Cleaning & Restoration of Grout, Mortar, Tile, Stone, Brick, Slate, Marble, Granite, Limestone, etc.

The discussion on this page will describe surface cleaning and restoration as seperate steps. Some may be more aggressive than you need. Your testing will determine the products required.

For general cleaning of large wall and floor areas, see Aldon "Insta-Clean . However, see steps 2 and 3 below as they can also apply to all projects.

For small areas and spot cleaning:

The following applies to staining from food spills, etc. It is not applicable to color problems caused by color batch mismatches or materials that have been stained so badly that the surfacing material or grout has actually changed color permanently.

Step 1 - All Surfaces:

Use "Insta-Clean". Saturate and blot into a clean white cloth.

Note: If you are stripping the floor of old sealer, wait until you see the results of the stripping process. Aldon Premium Stripper will do most of the stain removal during the stripping process and save you this step.

See Step 2 if "Insta-Clean" has not removed the stains.
See Step 3 if "Insta-Clean" has removed the stains.

Step 2 (For the Grout Only) - if the stains have permanently discolored the grout:

Use "Grout Restoration". This product lets you adjust the strength to whatever is required to accomplish the restoration of the grout. At full strength, it will accomplish a light etching away of the grout surface. This should remove the top 1/64" to reveal unstained grout below. Note: if your grout does not display some fizzing reaction on contact with "Grout Restoration", there is old sealer, wax, cleaner residue, or other coating material that has created a barrier. This barrier must be removed before continuing. For removing this barrier, Step 4 below.

Step 3 - All Surfaces

After getting the surfaces to look as good as possible, seal to protect in the future.
If, after taking all cleaning steps, there are still residual minor color differences from the stains - consider using the appropriate sealer for the surfacing that is designated "color enhancing". This effect tends to disguise minor discolorations by slightly darkening the grout ( and many surfaces ) to a degree that tends to disguise coloration problems. See the "Grout" page and your surfacing type page in the  Surface Types  section.

Step 4 - Removing barriers of wax, old sealers, cleaning residue, etc.

 Insta-Clean will break down many weak sealers, old waxes and cleaner residue. If "Insta-Clean" does not remove everything, you probably have old sealer that you may not have known about and is of a type not chemically effected by "Insta-Clean". In this case you will need "Premium Stripper".

Note:

If you are stripping the floor, wait until you see the results of the stripping process. Aldon "Premium Stripper" will do most of the stain removal during the stripping process and save you a step.

Note:
Sometimes cleaning is a trial and error process. The cause of the problem might be different than thought, or have multiple causes and results that must be handled in steps. In rare cases, it cannot be cleaned. Proceed as though it is an experiment whose results must be evaluated.

Any Aldon cleaner has more than one purpose. It is not limited to only this cleaning project.