HOW TO CLEAN SLATE TILES

tilecleaners.com.au

HOW TO CLEAN SLATE TILES

Tile Cleaners ® is the leading Slate tile care specialist. We are your specialist service for all types of Slate tile & grout cleaning, sealing, stripping & sealing, regrouting, grout color sealing, and minor repairs. If you need advice on cleaning & sealing your old or brand new Slate floors, or need a professional to do it for you, then you have come to the right place.

We provide specialised cleaning solutions for Slate tiles.

Our equipment can handle both domestic and commercial cleaning jobs, leaving your Slate tiles spotless and hygienic.

To schedule your appointment or to obtain a free estimate, please Call 1300 771 201 or visit tilecleaners.com.au and our online enquiry form. We cover all suburbs within 100km from CBD.

Slate tiles are durable and forgiving materials. Appropriate sealers mitigate the absorbency of fired clay. Aggressive cleaning can remove accumulated soil, but professional striping is necessary to remove old coatings and wax.

What is Slate?

A very dense, but soft and easily scratched material with low porosity, slate can be used effectively outdoors as well as indoors. Slate is a foliated metamorphic rock which is derived from shale and consists mainly of grains of mica and quartz. Excellent exterior paving stone. Higher absorbency varieties are not suitable for exterior areas in freezing climates. Most slate is gray to black, but the rock may be red or purple, depending on its mineral content. The surface of slate is generally uneven and cleft planes can spall, due to the cleaving of the stone along its layers. Has low to medium absorption of oils and other liquids. Should be sealed with an oil-repellant penetrating sealer to prevent staining and reduce soiling. Because of the cleft planes and strong possibility of spalling, it should never be cleaned at pressures above 800 PSI and then only if the grout is in good condition.

Cleaning Slate Tiles can present some difficult challenges due to the many varieties of slate and the fact that Slate Tiles are often sealed with topical water or solvent based sealing products.

It is important to test the slate surface before any cleaning procedure takes place. It is important to understand what type of sealers were used on the slate before any cleaning process can take place.

There are may types of slate tiles originating from many places around the world and the slate tile cleaning process can vary depending on the type of slate tile being cleaned. Before cleaning slate you should test the slate surface to be sure that the cleaning product will not damage or discolor the slate surface. Alkaline cleaning products are generally safe for cleaning slate but cleaning slate with acidic based cleaning products could potentially damage the slate tile surface.

Slate is a porous stone tile and there are many different types of impregnating and topical sealers that are used to seal slate.

If the slate tile appears to have a topical sealer on it then the sealer needs to be stripped off before any cleaning process can begin. It is also helpful to find out the type of sealer or wax that the floor was previously sealed with to be able to use the right product when stripping it.

Our equipment can handle both domestic and commercial cleaning jobs, leaving your floors spotless and hygienic.

To schedule your appointment or to obtain a free estimate, please Call 1300 771 201 or visit www.tilecleaners.com.au to use our online enquiry form at the top of the page. We cover all suburbs within 100km from CBD.