It sounds like maybe you only partially removed the wax. Usually this happens when we do not rinse effectively. The grimex would have broken down the wax and left it flaoting in suspencion, if this was not adequately removed, then rinsed with fresh water it can settle back down on the surface, or it can be made ‘thinner’ and if not rinsed it can get deeper into any micropores present in the tile surface.

You could try again, this time leaving the Grimex to work for 15 minutes then scrub, then pick up the solution. Then rinse with fresh water, then immediately buff the tiles dry (you would not wash glass windows and leave the to dry as they would be sure to streak).

If this does not help, sure, a microabrasive may help – try Microscub, as you will be hard-pressed to find any nanoscrub left in the UK now.

You could also try a solvent if none of this works

the first area you did, the transit wax may have ironically helped keep the tiles free of stains during grouting, and much of it may have come off naturally during the grout washing-off process – with some porcelain that can be the best way to do it, unfortunately it is not always easy to detemine if this is the case or not

Hope this helps

We have recently installed hitom porcelain tiles from B & Q that recommend removal of transit wax and then sealing before and after grouting. I set about cleaning the tiles with LTP grimex and rinsing well. Having now laid the tiles, I have realised that they have been left streaky and cannot get them clean. I am yet to grout the tiles, as I really want to get a good clean finish first.

The streaks seem to follow the general pattern of scrubbing, but there are also finger print marks (rubber gloves) left where the tiles were held.

I have tried the grimex again, but it makes no difference. Do you think nano scrub would help?

What is interesting is that I tiled the wc with the exact same tiles, but hadn’t read the instructions, so never removed the transit wax or sealed the tiles and they have a much better looking finish. That was some time ago and the tiles still look good, although the grout has no dirtied.

Any help much appreciated.

Daniel

You say that ‘after cleaning the laid tiles, the cloudy haze remains’ from that I am assuming that you grouted the floor and that the haze appeared after this (it was not present before) and then you used a weak vinigar solution to wash them, and it did not imprve the situation. I will also assume that it did not make the situation worse either?

In other words cleaning with the vinegar did not ‘create’ the haze? The only thing I would want to be certain of is if there was some kind of coating on the tile that the cleaning has now only partially removed:

there can be a couple of kinds of coating on porcelain, a transit-wax, or a factory applied sealer. Waxes are intended to be removed, and usually need alkaline cleaners, mild abraisives or solvents to shift them. Your mild vinegar solution, which is acidic, would not have been an effective cleaner, so it may have only done a partial job, leaving wax on the surface.

Or, if it was a harder to remove sealer, then, the cleaning process could have removed some, or partially damaged the sealer.

However I am reasonably sure it is more likely to be a grout haze, caused by small particles of the grout (cement and polymer, maybe pigment also) getting trapped in micro-sized pores in the tile’s surface. If this is the case, then the vinegar solution would not have done much (it may have attacked minute amounts of any cement it could reach but that is all). Typically you need to try a much more intensive approach using a combination of a phosphoric acid based cleaner (for any cement), a solvent and a microabrasive like Microscrub. A certain amount of experimenation is usually needed to determine the best approach.

So, my gut feeling is that you have not caused the problem with vinegar – I would not have used vinegar, as it is next to usesless for this, but I doubt it has caused a problem, just not worked well enough. This is all I can say from the information provided but as you appear to be in Aus, I would give my colleagues at Aqua Seal STC a call, they are very experieneced in such issues.

Hope this helps

Ian