Tile and Grout Repair Help Please

[tjdux]

Hey eveyone. Sorry this isn't a garage floor so if this needs removed I understand.

Had a clogged floor drain at work and I tried some "liquid fire" drain cleaner before just calling in a pro and spending $$$ on having the drain power snaked. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 and should have bit the bullet and had it cleaned mechanically.

While the liquid fire (sulfuric acid i think) was doing its 15 min soak the drain backed up and the acid got all over the tile floor.

I cleaned it up as good as possible as quickly as possible but there is still some damage. Thankfully the damage isnt to terrible. The tile looks a bit more dull than before. Kind of a white dirty haze. Much like when people come in during the winter with lots of salt mess from outside. The salt water dries with a white haze and then easily mops off. Problem is this haze will not mop/scrub off. Even the green scotch brite pads are not removing the haze.

Im somewhat sure the haze isn't scrubbing off because i probably burned off the sealent or wax on the tile. Now i don't think they are glazed tiles because they have always had a matte finish. I also dont know if they are stone, porclin, or anything about their material. Also do not know the manufacturer to ask them for advice. Sorry i know thats not much info.

Im also sure they are not waxed because we have never re waxed them in the 12+ years ive been there.

The other damage is the grout color. it was black grout to begin with. It also has the same white staining but more severe than the tiles. The grout hasnt been sealed for a long time and seemed to absorb much more of the drain cleaner mess.

I did get a spray bottle of grout cleaner and a grout brush today and started scrubbing the grout. It didnt really help any and actually seemed to change the color of my grout from black to brown...It made me possibly remember the owners of the store once saying they had the grout colored or dyied at one point from brown to black... Is that even a real thing? If so redying the grout would go a long ways to making it look nice again.

What i need help with is what products may help repair the finish of the tiles. Google found many different products that seal tile. Some of them say color enhance and other say totally clear. I don't want gloss shine, but where it dulled the tiles i would like a satin ish finish.

Also what order to do it all in...

Do i seal the tiles first, then dye grout keeping the sealent off the grout?

Dye the grout then seal everything in one swoop (this seems easiest in my head)

Can i scrape out some of the grout and put n fresh on top then seal everything or do you have to completely remove grout to regrout?

Here's a few pics of the floor. Captions below.

This is a shot of non damaged floor.



Here is a close up of non damged floor.




Here is a shot of damaged floor. The shine on the tiles are from them being wet. You can easily see the white staining in this photo on the grout.



Here is a shot of the damaged tiles. Its not easy to see but these are mich more dull than they should be. In the top right corner you can see some undamaged tiles. Sorry the pic isnt great.

Thanks a ton for any advice. I trust the members of this fourm far more than anywhere else online which is why im starting here with this issue. Im a total tile noob and since its not even my own tile I really want someone who knows more than me before i throw $$ at fixing this problem.

Thanks again.

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[katilicous]

Sulfuric acid attacks the grout and the color sealer. Its actually the go to product for grout haze removal. I would rinse it very thoroughly to neutralize the acid. I dont see tile damage but unless its natural stone there shouldnt be usually.
You can buy a grout color sealer and then you just paint it on. I suggest doing the entire floor so its consistent. Clean and neutralize it real well first so you have good adhesion.
Tile isnt damaged right?

 

[tjdux]

Sulfuric acid attacks the grout and the color sealer. Its actually the go to product for grout haze removal. I would rinse it very thoroughly to neutralize the acid. I dont see tile damage but unless its natural stone there shouldnt be usually.
You can buy a grout color sealer and then you just paint it on. I suggest doing the entire floor so its consistent. Clean and neutralize it real well first so you have good adhesion.
Tile isnt damaged right?

Thanks a bunch for advice.

Yeah i think i mispoke when I said tile are damaged. I should have said tile finish is damaged. Hopefully that makes more sense. Its not broken or cracked tiles, just dulled and grout has white staining/blotche.

I have rinsed and moped it probably 12 times and its not changing. Im guessing the potency of the drain cleaner acid is stronger than what one would use for cleaning haze, also not even sure if it was sulphuric acid in the drain cleaner i used.

Interesting note ive also had problems with this floor using a CLR type de-limer leaving a white haze as well once upon a time ago.

I do think grout color sealer may be the way to go, and yes the whoke floor unfortunately will be needed to be done so it all matches. It approx 900 sf the that needs done as the entire buiding has that same tile.

Thats why I was hoping to find a solution that fixed that small area instead of the whole building. I do understand it may just not work out and doing it all will be nessecity.

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[TexasShooter]

Your flooring looks like a wood look quarry tile. Similar to the red quarry tile you see in commercial kitchens. Aquamix makes a sulfamic acid crystal cleaner we use to take grout haze of your tile. After you get that issue taken care of, come back with an Aqua mix grout colorant to recolor the grout. No sealer is needed on your grout after the colorant is applied.


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[katilicous]

You can try to color match.
De limer and acid all attack lime and grout. The discolleration is prob the grout mixing with the color seal. Grout was prob white or cream colored originally mix it with charcoal color seal and at least 12 years of here and there dirt (noone cleans dark grout with as much passion as they do light grout so dirt builds up. I restore stone and sadly enough I think I deep cleaned my grout really good twice in 1 year when I had a rental with dark grey grout. Its awesome. White grout is massochistic in my opinion.lol)thus you have brown now.
Matching the tile sheen is another thing. Sheen doesnt usually come off of tile with acid which is why its used as a grout haze remover bc it wont damge the tile but digests the grout left on top. There are 3 kinds of sealers for stone. Penetrating, impregnating and topical. These sealers have variations chemically to color enhance and change the sheen or surface finish. As a "fix" you could try a couple little hacks. Remember this wont make it perfect especially if it has somehow been destroyed. I would go to your local stone landscape supply yard and hit them up for samples of topical sealer in the sheen you think is closest to the oroginal or the closest 2 sheens prob satin and gloss and also sample color enhancing penetrating sealer. They come in a 1 or 2 oz bottles and every supply yard has them as well as hd supply though they may charge you for the lil stinkers which makes no sense to me.
Also you could try a little Restore A Finish if you have some on hand. This is a reach so dont go buy any if you dont already have it bc it works like 1 in 6 times.
Get a tiny paintbrush and test out the sealer samples on the damaged tile. Do this after the grout bc if u seal your grout it will be harder to color seal later if not impossible.

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[katilicous]

Wait one more thing. After looking at your pics again it looks like the floor was sealed and the sealer has the damage which would explain how the tile was also affected. I wish i knew what kind of sealer bc 12 years is amazing and really exceptional. You might be able to patch the sealer with the product samples I mentioned above or you might try stripping a very small area. Very small. If the sealer was the only thing affected, the brown color might be muddy dirt and sealer mixed so its sitting on top of the grout and tile and hasnt eaten into it. Hard to say from here but if you strip the sealer off you might be able to reseal and be done instead of painting new color seal on. Ill try to find a picture to explain what im saying as I can imagine it sounds a bit scattered.

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[katilicous]

ill pm you my phone number. I think thats allowed on here. Faster

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[tjdux]

ill pm you my phone number. I think thats allowed on here. Faster

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Thanks i got the pm and i will try and call you once i have some free time this evening or tomarrow evening.

The grout either started black or was brown and colores black at some point. In the cleaning attempts ive scraped a good bit away and it seems dark brown under the black and yeah we haven't got much serious cleaning done on it ever.

The tile is a comercial quality tile for a chain reaturant so i beleive its pretty high quality.

Now yes we have never sealed or resealed it (donno about previous owners) but i feel there are some stains that its more pourous than it used to be a decade ago and we likely should have resealed.

In fact im leaning more and more towards just sealing everything as a maintenance requirement anyways. That can't hurt.

Im also going to dig and make some calls and see if HQ can locate me a vendor or manufacturer to give me some help too. It can't hurt.

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[katilicous]

Howd it go with contacting the manufacturer? Were you able to restore the tile and grout?

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[tjdux]

Howd it go with contacting the manufacturer? Were you able to restore the tile and grout?

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They were not helpful. They connected me with someone in their in house R&D department and he said there is no coating whatsoever and that any glazed or shiny look is from people walking on them cause micro polishing of the tile.

Thats BS cause then the heavy traffic areas would look different than the zero traffic areas.

His reccomendation was to soak the effected area in murphys oil soap to give it back its shine. How a tile is supposed to absorb vegtable oil is beyond me and to no suprise it did nothing. I do have some product i got up in lincoln im gonna give a try just have to remember to bring it into work. In fact i will probably go grab it now and test.

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[Zeke]

I'm a little late here but did I read that you spilled drain cleaner on your tile and grout? DC is lye which is caustic, not acidic. Your first option is to rinse this with the acid based grout cleaner and that will neutralize the base pH to a neutral state. If that doesn't bring the color back you've burned the grout and it will have to be re-colored. What I would do is buy some non-sanded grout of the same color and using a grout squeegee rub it in to the porous sanded grout you have there. If you don't do grout, this is not the time to learn. Get a tile setter to do it.

Then seal the tiles and grout with a penetrating sealer. You can use a surface sealer after that or you can just use Mop and Glow.

Edit: since this is a restaurant the grout will be back to black sooner rather than later under normal cleaning. And re-reading katilicous' comments you have excellent advice there.

 

[katilicous]

I missed your reply on this topic. I. Pulled out some samples for you of a few products. Ill get them out to you today or tomorrow

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[katilicous]

what did you get when you were in town?

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[tjdux]

Mircacle sealents company 511 seal and enhance.

It gives a slightly glossy wet look. It makes the tiles a little darker thanni expected but does seem to help. Ive tried on a few sample tiles just to see how it would look and its not too terrible.

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[katilicous]

Mircacle sealents company 511 seal and enhance.

It gives a slightly glossy wet look. It makes the tiles a little darker thanni expected but does seem to help. Ive tried on a few sample tiles just to see how it would look and its not too terrible.

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I like the Aquamix Enrich and Seal better overall for longevity but if that works for you, consider doing the entire floor to match. You may have to strip the floor first but it sounds like it might be time to do so if you are seeing more frequent marks on your floor.

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[tjdux]

I like the Aquamix Enrich and Seal better overall for longevity but if that works for you, consider doing the entire floor to match. You may have to strip the floor first but it sounds like it might be time to do so if you are seeing more frequent marks on your floor.

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Well the stuff i got is all menards (Midwest home depot) had for tile sealent. I didn't have much choice just wanted to test something out.

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[PecosBill]

That tile looks to be Summitville Strata 4"x8". If an acid was used on it, the surface was probably etched, and there is no coming back from that. I would just hire a tile contractor to cut out the effected areas and patch with new tile and grout. That tile is still available. http://summitville.com/strata-tile-products/strata-2

 

[tjdux]

That tile looks to be Summitville Strata 4"x8". If an acid was used on it, the surface was probably etched, and there is no coming back from that. I would just hire a tile contractor to cut out the effected areas and patch with new tile and grout. That tile is still available. http://summitville.com/strata-tile-products/strata-2

You are correct it is summitville strata and avilible its just not worth spending a huge amount of money right now. Eventually we will have to replace the floor for mandated chain resurant updates anyways. Just lookong for a inexpensive fix for now.

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