Make Your Epoxy Floors and Counters Shine Again
The beauty of epoxy flooring is that there is no surface applied design.
What you see goes all the way through the thickness of the material, so that cleaning and restoration can make even a bad finish and poor installation look great. In many cases, restoration efforts make epoxy much more attractive than when it was first set in mortar.
Why Stone Work Can Be Imperfect
Stone is typically set in thin set cement on either concrete or a concrete board. Imperfections in this base can make it difficult to lay the tiles so they meet perfectly at each corner. Tiles are not flexible, so there is just so much adjusting a tile setter can do when there is a hump or dip in a floor or countertop. But epoxy flooring does not have these issues.
In the best applications, tile work has imperfections for other reasons, too. Tiles themselves have variations in size and thickness, making installation more difficult. This is why good tile contractors are so valuable.
Determining the Restorative Efforts
How well the initial setting of the tile turns out has a lot to do with the kind of natural stone cleaning and restoration that must be performed. If the tiles lay well and corners match up, cleaning efforts may be all that are needed to make the stone beautiful again.
The restoration might only take slight buffing after the cleaning and a good coat of sealer.
If chemicals etch into the stone and there are slight imperfections in the tile setting, honing may be necessary for natural stone cleaning and restoration.
This involves the use of diamond grinding pads to smooth out scratches and make the surface uniform. How smooth the natural stone is upon completion of the restoration has much to do with the desires of the customer.
Another problem that occurs during the process of natural stone cleaning and restoration is when the tiles themselves are not well matched. Stone tiles may cause a trip hazard for those who slide their feet because of lippage, the occurrence of one tile corner being higher than another.
This can involve many passes with the floor grinders to work out first the major differences and then the minor ones. Initially coarse pads are used, and then the hard surface specialist will step down incrementally to finer ones so the finish is very smooth. This process can take some time based on the number of imperfections and the type of natural stone in use.
Once cleaning and grinding efforts are complete, the final step in natural stone cleaning and restoration is application of a sealer or polish to give it a rich glossy shine.
After natural stone is restored, it is important to note that taking care of it will result in less frequent cleanings. This means careful selection of cleaning chemicals so that they do not break down the finish and the stone beneath.
Acidic cleaners should be avoided altogether because of their destructive reaction on stone. A pH neutral product is recommended to clean yet protect both the sealer and the stone itself.
Floor DIY Tile Cleaning
If your a homeowner with tile and grout I can almost guarantee you have been on your hands and knees trying to get it clean. Tile cleaning can be a very frustrating process for most people.
What Tile Cleaning Products To Use
First there’s what products do I use to get the grout clean, bleach, Mr. Clean, magic eraser, etc. By the way none of them work very well. Then when you have the product you want to use for your tile cleaning you need to get rid of the family and pets for the afternoon so they: don’t hear you swearing at your floor and they don’t come in and mess up what you have somewhat cleaned.
For tile cleaning, you get to get down on your hands and knees for the next couple of hours with your scrub brush (tooth brush) and scrub all of those little grout lines. When you are all done with the cleaning process you will want to seal the grout properly because if you don’t you will be right back where you started this time next month.
Epoxy Cleaning Is Easy
Why not give a call to an epoxy flooring specialist so they can eliminate the whole tile cleaning process for you and give you a much more beautiful epoxy floor instead?
There are experts when it comes to epoxy installation and sealing and when they’re done, they will be glad to show you the easy and proper way to maintain your floors so they look beautiful for years to come.
