How to clean and maintain tile floor

The ceramic floors are beautiful, resilient and durable. Used for millennia, and test of his strength is that we still see many villas romanas… mosaic floors However, despite its durability, also need care and maintenance so the years pass and continue offering the magnificent appearance that brings the pottery to any environment.

Let’s start from the beginning: the cleaning. Sure that all happened to us that, after doing work at home and to place a floor gres tiles or similar after mopping we found the usual remains of cement which seems that they will not be anything. Because there is an excellent solution: clean hydrochloric or hydrochloric acid. These products can be found in warehouses of masonry, good drugstores and some centers of DIY kits. Sometimes marketed under the name of “cement Remover” or similar. However, if in house we etching or salfumán, can try to use them demoted with water. That Yes, always wearing gloves and, if possible, mask.

Although ceramic floors seem unchanged, it is certain that the sandstone (the majority of these soils are of this material) it is porous and may absorb stains, being then impossible to eliminate. Do impossible? That nothing. If the problem is a smear of grease, it is usually enough to clean it with a mixture of water and detergent grease remover, which is added to a trickle of ammonia. The dry paint stains can be removed with a good flux; and if what has fallen is wax (for example, a candle or wax hair removal), scratch the dry remains simply rub the surface with hot vinegar.

Sores or joints between tiles are another story. Advice: is preferable to be rather dark, to facilitate the maintenance of the soil. If we see that over time they clarify and are grey (many people do like black or very dark), we can recover them easily applied with a brush a synthetic paint downgraded with turpentine. It is advisable to cover the tiles with bodywork tape to avoid staining them, and remove the tape immediately to clean up the remains that have been spotting pottery with a cloth and turpentine.

In the market there are many protective ceramic flooring products, which are excellent to prolong his life, accentuate its brightness and increase their resistance. Exterior flooring, Furthermore, there are also great “varnish” that make the tiles in non-slip surfaces a, seen and unseen. This is an excellent solution for soils surrounding pools, floor porches and foreign soils in general.

If the soil is clay or terracotta, gres Catalan (very porous and much more sensitive), the traditional method is to apply a mixture of oil, flaxseed (boiled or secativos) and essence of turpentine, by a ratio of 1: 2 parts. The mixture should be heated carefully (best bath so that it does not boil) and when at 50 ° C, is applied on the ground with cloth or MOP. Once dry, it should be waterproof surface with a liquid wax or clay soils special protective product.