I was asked to clean this ceramic tiled kitchen floor at a property in Epsom that was very dirty and needed a deep clean. As usual I called in on the property to survey the floor and provide a quote for its renovation.
Upon initial inspection I thought the tiles were actually limestone, so I did a quick test to establish that they were definitely ceramic. These were a textured ceramic tile which often gets recommended for wet areas such as kitchens due to its non-slip properties, the textured surface of the tile however does cause it to trap dirt.
As well as the build-up of dirt on the tiles my client also wanted the grout cleaning, which was filthy, also some of the grout had holes in it and these had filled with dirt.
Cleaning a Ceramic Tiled Kitchen
To get the grout clean I applied a strong alkaline cleaner called Tile Doctor Remove & Go and worked it into the grout lines using a wire brush. This product is designed to remove all sorts of coatings and grime so just the thing for a dirty grout. The floor was then rinsed with water and the soiling vacuumed away with a wet vacuum.
Then as we were unable to move the furniture out of the kitchen, I had to divide the floor into three areas and scrub the Ceramic tiles with more Remove & Go. This was worked in with a rotary floor machine fitted with an aggressive carbide brush which gets deep into the annoying little holes and textured tile. Extra weights were applied to the machine to improve traction with the tile. After each section was scrubbed, the floor was rinsed and extracted as before.
Sealing a Ceramic Tiled Kitchen
Finally, I gave the whole kitchen a rinse with warm water to remove any trace of Tile Doctor Remove & Go and dried the floor as much as possible with the wet vacuum.
Ceramic tiles won’t take a sealer as they are already sealed within the manufacturing process. Therefore, once I was happy the floor was as clean as it could be the work was done.
The work was completed in less than a day and my clients were very happy with the transformation. I think you will agree from the photographs the Ceramic tile and Grout look so much cleaner.
The reason grout goes dark is because the cementitious top layer is porous and traps the dirt that gets washed into the recesses of the grout line during cleaning.