10/13/2017
Once every few years, SilTanium takes on a project that presents new difficulties, and those difficulties inspire us to learn new techniques. Renewing the porcelain-tile lobbies on the first, second and third floors of the bursar’s office at Georgia Tech was just such a project.
Although porcelain tile does not absorb water, it is very porous and cleaning with strong acids causes the pores to enlarge. As pores hold soiling, failure to remove acid cleaners before drying causes two things to happen. First, as the water diluting it evaporates, the cleaner’s acid pH drops (gets stronger), increasing the chemical strength and making pores even larger. Next, soil locks into the pores of the tile and becomes difficult to remove.
The soiling of this particular substrate locked on to the tile surface. Both acids and degreasers would remove soiling with melamine pads, but only if used on a heavily weighted orbital machine. Our friends at Pacific Floor Care had the right machine, the FM20ORB, so we purchased it and it worked like a dream.
Since the pores in the floor were so exposed, we coated the tile and grout with SilTanium Supreme for a fast-dry, low-sheen protective solution.
To learn more about SilTanium Supreme for tile and grout, contact your sales and service representative. If you do not yet have a representative, please call 770.387.2728 or email [email protected].