[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

I have just cleaned and sealed a kitchen travertine floor.
Although the customer was very happy and it came up well, their was a small area near the oven that looked darker in the grout line and even though this small area improved with high alkaline cleaner it was still a little darker than the rest and I'm thinking it was something like cooking oil/Greece ect and I noticed the water based seal pooled a little on this area too. Is their anything we could of done to remove or improve this area.

[SteveAllan]

Which cleaner did you use mate, what ratio did you mix at, did you use any honing powder, did you pre wet and leave long enough dwell?

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Thanks Steve - Aqua Mix Heavy Duty Tile & Grout Cleaner Degreaser mixed at the recommended ratio, pre-wet, plenty of dwell and honing powder. This method worked fantastic as it always has in the past apart for just this small area of a few inch that looked ingrained in the grout and more black in colour rather than a dirty colour and with the pooling of the seal in the same area I'm guessing it may be oil/Greece based as it is near the oven as well, only thinking out loud though!. I even tried a few other alkaline cleaning solutions almost neat and scrubbed it by hand which improved it a little more. Like I said she was really happy with it, maybe I'm being to fussy but I'm a perfectionist and would be interested to know what others who have more experience thought.

[Floor_Tony]

When you have deep staining of grout like this it can be a pig sometimes a traditional poultice or liquid poultice is your best chance

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Thanks Tony. I will try that if I ever get the same problem.

[sherco]

If you know the colour of the grout cut it out with a fein multimaster and re-grout.

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Thanks sherco. That's something I was thinking of and mentioned it to the customer but they said they could live more with it than the possibility of the grout not quite matching. Tbh they did not even mention the darker part, she just kept saying how well the floor came up. It was frustrating to me though. Please could you recommend an online website that is good for grout ect if you know one.


On another note sherco - I have had some experience of tiling before and I'm thinking of offering just floor tiling as an off shoot to the business ( I would try and go for the higher end market ie - country house's - Travertine ect ). Do you think their is enough business for just floor tiling to add significant extra turnover to the business.

[sherco]

Tiling work is ok, but you will earn more doing restoration & repairs. I do very little tiling these days as their is not much money in tiling for the hassle you get.

[SteveAllan]

Agreed, too much work for to little money. Unless it's a small repair I pass all my fixing on.

[Rob Hall]

Agreed, too much work for to little money. Unless it's a small repair I pass all my fixing on.

Same here, unless its for family or friends...or I have priced it right!!

[sherco]

To set up just doing hard floor cleaning & repairs takes a while. So make sure you have something else to keep you going. Its a struggle to keep busy everyday on just hard floors.