a cutting head that moves over a static ‘bed’ via a twin or mono-rail over-bed bridge. With the larger frame of a bridge saw, it is easier to support a larger motor, hence we can have a more powerful machine, which does not have to work so hard, if you have ever tried to cut through very hard dense stone with a small, and underpowered saw, you will know exactly what I mean.

Many bridge saws have lots of other useful features, such as pumped water cooling (rather than just running in a trough of water that is quickly emptied, and being human, most people neglect the chore of keeping it topped up, hence run the disc too dry and dramatically shorten the life of the disc). Also they can often be adjusted for thickness, by lowering or raising the head, so enabling multi-pass cutting for thicker materials (such as worktops and pavers). Some have options for both fixed height and floating, which allows for plunge cutting in the middle of the tile/stone - this is great for cutting out square, or even round holes.

A great example of a very flexible (and not too big) wet saw is the Exploit 70 portable tile cutter.

This is a very vague question, but a very common one. Of course there are many different tile cutters available and the price range varies as much as their size and shape. Choosing the right tile cutter depends on many things; are you looking for a professional model, or DIY? Is it for a one-off job or do you intend to undertake several projects over the next few years? What are you cutting, small ‘standard’ wall tiles or large format, hard and brittle porcelain floor tiles? And so on.Like so many things in life, with tile cutters, you get what you pay for and another phrase comes to mind: ‘horses for courses’. There are three broad types of tile cutter:

1. Hand scribers and breakers
2. Manual Tile Cutters (scribe and snap)
3. Wet Cutters

The first type look like a pencil and are really just tungsten-carbide tipped steel (or increasingly, plastic) bars, or they may have a TC cutting wheel (like a basic glass cutter) and really all they can do is scribe a line in glazed and unglazed tiles. These are readily available in tile and DIY shops and are inexpensive. To be honest, unless you are simply fixing some small, thin basic wall tiles, then you will not get far with one of these as after scribing the line, you then need to break the tile along the scribe and anything over 7 or 8 mm can be quite tricky to the untrained. Don’t bother with placing the tile over matchsticks, it is far easier to simply hold the tile at arms length and place you thumbs on the back of the tile and ‘snap’ it away from you (like a certain, chocolate, twin-biscuit bar that you may enjoy when taking a break).

Thin cuts, of say less than 2 cm can be harder with this method as there is not much leverage available to the fingers. Another popular DIY tile cutter, resembles a pair of pliers with a winged-anvil at the end. This anvil can be used instead of the hands and can handle most basic tile-cuts.

However, if your project is going to involve more than just a kitchen splash back then you may well be better investing a little bit of money to get something more substantial. I should also point out, that these ‘pencil’ and ‘pliers’ cutters cannot help with cut-outs for switch sockets, ‘L’ shapes and the like.

You could consider a manual scribe & snap type cutter. Typically these have either two rails or one central bar, along which a scribing handle is pulled, or pushed. There are a variety of breaking devices and anvils, some built into the handle, others use a secondary device. There are many to choose from with prices starting from around as little as £10 (for a small, plastic one) up to several hundreds of pounds for a metal, professional quality one, capable of cutting very large floor tiles. If your budget is sub £50, (and your tiles are not too large) then you will find a wide selection of these machines in any large DIY store or tile shop.

With the trend today to tile ever-larger areas, particularly so in stone, and also the growing tendency for these tiles to be in a larger format, then it may well be well be worth looking at something more professional. Again, there are many to choose from; ask any professional Tiler and most will be familiar with the following two brands: Rubi and Sigma. Typically they will favour one and not the other - I am happy using either but that is because I have experience of using them both and of having to swap and change regularly, with many people their preference comes from which ever machine they were brought up on, and got used to. They have slightly different methods of operation; let’s take a look at a couple of them:

Rubi Manual Tile Cutters

The Rubi TS 40 is one of the best selling manual cutters in the country, its design has not changed much over the last 25 years, but it works as well today as it always has. It can take tiles up to 40 cm in length and is operated by pushing a scribing wheel, by means of a long handle along twin chrome rails. Once scribed, the operator lifts the scribing wheel clear and uses the second lever to operate the breaking anvil

Sigma Manual Tile Cutters 

The Sigma cutters by contrast, operate by pulling the scribing handle towards you and then changing the position of the handle, to bring the integrated anvils into play. The anvil presses down and the sprung plates give way to reveal a central breaking bar, over which the tile snaps.

Either of these two machines will handle a wide variety of jobs, if I had to make a choice between them then it would probably be the sigma, but much of this is my personal preference for ‘pulling’ and not ‘pushing’. If the sigma style appeals but it is out of your budget, then there are a number of ‘clones’ on the market that offer much of the same performance at a lesser cost. One of the best of these would be the Raimo by Raimondi:

Raimondi Manual Tile Cutters

Well, that post was a little longer than I had intended, and I have not even started on ‘L’ shape and hole cutting, for that we need wet cutters, I will leave that for next time. Stay Tuned.

What is the best sealer to seal my porcelain floor tiles is one of the most frequently asked questions I hear. For those in a hurry, I’ll give you my suggestion right away - Ultra Solv. For those with time (and the desire) to find out why, read on.The answer can depend on the finish of the porcelain; for example, it could be a standard, smooth finish, it could be slightly textured (like a faux slate) or heavily textured, perhaps for anti-slip purposes. However, by far the most common question I receive is in relation to ‘polished’ porcelain.

There are still some high-quality porcelain tiles out there that do not require sealing. If you are lucky enough to have one of those then you are not going to need to do too much to keep it clean and looking good. Unfortunately, more and more of the porcelain sold here is of a somewhat more unpredictable quality, at least in terms of porosity and susceptibility to sub-surface staining. If you suspect that your porcelain might need sealing there are couple of ways you can check:

1. Do a water drop test - put some water on the tile and leave it for about 20 minutes then wipe off. If there is any darkening of the surface, showing that some water has penetrated the tile, then it will benefit from being sealed.
2. You can do the same thing with oils (warm engine oil off your car’s dipstick, cooking oil etc)
3. Or, for the ultimate test, use a highly penetrative chemical like a solvent; a permanent ink marker pen is perfect - needles to say, do this test on a spare off-cut, not on your floor!

Having determined that your porcelain needs sealing, which sealer should you use? First of all, the ‘type’ of sealer you will need is known as an ‘impregnating sealer’, as the name implies, it is a sealer that penetrates the tile and lies just below the surface, acting like a safety net to contain contaminants and keep them at the surface until they can be cleaned.

There are many impregnators out there and the old adage of “you get what you pay for” is certainly applicable here. Next question is what is best, solvent-based or water-based? Well this is one of the very few situations nowadays where I would still favour a solvent based one, not because water based is not up to the job, quite the contrary, but some modern water-based sealers can out-perform the best solvents, but simply because porcelain has a very dense surface and a solvent-based impregnator will penetrate it more easily.

So, having decided that a solvent based sealer is required, ideally we are looking for a high performance one that is as kind to the user and the environment as a solvent sealer can be. Hence my suggestion of Ultra Solv; this is a premium quality sealer, designed for high performance and longevity, with excellent resistance to oil based, water based and acidic contaminants, it is a fantastic sealer to use for pre-grout sealing. Unlike most other solvent based sealers though, it uses the latest, ‘safer’ solvent as a carrier, so it has much lower VOC’s and a greatly reduced odour, it is technically non-flammable, with a flash point of 150dgs C (meaning the fumes won’t ignite, unless you heat it to a high temperature). Consequently, it is a much nicer product to use than traditional solvent sealers whilst compromising nothing in terms of quality.

What if I want to use a water-based sealer? - No problem, you can, go for Sealer’s Choice Gold; just adapt the application a little: allow a liberal quantity of the sealer to dwell on the surface for a little longer. Then rub in the sealer with absorbent cotton or paper towels, leaving the surface of the tiles dry and free of sealer residue as per normal.

I will come back to this topic later and discuss how to pre-seal a textured porcelain to aid the grouting process.

Michelle asks: “I had black granite floor tiles put down in my bathroom recently and they were sealed after they were put down but i have just noticed several splash marks that will not wash off. The only cause I can think of is that when my husband was painting he washed brushes out in the sink and this splashed onto floor. Could this have caused it and can they be restored or will I need to replace the damaged tiles.”

Here’s our response:

Without knowing the precise nature of the splashes it is difficult to advise, but any impregnating sealer will be beneath the surface of the stone, so it will not stop splashes from getting onto the surface and a fraction of a millimetre into the surface itself.  In fact the sealer will hold a splash at the surface longer than it would be there if it were not sealed, allowing the water to evaporate and leave behind what ever was dissolved ion the water (e.g traces of paint). It could equally be hard water deposits from plain old water, or if your husband used a spirit/solvent based paint brush cleaner then it could have got deeper, through the sealer.

I would first try a basic cleaner like Heavy Duty Tile & Grout Cleaner with the addition of NanoScrub to help it get into the the surface. If is it is hard water deposits, then a slightly acidic cleaner like Phosphoric Acid Cleaner may be required. Hope this helps

Every now and again, something comes along which changes the way we think. I have chosen to profile such a product this month: NanoScrub, by Aqua Mix. To understand the real benefits of NanoScrub I must first explain the conventional approach to cleaning stone and tiles.Normally, we first have to understand the nature of the contaminant we are cleaning and then select an appropriate cleaner. Usually, for example, if we have grease, oil or general grime, we would want to use an alkaline cleaner. For mineral deposits, or grout residue, we would typically opt for an acid-based cleaner. The problem is that, firstly, it is not always a good idea to resort to strong chemicals, whichever side of neutral on the PH scale they are, and secondly, we would want to make sure that we do not expose acid sensitive stones to acidic cleaners - so we must also know a bit about the chemistry of the stone we are trying to clean. If we are trying to break down some other problem deposit or surface stain, such as rubber marks, or trying to remove surface coatings, we might even have to resort to a solvent of some kind.

So, in order to cope with all eventualities, we need an alkaline, an acid and a solvent in our tool kit, and we have to know how and when to use them. This is why NanoScrub is such a great product; it can deal with mild to moderate cases of all of the above - so with just one product we can solve a number of problems and issues.

So what is it and how does it work? NanoScrub is basically a cream abrasive cleaner, but there is more to it than that of course. There are 3 components to the product:

1. A mild cleaning solution (only slightly alkaline, so not a strong chemical)

2. A grinding powder derived from calcite ( the mineral in limestone - so it won’t scratch marble, limestone or other softer stones)

3. And last but not least, the nano-technology.

As a mild cleaner in its own right, NanoScrub will breakdown mild surface soiling such as general grime and dirt, but, it is the calcite-derived abrasive that will do most of the hard work. For example one problem area that we touched on above is how to ‘safely’ remove a grout haze off a polished marble? - Well although problem might suggest an acidic cleaner, we cannot use one as it will destroy the surface of the marble. NanoScrub will safely abrade the residue off with no ill effect on the marble’s surface. In the same way there are many surface contaminants that can be safely and effectively removed from most stone surfaces, for example, hard-water deposits or soap-scum in shower areas - think of NanoScrub as an ‘exfoliating cream’ for stone.

Just the cream abrasive element alone makes NanoScrub a great product but it is the nano-technology that really makes this product so unique and versatile. There is a lot of hype around the term ‘nano’ at the moment, so what is the nano-technology actually doing in NanoScrub? Well it is quite simple actually, all it does is reduce the surface tension of the cleaner so it can more easily penetrate the small pores and micro pores of the surface you are trying to clean, this makes the cleaner much more effective as it does not just ‘flow over’ the smaller pores and leave the dirt untouched.

NanoScrub can be used to safely and effectively tackle a number of problems such as:

* Removal of coatings and waxes

* Deep cleaning

* Removal of cement based or even fine epoxy based grout residues

* Removal of lime-scale and soap-scum deposits

Of course there will always be a need for the traditional approach, where the soiling is so ingrained or the contamination so heavy that NanoScrub alone would not be sufficient. However, NanoScrub can be added to other cleaners as a booster, adding the abrasive and nano, surface-tension-busting effects to really turbo-charge the cleaner. And that’s not all, every day I find new uses for it, I even cleaned my UPVC window sills with it, so if you are going to put one product into your cleaning kit this spring, make sure it is NanoScrub - the Swiss Army Knife of Tile and Stone Cleaners.