Limestone floor haze

[Chris_32]

Hi, I did a limestone floor for a customer which I washed and sealed, then grouted 24 hours later. A week later I went back to apply another coat of sealer. The floor was mostly clean but had a few dried up droplets of grout water. I made the mistake of using an acid cleaner to wash the tiles and now have a haze all over them as shown in the picture. Any ideas how I could clean them back to a normal state? Thanks.

 

[Dave]

Hi, I did a limestone floor for a customer which I washed and sealed, then grouted 24 hours later. A week later I went back to apply another coat of sealer. The floor was mostly clean but had a few dried up droplets of grout water. I made the mistake of using an acid cleaner to wash the tiles and now have a haze all over them as shown in the picture. Any ideas how I could clean them back to a normal state? Thanks.

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Definitely shouldn’t have used anything acidic, what did you use ?

 

[Chris_32]

Definitely shouldn’t have used anything acidic, what did you use ?

I know now but I wasn't aware at the time. I used Lithofin Cement Away diluted to roughly 10:1. I have used it before on slate and as I don't do too much stone work just assumed it would be fine on all stone which is obviously my mistake and naive on my part. I have spoken to a stone fixer friend who advised maybe trying a poultice to clean if a milder cleaning solution doesn't work. I was going to give it another clean with Fila PS87 which is suitable for all natural stone as I studied the data sheet which is what I should have done in the first place.

Is it possible to get them back to a normal state in your opinion? Do you have any cleaning solution you would personally recommend? Any help would be hugely appreciated, thanks.

 

[Dave]

I know now but I wasn't aware at the time. I used Lithofin Cement Away diluted to roughly 10:1. I have used it before on slate and as I don't do too much stone work just assumed it would be fine on all stone which is obviously my mistake and naive on my part. I have spoken to a stone fixer friend who advised maybe trying a poultice to clean if a milder cleaning solution doesn't work. I was going to give it another clean with Fila PS87 which is suitable for all natural stone as I studied the data sheet which is what I should have done in the first place.

Is it possible to get them back to a normal state in your opinion? Do you have any cleaning solution you would personally recommend? Any help would be hugely appreciated, thanks.

If it’s etched it could be knackered depending on depth of damage. @Lithofin BOB might have a remedy for you.

 

[Chris_32]

If it’s etched it could be knackered depending on depth of damage. @Lithofin BOB might have a remedy for you.

I was going to call Lithofin technical department tomorrow when they're open and see if they can suggest a solution.
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If it’s etched it could be knackered depending on depth of damage. @Lithofin BOB might have a remedy for you.

The cement away wasn't on there for long at all, just a quick scrub then cleaned straight off so hoping its not gone deep into the stone

 

[Dave]

What sealer did you initially use ?

 

[Chris_32]

What sealer did you initially use ?

Lithofin MN Stainstop

 

[Lithofin BOB]

hi chris , maybe you spoke to my college on the tech line , if you had a light over application of the stain stop ( hopefully in this case) this may whiten with an acidic wash , you could test wax off ( stripper) on 1-2 tiles and see if this removes this haze , if this is acidic damage , you may have to polish this back with diamond pads to re surface the damaged finish.

 

[Chris_32]

hi chris , maybe you spoke to my college on the tech line , if you had a light over application of the stain stop ( hopefully in this case) this may whiten with an acidic wash , you could test wax off ( stripper) on 1-2 tiles and see if this removes this haze , if this is acidic damage , you may have to polish this back with diamond pads to re surface the damaged finish.

hi Bob, thanks for the reply. I did speak with Lithofin technical department and they told me after looking at pictures that it was most likely etching in the stone but they didn’t mention the stain stop whitening issue at all. The sealer wasn’t fresh on the stone, it had been on there over 24 hours, would this whitening effect still possibly occur? I have booked a stone restoration company to do the diamond refacing and also spoke to another company who said that judging by the pictures it was definitely etching in the stone.

Is the wax off a sealer stripper and safe for limestone? If you think this may be possibly what it is then I will try this as it could potentially save a lot of money.

 

[Lithofin BOB]

hi Chris , it does look extreme , but for the sake of a two tile test to strip back at least we covered all avenues that could be possible , prior to the re polish.
the wax off if fine for limestone or any natural stone , if you have something similar, you could test that , it may make no difference - but you tried , just in case.

 

[Chris_32]

hi Chris , it does look extreme , but for the sake of a two tile test to strip back at least we covered all avenues that could be possible , prior to the re polish.
the wax off if fine for limestone or any natural stone , if you have something similar, you could test that , it may make no difference - but you tried , just in case.

I will try that, like you say, at least then I have tried everything and best case can save myself a few quid thanks for the help.