At the moment, when cleaning run of the mill ceramic tiles in a kitchen/bathroom, I start by treating the grout with an acid, scrubbing with a grout brush, rinsing, then cleaning the tiles with an alkaline and a rotary/brush. If I used something like Aqua ix HDTG cleaner, would I get results in half the time? Apologies if it's a stupid question - but I've always based my cleaning on using an acid to etch the grout, and an alkaline to clean the grime off the tiles - obviously one solution can't be both.
Thanks
Ash
There is no point in using acid on grout unless you intend to use a grout colorant afterwards to help it adhere.
Essentially what the acid does is to attack the cementitious properties of the grout and punch micro holes into it by etching. My method and indeed the method Steve mentions is to
1. Pre wet the grout (This stops the cleaner from being absorbed and becoming useless sub surface)
2. Apply diluted Aqua Mix Hevy Duty Tile & Grout Cleaner and allow it to dwell for 20-30 minutes and then agitate.
3. Then vac up, rinse and vac up again.
4. If the grout is particularly dirty you can either add Aqua Mix NanoScrub or Honing Powder to the Aqua Mix HDT&G Cleaner to boost it prior to agitation stage as both of these act as an abrasive and therefore shave a few microns off the top of the grout.
5. If you do use step 4 then I recommend to rinse twice to ensure full removal of any solution.
Finally as an add on try to upsell the customer into having the grout sealed as well to earn a few more pennies.
Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics
