FAQs – Tile, Grout & Stone

Q –
Jim,

A customer of mine just asked me to clean some grout for her on her marble floor where her dogs had their way while she was away. I checked my supplies and found that I only have a little Viper Venom.

Did I hear once that Viper Venom is just a glorified stripper??  I have stripper and was wondering if I could use that as well.

Anticipating your response,
Dan

A —
Dan,

I would be careful identifying Viper Venom with stripper, as floor stripper as a pH range that can make it very damaging to many surfaces in the home that Viper Venom does not.  However, regardless of that, I wouldn’t even want you to get Viper Venom on marble.

Viper Venom (and stripper, and most degreasers) have agents in them that help them attack minerals in the water that interfere with their performance.  That also means those agents attack minerals called calcium carbonate, which is the mineral that makes what we call marble.

The grout used in marble is unsanded, and the grout lines should be very narrow.  You can’t use a grout brush on them, nor should you as marble also scratches easily.

For your customer’s sake, and obviously for yours, I’d recommend you wait and get some Stone Perfect, which is the best product I’ve ever used for cleaning marble and other natural stone.

Dan, I also need to caution you that what sometimes looks like “dirty marble” is really scratched marble.  Those small scratches are not always evident as scratches, but when you are done cleaning the marble may look just as dirty.

That said, the Stone Perfect, applied with a clean (not a bit of grit in it) soft brush will clean the grout lines beautifully. Dan, we have some new sales help for you also! Stone Care Solutions from Bridgepoint is has created two short sales videos to help you sell your stone cleaning and polishing services. You can get this DVD for FREE free with the purchase of any set of the Stone Care pads. 5,7,17, or 20”.

Click Here to see a short video for some super information you will like!

Jim

FAQs – Specialty Antique Brick Floor

Q – Jim,

I have a valuable customer who purchases quite a few services from us each year.

We clean thousands of $$ worth of Orientals each year, and just completed a $2,000 duct job for her.

She has a kitchen floor that is constructed using the bricks of demolished French Cottages. The grout is mortar. The bricks are red. She thinks they were sealed when installed 10 or so years ago.

Your thoughts on cleaning this stuff, please.

Secondly. I have a question regarding successful commercial tile and grout cleaning being done. Is anyone using high speed t&g equipment? (Seems I recall seeing a dual head spinner somewhere).

Thanks
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A – Customers like her make up for the nickle and dime ones who demand champagne service for beer pricing.

Your should be able to clean the brick just like ceramic tile. Here is my only concern: Efflorescence. Do you remember the grout lines in the assembly hall you and I worked on where we needed acid to correct the white haze in the grout?

Some types of brick do that all over the brick, not the grout. No real way to know ahead of time.

So I’d look at trying to first clean it with a milder tile product (Spinergy 7) and a floor scrubber, followed by a clear water rinse with your SX12. If the brick is very uneven, it may need wet vacuumed with a floor attachment with a flexible squeegee head.

If that doesn’t clean it, prespray with Spinergy 11, but do not allow more than about 5 minutes of dwell time before rinsing in the same fashion with the SX12, but now you can run Spinergy 7 through the machine.

If there is any efflorescence after it dries, try to remove it dry with a green pad run “dry” on a scrubber. If that doesn’t work, try Viper Renew, but pretest to make sure it doesn’t etch the brick so badly that it gets a washed out look.

Obviously you want a release.

We have nothing larger for T & G cleaning. If there is, be aware of the need to limit jet size so that you don’t get pressure and volume loss on your machine.

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Q – Jim,

The “dry green pad” is totally new to me. Can you elaborate on that. Also, what else are green pads used for. How are they as to aggressiveness compared to other colored pads.

Thanks

A – The green pad is usually used for scrubbing of tile floors without stripping. Both it and the slightly less aggressive blue pad are used for this purpose. The next more aggressive is the brown pad for light stripping. The next less aggressive (after blue) is the red pad.

Using the green pad “dry” simply means you apply no moisture to the surface, but just use the pad to aggressively brush off the mineral residue. By adding no water, you don’t get any more efflorescence.

FAQs – Tile & Grout Question

Q: Hey Jim,
I have 300 SQ ft of tile I need to clean and was looking at the Viper Venom. Is one gallon enough and do you sell a sealer too? Is there free shipping if you exceed a certain dollar purchase amount?

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A: Good choice Joe,
Viper Venom has a variety of dilutions according to soil level. At its strongest, a 50/50 dilution, 1 gallon will still be plenty for 300 square feet. By the way, what method of cleaning will you be using for cleaning the tile and grout?
And, yes we do offer sealers as well: just go to . . .
http://pembertonstore.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=grout+sealer

You will find a number of products listed; I recommend the Hydroforce Grout Sealer (despite its name, it seals tile and stone as well).

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Q: Hey Jim,
I have a small tile cleaner machine I bought from Lowes. Will this type of unit be able to handle this type of solution? I have six properties and Coit showed me this product and I thought I would give it a try since all the other solutions I have used so far have been sub-par to date. What sealer would you recommend after using this type of cleaning product?

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A: Joe,
Viper Venom has been formulated to be used with high pressure extraction, which requires equipment that generates 800 pounds of water pressure per square inch at a minimum.

A word of caution regarding your tile cleaner, I have reason to doubt that the system you bought at Lowes can produce the pressure & water volume needed to achieve the results you want.

I’m not convinced that Viper Venom will be able to help to restore your grout with the type of application equipment you presently own.

You are welcome, of course, to try the product, but I cannot guarantee that you will be happy with the result.

Again, the sealer I recommend is Hydroforce Grout Sealer.