Hazy Film On New Marble Floor QUESTION: We just has a marble (natural polished stone) floor & tub surround installed in our bathroom. There is a haze on the tile from the install process that needs to be cleaned off before it is sealed. What is the best way to do this? ANSWER: It's important to thoroughly clean and remove excess grout after a floor tile installation. It's next to impossible, though, to completely clean the floor before the grout dries, so it is common for a hazy film to remain. However, removing grout and grout haze from polished marble tile can be a delicate and tricky operation.Two issues to consider....1. Marble tile is soft and can easily scratch. When the grout is wet, risk of scratching is minimal, but you must be careful when removing dried grout. If truly just a haze, then typically not a problem, but you should carefully sweep up all chunks and other debris prior to removing the grout haze. 2. Marble etching can occur from acidic and/or harsh chemicals.

Nearly all "grout haze removal" products are made with acids and will etch (burn) the marble floor tile ruining the polished finish and leaving it dull. Grout Haze Removal SolutionsFirst, if you already have acetone or mineral spririts you can try to remove the haze with these. Neither will damage your stone at all and both are very good for cleaning most substances from the surface. best way to clean needlepointHowever, grout haze (unless very faint) is often a difficult case and requires a specific type of cleaner. best vacuum cleaner multi surfaceMost likely you'll need to use a "marble-safe" grout haze remover like the Hard Water / Soap Scum / Grout Remover we recommend. what is the best steam mop you can buy

This product is labeled a "Bath & Shower" cleaner, but is very versatile and effective removing the more tenacious substances like hard water deposits and soap film that commonly occur in the shower. Grout haze and hard water deposits are very similar and the above product is super-effective at removing both. rent a steam cleaner stop and shop product is made specfically for use on marble, travertine, limestone and all natural stone, so it won't etch or damage the tile in any way. best portable carpet cleaner for stairsPlus, after removing the grout haze you'll have the best cleaner to use on your shower and/or bathtub! best carpet cleaner for smoke smellAbout Sealing Marble ShowersIt's quite possible that your polished marble does NOT need sealing.

Polished marble is highly resistant to staining.... it just isn't very absorbent contrary to popular myth. Many people (even some in the stone industry) mistakenly believe that all stone must be sealed in all cases no matter what. This is not true. Many, many natural stones never need sealing AND it also depends on where you are installing the stone... is staining a risk, etc. You can easily determine when to seal or not by testing the stone using water to see how absorbent it is. Understand sealing does nothing to prevent etching (corrosion due to a reaction with acids) of the polish. The primary reason to seal is to decrease rate of absorption by the stone. It doesn't make the marble stain-proof. So, sealing a stone that is not very absorbent to begin with does not gain you much except a possible big problem. If you try to seal a stone that is not very absorbent, then the sealer will just dry on the surface (and not below the surface in the pores like its supposed to) leaving a dull streaky haze that must be removed using nasty chemicals.

So, you only want to seal if the marble really needs it and can "take" a sealer. Also, considering that you aren't going to be spilling a lot of coffee, oil or wine in your bathroom, sealing is often useless overkill particularly in the shower/tub surround. Sealing the marble floor tile in a bathroom is often a good idea as long as it will effectively absorb the sealer.But after you clean the grout haze testing will give you a definitive answer, so you can make the best decision.Subscribe To This SiteAlmost everybody who has ceramic tile shower surrounds fights mildew. Mildew is a living organism. It requires both a growth medium (food/nutrient) and moisture to grow.   As I understand it, the black grunge isn't the organism, but its excrement.  mildew using for food on your shower walls?  It isn't the ceramic tile and it isn't inert grout.  The best candidate is soap scum. Soap scum builds up quickly on shower walls and provides great food for

So, if you are going to ward off mildew, you have to get ridUnsealed grout and grout where the sealant is gone let soap scum soak into the surface of the grout, making it difficult toSo, after you clean/kill the mildew the food is still there waiting for the mildew, which is everywhere all the time, ready to land and startThis will begin almost immediately after you remove it. You can retard the growth of mildew by drying your shower walls as quickly as practical after use.  A vent fan in the shower ceiling helps -- see my link on vent fans.   shower door open so it can dry. If you're obsessive-compulsive, wiping the walls dry after each use and providing ventilation will do the best you can do. We don't towel off the walls after using the shower (Mildew requiresIf you keep the walls dry it goes a long way towardWe only clean the shower wall infrequently. By the time we get around to it there's a substantial soap scum buildup.

Soap scum is difficult to remove and ordinary  household cleansers won't work -- soap won't remove soap. To minimize the mildew problem: If you do all this, you can probably avoid fooling with the grout for five years and maybe longer.  You'll still have to clean the surface of the tiles if you want them to sparkle. This article gives a way to remove the soap scum. Here�s their recipe for a homemade soap scum remover: Mix these together, put it in a spray bottle and apply to the area. Then scrub the grout lines with a narrow brush then rinse it off OXO brush is made for the job.  If you use a toothbrush get one with the stiffest bristles you can find.  This cleans the grout -- you'll probably want to spray the stuff on the tile and scrub with a sponge to remove the scum from the face of the tile too.  going to do the tile face, do the grout last to avoid recontamination. You can try a bleach solution. 

This will kill the mildew, but in my experience doesn't do a good job of whitening the black stuff. Here's a recipe for a bleach mildew killer: Ventilate as best you can -- vent fan, ordinary fans blowing the fumes away from the area, open windows, etc.  Breathing bleach fumes isn't the best thing you can do. For this job I use a product calledIt's available a groceries.  long you've let the mildew grow, it may take two or three applications, but one usually does it for me. Sealing the grout prevents stuff soaking into it thatIf your tile was installed by a competent installer it was sealed originally, but the sealer typically lasts only aboutSealers vary widely in quality. Aqua Mix Sealer's Choice is a good sealer.  You can get itIt's expensive, but how often do you want to do thisAqua Mix Pro-Solv is good too and may last longer, but it'sSealer's Choice is water based.  If you apply it (tediously) only to the grout lines with a small brush you need a lot less