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Tile
Maintenance
Daily maintenance
General maintenance and cleaning of porcelain tile varies depending on the surface texture and soil load. General cleaning should be performed with a neutral cleaner diluted to the manufacturer's recommendations. Non-oil, non-acidic and non-soap based cleaners should be used. General household cleaners that meet this specification include: Mr. Clean, Windex, Lysol and Spic 'N Span.
Top scalers and waxes
Porcelain's dense, low-absorptive body inhibits
the penetration of contaminants and, therefore, is a tile that is easy to maintain.
The low-absorptive nature of porcelain tile not only inhibits dirt and stains,
but also prevents top sealers and most chemicals from penetrating the surface.
Top sealers,
those that become a coating over the tile and grout
joints, are not recommended for porcelain tile.
They will change the appearance of the tile by
coating the surface and giving matte-finished tiles
a shiny finish. When a particular type of tile
is selected for the coefficient of friction values,
the values can be changed by the application of
the sealer. Rather than improving the ability to
maintain the surface, top sealers will increase
the maintenance requirement. Top coating sealers
will also show traffic patterns as the sealer becomes
scratched or wears away. Some sealers may even
peel off in spots.
Unpolished tile
The following represents a simple procedure for maintaining
unpolished tile floors with a moderate soil load.
For best results:
• Sweep or vacuum
the floor of dirt and other foreign material.
• Saturate the floor with cleaning solutions and hot water, agitate and
allow it to remain on the floor five to 10 minutes. Do not allow cleaning solutions
to dry. It may be best to complete small areas at a time.
• Remove the detergent solution using clean water.
If the unpolished tile is extremely dirty, a more aggressive cleaning method
may be necessary:
•
Sweep or vacuum the floor of dirt and other foreign material.
• If there are difficult-to-remove contaminants on the surface of the tile,
one should first attempt to identify the specific spill or contaminant. Different
surface contaminants require different cleaning methods and chemicals
•Saturate
the floor with cleaning solution and hot water, agitate and allow it to dwell
five to 10 minute After the dwell time, scrub the cleaning solution with a floor
machine equipped with an abrasive pad or stiff, nylon-bristle brush. For residential
applications and small areas, use a scrub brush.
• Remove the dirty cleaning solution and rinse the surface with clean,
clear water. This can be accomplished with a mop or a wet vacuum. To thoroughly
remove the cleaning agent from the surface, it may be necessary to rinse the
floor twice.
Polished tile
For polished porcelain tiles, follow these instructions
for general cleaning:
• Sweep or vacuum
the floor of loose dirt. An untreated, dry dust mop
may be more effective than a soft-bristle broom.
• Mop with a mild cleaning solution. Use 50 per cent less detergent concentrate
than would be used on an unpolished floor.
• Rinse the floor thoroughly with clean, clear water.
•
Dry thoroughly to increase the shine and prevent water spots.
Textured tile
Furrows on the surface of textured porcelain makes it necessary to clean the entire surface, including the low points, which requires some additional, practical dirt- removal procedures. Standard wet-mopping will not effectively clean these finishes. Also, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse the tile to completely remove all dirty cleaning solutions. For cleaning textured surfaces, follow these instructions:
•
Sweep or vacuum floor debris. If sweeping, use a soft-bristle broom. Sweep in
two directions. First, follow the direction of the tile and then sweep diagonal
to the tile to ensure complete removal of all foreign material.
•
Saturate the surface with a neutral detergent cleaning solution and hot water
and agitate. Allow the cleaning solutions to remain on the floor for five to
ten minutes. Scrub the floor with a brush, using a two-direction method.
•
Rinse the floor with clean, clear water to completely remove any soiled cleaning
solution.
NOTE:
In high traffic areas, or areas where the surface is exposed to high-soil load,
it may be necessary to scrub the floor once a day and wet-mop at intervals during
the day.
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