From the monthly archives:
Two big days preparing large 900 x 900 slate tiles in driveway, entrance, surrounding pool and side of house. After scrubbing with a heavy duty detergent it appears that the tiles were not cleaned properly previously (3 years) and a grout haze has remained.
We ended up scrubbing with 3 detergents and neutralizing with S4S stone cleaner. a lot of work but the results are great.
Tomorrow we will seal the stone to protect against oil and water. Pictures and more later.
{ 0 comments }
I was called to a job with an internal BBQ area with sandstone tiles. It was plain to see that they had never been sealed. Steps taken to prepare the sandstone for sealing are as follows:
1. Mix a heavy duty cleaner ( high alkaline content) at 1 part cleaner to 5 parts water. (or as advised by manufacturer). We used a brown pad on a polyvac machine to scrub the floor. Do this in small sections of about 1m2 at a time. Apply the solution and allow to sit for a minute then scrub with the polyvac. Allow to sit for a minute then repeat. We also use a grout cleaning tool to scrub the grout joints at the same time. After scrubbing, wet vac dry the waste. Methodically move around the area at 1m2 per time. We only had about 25m2 to clean. When finished repeat using S4S marble cleaning products. S4S is great as it neutralizes as well as cleans. You can do a couple of m2 at a time. Some really bad areas we repeated the process with a stronger heavy duty cleaner mix. We repeated neutralizing with S4S as well. Allow a few hours to dry.
When totally dry we used a masonry oil and water repellent to seal. 2 x coats. After 1 hour buff the excess or simply wipe off with a dry rag. The result was fantastic.
{ 0 comments }
Porcelain tiles on floors and walls, unless other wise stated, do need to be sealed. This is easy to prove. Simply mix a small amount of a alkaline cleaner and scrub one tile in the middle of the floor. Neutralize with S4S marble cleaner and dry. Allow to dry about half hour and see if [...]
{ 0 comments }
A lady in Perth rang today and said her marble didn’t come up like I said it would. After talking for awhile it soon became evident that she used far to much product. S4S marble cleaner is a highly concentrated product. For her 50ml I told her to redo it by mop and bucket at [...]
{ 0 comments }
About 90m2 of travertine tiles to clean and seal. It was a new job so no marks or stains to remove.
The travertine was natural so not factory filled.
The tiles are laid then when grouting, the grout is used to fill the natural holes. Firstly, razor scrap all of the tiles. This removes the excess grout [...]
{ 0 comments }
About 90m2 of travertine tiles to clean and seal. It was a new job so no marks or stains to remove.
The travertine was natural so not factory filled.
The tiles are laid then when grouting, the grout is used to fill the natural holes. Firstly, razor scrap all of the tiles. This removes the excess grout [...]
{ 0 comments }
The easiest way to keeping your grout clean is to have it sealed once it is laid. Failing this, you can follow the following procedure:
1. It really depends on the tiles laid surrounding the grout. For highly polished marble, semi polished marble or any other porous stone use a ph neutral cleaner only. S4S marble [...]
{ 0 comments }
One small ensuite to clean and seal. Being highly polished marble the only cleaner to use is S4S marble cleaner. A great marble cleaning product that wont harm any marble surface. Use a soft pad to clean and wet vac dry. Use razor scrapper to remove any excess grout or hard to remove glue, etc.
A [...]
{ 0 comments }
We arrived to find this beautiful house with a fantastic hand carved fireplace. The problem was during transportation it obtained a nasty chip in the side and a piece broke off. Matty and I carefully used “Tenex” marble glue to repair the problems.
We had to carefully match the colour which is the hard part. When [...]
{ 0 comments }
Brisbane botanical gardens laid a small path of glass mosaics. When wet it became extremely slippery, in fact it was more like an ice skating rink. We removed the plants around the border and applied our anti-slip. You need to keep the surface wet for between 20mins to 1 hour depending on the surface. After [...]
{ 0 comments }
