Because it is an acid and the grout is an alkaline and you'll ruddy well destroy it. The problem is that the work is so messy within the bathroom that there is grout haze on all the tiles (floor, walls etc) and they are all a brown colour, non-porcelain. A. I always put a fan blowing away from me in the area where I was working. Thanks. Share. I have been told by an experienced tiler that the marble for the shower floor itself can have the polish cut off it by using muriatic acid. The material you're looking for is Muriatic Acid The muriatic acid needs to be diluted before you use it or you can permanently damage the brick. Do not use acid solutions, such as muriatic acid or vinegar, to remove the grout haze. Bob: you are clearly not wrong that HCl is dangerous. ANSWER - Generally speaking it is not recommended to use acid on stone or ceramic tile, although the only time it does make sense is when there is a cement haze on the stone. This way you won't burn your joints out and the guessing out of fact will be so minimal as you won't even hardly smell it. The floor is about 20 years old. You can try a fairly dilute mix and see what happens. DON'T USE ACID ON YOUR FLOOR! Dip an acid-resistant brush into the muriatic acid solution, wetting the bristles. I am headed to my tile store right now for which product to use. It can ruin your bathroom chrome and kitchen appliances just from the fumes even if there is no splashing. link to info/product on Amazon]) when working with acid. Wet the mortar and brick pavers with water. Trust me, works sweet. They look awful considering only two weeks old what else can I use -- hoping you can help? Mix 1 part phosphoric acid into a bucket with 5 parts plain water. Filtering with a polypropylene filter is a possibility, but not very kitchen friendly. [affil. Tile and grout need to be cleaned with a proper cleaner to make sure you don't damage the tile surface or bleach the grout. You dilute it tremendously. When the acid ceases to react (fizzing) and/or the sodium carbonate can be seen as a paste on the bottom of the container, the acid has been neutralized and can then be disposed down the drain. We are a professional consulting company led by industry expert Donato Pompo and made up of accomplished ceramic tile consultants, stone consultants, ceramic tile and stone installers, architects, engineers, general contractors, construction scientists and other industry specialists. If you google 'ceramic tile grout' you will get a plethora of HIGHLY useful information such as how to get rid of cockroaches, carpenter ants, misc. Linkedin. Good luck. If you need to pull out the big gun, muriatic acid is the ticket. … Avoid using acid to clean polished stones and glazed tiles because it can etch the surface of the tile and bleach the grout joints. Q. I recently had ceramic tile installed and have been told to clean up residue grout and to bring out color using "muric acid" as a cleaner. Professionals who are inured to hydrochloric acid are rightfully terrified of hydrofluoric. Q. I did and I wish I can show you my floor. But if we tell people that muriatic acid is "EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!" That's what you need. point that works. If you are working near greenery, spray water over the plants to protect them from the acid. All burn. A. Hi Gio. Then, after watering, I use an old towel to mop up everything. Good luck. After researching as much as I can, it seems like muriatic acid is the answer. After 2 days I then add grout protection. Yes, I do keep HCl in the house. Then, just wipe down to remove build up. IT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! Thanks! link to info/product on Amazon], and good ventilation if you do a test run yourself. My tile sub-contractor was working three jobs and didn't get around to cleaning up the grout smears and mess he made in my new home. As I am an amateur with tile, I need all the help I can get. Also, where and how would you suggest this be done? Since muriatic acid is a harsh chemical, mix it outside. How to Use Muriatic Acid to Clean Concrete | Hunker Aqua Mix 1 lb. Never use highly corrosive acids such as muriatic acid. If you're using a full strength professional grade acid to just clean grout film or haze and corroding your faucets from fumes, lol, you probably haven't opened a window. If the sulfamic acid doesn't work alone, the green abrasive pad that Colin suggests should do it. A. Furthermore you can dilute acid with water. But muriatic acid is a gas dissolved in water, so it fumes out. We laid Mosaic tiles in the shower and I cleaned the floor with a tile cleaner now the tiles are darker than before cleaning. Litigation and Insurance Claims Investigation Services. [affil. Thanks Jeff. If water is standing, squeegee off any standing water. Do you know of anything else that will dissolve the unwanted grout smears from the face of the tile? A. Hello, To neutralize: In a large, 3-5 gallon plastic container, mix a one-pound box of sodium bicarbonate with a large quantity of water, mix, but leave some of the sodium bicarbonate visible at the bottom of the container. Also use a nylon scrub brush. (your caps and exclamation), what can we possibly tell them about hydrofluoric acid that will impress them to treat that truly frightening material with sufficient respect? I was told it needed muriatic acid to get it clean and was about to hire someone to do this until I read that it will corrode my faucets and stainless steel. Email. One part to 10 parts water. Don't recommend that person to any of your friends - they left before the job was done! Q. Hello - I am having the same problem. Mostly writing to inquire if everyone's grout survived the experiments, and to ask after Freeman... Prof D. Q. Warning. Then thou willst come to cleaning grout. My walk in shower walls and floors look terrible. He did not tell me how you would stop the etching action of the acid. A. Good and helpful answers all round, including on dangers of aqueous HCl (muriatic) and HF (hydrofluoric), the latter I'd never suggest for use by non professionals. A hi-speed buffer with fine steel will go faster. The muriatic acid needs to be diluted before you use it or you can permanently damage the brick. Will muric acid cause any damage? It is also important to wet the tile and grout before using to prevent the grout from absorbing the acid and destroying the grout. A. However, muriatic acid could do serious damage to a concrete paver. I've never had issues removing grout haze before, but I recently installed hex mosaic tiles on our bathroom floor and there must have been a lot more grout spread all over than usual. Tweet. Welcome to the world's #1 metal finishing website, A discussion started in This way you are safe You can use muriatic acid to clean mortar off bricks and other surfaces. Always add the acid to the water when mixing. If the grout is discolored badly to no repair, they now have grout paints to re-color and seal it. Get a very small mop and begin to mop your floor. Follow up by cleaning the tiles with an appropriate tile cleaner for the specific tile you are working with. Use only in well ventilated areas. On using or not using muriatic acid: Any acid is not an absolute intensity -- there are %s of acid strength. Thanks again. Can also be used to remove rust and mineral deposits including efflorescence. People let me tell you all this. The resulting appearance is clean, but the process by which it happens is unique. Thanks. Click to see full answer. Use products manufactured for tile, which you can find on our website under Expert Answers' Resources and then listed under. It can be found at any large hardware store. I have read in other places that Muriatic acid is the next logical thing to try. The internet is largely anonymous & unvetted; some names may be fictitious and some recommendations might be harmful. [affil. Consult'g, Train'g& Software, About/Contact    -    Privacy Policy    -    ©1995-2021 finishing.com, Pine Beach, New Jersey, USA, chemical process supplier - Gurnee, Illinois, home owner - Johannesburg, South Africa, -- this entry appended to this thread by editor in lieu of spawning a duplicative thread, Tile installer - Shallotte, North Carolina, US. Oxalic acid eats away limestone and similar minerals. Hazards: Your suggestions are appreciated! Q. I am tiling the floor of my walk-in shower with the same marble as the rest of the tiny bath that we are remodeling, and I fully understand that the polished marble inside the shower itself will be much too slippery for use as it is. One part to 10 parts water. My goal is to use these for other projects. Phosphoric acid masonry cleaner may be adequate if the staining is not too severe. However, you cannot use muriatic … I can't remember off the top of my head what's good for grout but I remember when I first started out before I actually got a job laying tile I would dilute it tremendously and and parts slowly until it started just barely dissolving the haze. As a professional post-construction cleaner, I have often only used new blade(s) to gently scrape off excess tile grout. Wastewater treatment facilities routinely use muriatic acid. This mixture will clean, shine, and bring out the color of your flooring. Then, how do you remove grout from muriatic acid? It is true that ceramic tile should be more acid-resistant than the grout and adhesive, such that you can theoretically remove the grout with acid without destroying the tile. You may need to cut the dilution ratio when mixing up the product if there is a lot of grout on the tile. Donato Pompo, CTC CMR CSI CDT MBA, is the leading tile and stone forensic expert and consultant in North America, and he is a National Tile Contractors Association Recognized Consultant. I then sealed the grout, but I didn't neutralize first. Rubber Gloves The take-away here: know what type of pavers you’re working with, use a cleaning product that’s safe for them, and carefully follow the instructions for said cleaning product. The best you can hope for is to do things gently so the acid remains quiescent instead of sloshing around and vaporizing. Have a baking soda and water nearby to neutralize the acid if it comes into contact with plants. You must not just rinse, but neutralize it first, then rinse before your floor will be safe to walk on. Q. If you aren't prepared to handle a job to this extent consider hiring a professional or experiment with the lighter duty over-the-counter products. goggles As I do not have a workroom with running water, my plan was to do this in my kitchen and not ruin the appliances. A. Nancy, What Bob said is right ... but somewhat exaggerated because HF, as Ted rightly pointed out, sure is one acid I DON'T LIKE AT ALL! I am NO professional but don't waste your money. Colin's advice may be good but, being from the USA, I don't know what "washing up liquid" means. And I spent my career visiting a thousand plating shops, almost all of which use HCl, and I have seen the pernicious damage done by its fumes hundreds of times. Mortar is a paste for binding bricks and other construction blocks together, and for filling in gaps and spaces. A. Nancy: I've tiled many rooms (in my own homes as an amateur) with ceramic, porcelain, and quarry tile. There are other acids, like sulfamic acid => that are a bit slower and less powerful than HCl, but which are actual liquids. [affil. ... or you can go and buy the commercial toilet cleaner which costs much more and is also much diluted. Oxalic acid cleaner ... oxalic acid should be treated with the same care and respect with which you would treat bleach or muriatic acid. Vapors may irritate respiratory tract. After 24/48 hours and you are satisfied with the job the tile and grout should be sealed to restore strength and prevent stains. Soak a clean sponge in the acid solution. One thing I have learned is Muriatic Acid is a safe and easy to use product as long as you mix it right. Wipe dried grout with the soaked sponge. bsolutely do not use muriatic acid to clean your grout, because it can etch your tile damaging the surface, and it can permanently stain the grout. Professionals must charge for their time, so some don't want to spend that much time and will tell you to let the grout haze dry, then dissolve it with muriatic acid. Do you want free tile and stone installation guides? Then to clean up with water. Our ceramic floor tiles have just been cleaned with Mosaic Tile Cleaner. Then, as there will be some grout lines that are difficult to clean, you must get down on your hands and knees and scrub them with a bristly brush. goggles Apply and clean up the solution in the same manner used with the sulfamic acid. Google+ . But a green scrub pad, liquid detergent, vinegar, and maybe a little flour as an abrasive might do it with patience. All information presented is for general reference and does not represent a professional opinion nor the policy of an author's employer. To clean the toilet rim deposits off (hard water) using a v. small paint brush. Just laid porcelain tile and some grout smears were not cleaned properly, and have dried over two weeks now. , otherwise known as hydrochloric acid. This exercise (once every decade) keeps the marital flame burning, I hope. Part of the confusion here is that some people are talking about cleaners to get old dirty grout in the grout lines clean without damaging the grout, but you are talking about removing grout from the face of the tiles, which requires dissolving it. As the name suggests, it is actually an acid and can cause damage if used improperly. What do you think of this idea, and stopping the etching action after you have put the acid on the tiles. Used outdoors, the risks are far less, but indoors the risks are considerable. grit wet/dry sandpaper (black paper) has always given me satisfactory results. Slowly and carefully add the acid to the mixture stirring cautiously to avoid splashing. Muriatic or hydrochloric acid causes severe irritation or burns to skin and eyes. How can we restore the colour back? There's is no mention of using Hydrochloric acid... in this house I am the grout cleaner and I'd never, EVER use it for grout cleaning. The strongest product I have found that works well is a hydrochloric acid (for external) mix that does the trick, though the problem with this is that it corrodes chrome fittings. My secret, ah, is to initially use a combo squeegee/stippled plastic 'brush' with water and detergent. How can I get the shine back? It has left my tiles with a cloudy haze that looks just awful. Q. Hi there, Phosphoric acid is a stronger chemical than sulfamic acid and will be effective at removing more troublesome cases of grout efflorescence. To remove soap scum and hard water deposits from a tile wall in a bathroom, mix one part muriatic acid with five parts water. Thank you very much for your quick response to my question. This will clean the tile and grout joints just be sure after you wash it you come back with clean water and wipe it down so the acid does not eat away at your finish! In this video, I show you how to get rid of grout haze with an all-natural solution. A. Hi Laura. The problem with using any acid to clean a tile floor is that while it will look great for the short term it also opens the pores of the tile surface thus trapping more dirt and making it even harder to clean in the future. I tried vinegar and water, straight vinegar, and then sulfamic acid, and nothing is working. But even when diluted, an acid-water solution must be used very carefully to prevent damage to materials and potential injury. Muriatic Acid and Soil. Of course do this in a well-ventilated area. Sulphamic acid is less corrosive and recommended for this type of cleaning but will take more effort to clean it. How to Clean Grout With Oxalic Acid By Tom King Things You'll Need. I think that the tile cleaner has some acid in it. To remove the haze, a fine steel wool and/or 800? Always add acid to water -- never add water to acid. Thank you. But if we tell people that muriatic … Mortar sets quickly, and once set, it's hard to clean off using regular supplies. The phrase "grout cleaner" is confusing because we don't know if they are saying the product is for cleaning discoloration of the grout without harming it, or dissolving away the grout :-(, But make sure you are buying a product that is designed to remove grout, not bleach it clean without harm :-). It is normally recommended to use sulfamic acid which is less corrosive and takes a bit more effort to use. Muriatic acid, also known as hydrochloric acid, is a harmful, strong chemical compound but perfect for removing stains from grout when used properly. 2001 but continuing through 2018. This is a desirable thing. What for? A. You can also paint your grout joints after you have cleaned it, in most cases I recommend this. Since it can be hazardous and … Don't let others' ignorance scare you. The right answer is that you sponge off the excess grout before it dries and hardens; you don't let it dry and then try to remove it with acid. I am emailing a picture showing the grout and the front that I must preserve. It can also cause serious injury if it comes in contact with skin or eyes, and the fumes can cause breathing problems, so it should be used with extreme caution. Professionals must charge for their time, so some don't want to spend that much time and will tell you to let the grout haze dry, then dissolve it with muriatic acid. Do NOT dispose down the drain or in storm drains. Sulfamic Acid Crystals are granular sulfamic acid to be dissolved in water. Been trying for ages to remove hardened grout, and found the best way to do so is to use washing up liquid and sugar mixed together like a paste; then use this and a green dish pad works a treat. Chemicals &Consumables link to info/product on Amazon] Upon examination of our ratty old two sink bathroom cabinet from the '50s it appears that the original hex tile floor runs to the wall; the question is how will we (hopefully) clean the entire tile floor surface once the cabinet is gone so that it at least looks semi-even? A. Hi Lyn. If you have so much dry cement that you need full strength and a fan, I wouldn't worry about damage to the pores of the material. Third, the acid may or may not attack the tile to an unacceptable extent. Prev Article. Please use it with care. And don't forget goggles and gloves as a minimum. Depending on the type of tile, the sponging can be very very tedious. link to info/product on Amazon], Do I rinse it off after cleaning. This will clean the tile and grout joints just be sure after you wash it you come back with clean water and wipe it down so the acid does not eat away at your finish! It's like anything else: use your head. Will Sealing a Saltillo Tile prevent the White Efflorescence Staining? Do not mix muriatic acid with any other chemicals. I have been looking around this place for some information on how to remove a strong grout haze from tiles. Q. I have just had my bathroom floor tiled with dark dark tiles. Please remember you can do this at such a weak dilution that it may take several applications to remove it all. You never use it at full strength even outside on break work if you dilute it. The acid must be mixed with water to reduce its strength so it does not damage the stone or other materials. Now the tiles are discolored and dull. Second, as you read on these pages, the acid will be rough on everything in your kitchen. The sulfamic acid is safer on your appliances, but it is still acid, so you'll want This will neutralize the acid, but you should still use a great deal of water once you have applied this mixture since it is important to dilute all the chemicals in the runoff. What am I going to do? It even has instructions on the bottle that eliminates questions about dilutions and etc. Tile and grout need to be cleaned with a proper cleaner to make sure you don't damage the tile surface or bleach the grout. Basically some builders have left a property and nobody has been in it for about 3 months and now they have called me in to do a builders clean on it. The grout paint will last forever! Wear clothing that covers exposed skin areas. Step 1 Fill a bucket with 1 gallon of clean water. Grout turns to stone when it dries, so it's not easy to remove later if it wasn't removed when it was supposed to be. Q. I have a very large quantity of tiles used in a bathroom and then removed. Use gauntlet-style acid-resistant Is there anything that can be recommended to help with such a job? Just open out your windows until you finish mopping. Muriatic acid is the most common way installers clean grout residue from the tile and they have been doing it for years. They have all marks over them looks when he put the grout on he smeared it all over then just wiped it off with a cloth they are glazed porcelain tiles I have tried vinegar and water' also grout cleaner on one tile and it hasn't come off.