Tile Cleaning!!!!!!

Hey guys. I've been doing a lot of tile cleaning. AWESOME! Between 75 cents and 1.25 a square foot. Very profitable! I was just wondering how you guys go about cleaning tile so I can compare and maybe improve. Here is what I do.

First I spray down the tile with Viper Venom or VV Renew. I wait about 10 minutes during which I scrub the tiles with a hard brush on a broomstick. Then I use my tile tool and set the truck mount to about 1000 PSI (more or less depending on how easy the tile is cleaning). While I'm doing that my helper is still scrubbing the more stubborn grout lines.

Usually I get GREAT results. However in some cases it takes WORK! On some tile it's as though the customer has sealed the tile over the dirt and it's impossible to clean!

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can improve? Maybe use a different product over than the Venom to be more productive with less effort?

Thanks!

You could try a 175 with a brush on it for some extra mechanical action. If it has acrylic sealer on it, you will need to use floor stripper to remove it first

For best results you need to use ACID!  like folic acid or malic acid.  We are talking about ceramic tile.  Please for heavens sake don't use acid or marble or granite.  I use the cimex with the white pads with a little weight on the unit, to help scrub out the grout lines...

I use to carry my floor machine around with me and used a carpet brush on the tile but I wasn't getting any decent results. I never thought about stripping the floor though. Nice suggestion!

I've been charging WAY to little for sealing. I have a job on Friday where I charged $250 to color change a shower grout (I probably could have gotten more now that I hear $4+ a square ft). But we are also doing some stretching in 5 rooms for $750 and I already did her carpet cleaning at $30-$35 a room. So.. I guess it all evens out.

Great advice though! I'm going to charge a lot more for the color change now.

Let me ask you.. when you strip, do you have to use a buffer or is there a way to do it without adding an extra 125 pounds to the truck?


Edited by Atlantis - 24/March/2008 at 10:18am

Stripping the floor only helps if it has been sealed before.

If it is the RV 360. It has a Tile and grout head. I use it on most of my tile and grout jobs with awesome results.