Got any Tile and Grout Cleaning Advice?

[Scott S.]

Any of you guys have any advice for me? i have just gotten my tools to do tile and grout.

i have:

Water Otter
Sx-12
Gekko tile and grout tool / coving tool
viper venom
sinergy 11
sinergy 7
viper renew

and i am using my truckforce 3500 for the vac, it has auto dump.
big thanks to jim pemberton for his advice and know how.

 

[packfancjh]

Get as familiar with the different types of stone as you can. the more you can identify the better you will be. Take a class. Learn to color seal also. Visit the hard surface room as often as you can, great info over there.

 

[R W]

DON'T overpromise what you can clean! Do sample cleaning and testing on highly soiled jobs, and prepare the customer that color sealing may be needed to get a really good appearing grout. Most homes are pretty simple cleaning jobs, but beware of restuarants and cafeterias/kitchens in commercial settings.


And price right.......some of those simple jobs turn into nightmares!!!!!!

 

[Farenheit251]

Get yourself an eyedropper and if you ever have a doubt as to whether or not to use acid pretest on a tile under the fridge or stove by making sure it doesn't bubble. Mask off stainless appliances. Put down chemical with a mop or cheap flower pot water can-not a sprayer.

 

[Scott S.]

good idea on the watering can. never thought of that, eye dropper is awsome idea. didnt think of that either.

i dont take jobs that i cannot do.

 

[Mikey P]

Test a few areas on each estimate, look out for home owner applied topical seals and mopNglow residues.

Get down and your hands and knees and look for shiny grout.


Grout should not be shiny.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Test a few areas on each estimate, look out for home owner applied topical seals and mopNglow residues.

Get down and your hands and knees and look for shiny grout.


Grout should not be shiny.

Great advice, been there, done that. Worst job ever.

 

[TimP]

Best advice I can give is SMT class to get a good understanding or do some research on here. It's not too hard to do but you have to know what to watch out for.

 

[Aaron Richards]

look out for home owner applied topical seals and mopNglow residues.[quote="R W":19ly2xmb]


And price right.......some of those simple jobs turn into nightmares!!!!!!

[/quote:19ly2xmb]


Heed this advice!!! 30 sq ft of slate today with at least 15 years of mopNglow buildup on it! 2 hours to get it all off.

 

[Scott S.]

does viper venom foam up in the waste tank?

 

[TimP]

When I use viper venom I mix it 1-4....I don't buy it anymore....lately I've been using powermax and doubleing the dilution I use on carpet. I didn't have a problem with foam but I was so told by my distributor that it foams..... :roll:

 

[esquireservicesinc]

We use Viper Venom and have no problems with foam. BTW, we cut off the solution line.

 

[Mikey P]

What do you mean "cut off the solution line"?

 

[esquireservicesinc]

What do you mean "cut off the solution line"?

We have a valve that we cut off from the solution rinse tank so we clean water rinse it.

 

[White Collar]

I did a job the other day and viper venom woudnt touch the grout. I tested the acid and it worked so I did it with acid and rinsed with water.. What did I leave out? Am I suppose to o back over with something else after the acid?

 

[Scott S.]

ok, thats a good question, do you have to neutralize products like that acid cleaner after your done cleaning and before you put grout sealer on?

 

[TimP]

Even when you clean with acid you're supposed to clean with alkaline either first or after the acid. You're technically supposed to do your alkaline first but I've found you can get away with acid first in residential. You can use an emulsifier or a rinse to help neutralise the acid....some swear the reaction with the grout is enough to neutralise it. I prefer to follow the label on the product as I find they know more than I do about what their products need than I do.

 

[Scott S.]

Here are some pics of my first tile job, how does it look?

 

[Jim Nazarian]

Did you scrub the grout with a brush after 10 minutes of dwell?

Damaged, cracked or missing grout is likely, especially after cleaning, you need to inform the customer before hand & should offer grout repair services charged by the hour.

Once you get comfortable with cleaning you should educate yourself on sealing, I use a solvent based sealer from This Old grout, color sealing would be the next level.

 

[Ron Lippold]

you need to let tha baby dwell a little longer, just remember to keep wet. You nee to learn the tubro tilt or get a cobra hand tool and do aginst the walls first,I hate that last 1/2 in aginst the walls


Looks good

 

[Mr. P]

In your list, you didn't say you had a grout brush. I feel you really need to scrub the grout lines good. Also, I've used viper venom and i use a defoamer because it did foam up for me. Dwell time is important. If you want to learn more go to Dirty grout .com there is a wealth of info there. This old grout and grout perfect has some great products.

Nick :roll:

 

[TimP]

Looks like your grout lines are in need. Tile surface looks great but that's the easy part. If you scrubbed with a brush and allowed plenty of dwell time...10 min like stated above. Then you need to etch that grout. And if that don't do it then and if the custy wants perfect grout color seal is the solution.

 

[Scott S.]

The floor was left to dwell 20 min, grout lines were scrubbed with a grout brush, the sealer (looks 2 me like floor wax) was just a nightmare to get off, i actually did the floor twice once like in the pics then again after that. i use a dootle bug on the edges, and then scrub the grout along the edges by hand, i used a gekko on the grout lines after i used the sx-12. then i used the gekko edging/coving tool to do the eges. worked pretty good, the floor was just a big pita. i used floor stripper for the sealer and viper for the 2nd cleaning. it seemed to work pretty well. i will take some pics tomarrow of it dry. i have some grout lines yet that just look like crap, im going to use viper renew on then and do them by hand. i cannot use viper renew on the floor beacuse there is small square marble inlays in the foyer area as seen in the first pic. thanks for all the help guys.