There’s nothing quite like restoring order and gaining a sense of satisfaction from a spot of housework. Making sure surfaces are clean and hygienic should be a regular habit, and that includes porcelain tiles. This type of flooring requires particular care to maintain its appearance, whether a polished or unpolished finish. In this post, we discuss how to clean porcelain tiles, indoors or outside, as well as providing protection for an immaculate home.
How often should you clean porcelain tiles?
Depending on the footfall of your home and where they are laid, porcelain tiles may need cleaning fortnightly or every few days. For the purposes of discussion, we’ll begin from the start; read on for our guide on the best way to preserve porcelain tiles:
Perform the initial clean with a grout cleaner
Shockingly, 99% of faults with porcelain stems from the wrong type of cleaning. It’s, therefore, best to ensure this is right from the start, and once porcelain tiles are installed, it’s essential any grout residues are removed. DETERDEK PRO is a professional grout cleaner and when used for end-of-work cleaning, ensures porcelain tiles fully perform. DETERDEK PRO can be used for this fundamental phase to protect the long-term appearance of floors, whether structured, textured or polished porcelain tiles.
Maintain your grout from the start
Although they don’t internally stain, porcelain tiles are susceptible to a buildup of dirt in the grout. To aid with day to day cleaning and protect the grout lines, we’d recommend applying a sealer like FUGAPROOF once the tiles are installed and cleaned. This added protection is not only VOC free, but it’s also a practical way of keeping tiles looking nicer for longer. Simply spray onto dry grout after the initial clean with DETERDEK, or for more long term maintenance, we recommend using FUGAPROOF with FUGANET, our grout cleaning detergent.
Use a ph neutral cleaner for ordinary maintenance…
A great cleaning regime starts with the right tools, and CLEANER PRO is FILA’s ph neutral cleaner. CLEANER PRO can be used for the everyday cleaning of porcelain tiles and natural stone and, over time, works to protect against opacifying layers generally created by other detergents. SANIFAST is also a surface disinfectant that can be used for porcelain tiles but is so friendly, is perfect for any household surface, including polished natural stone. SANIFAST can also be used for the maintenance of wax-treated floors and is additionally pet-safe – just because you’re a dog lover doesn’t mean your floors are!
…and a degreaser and cleaner for a deeper cleanse
The right cleaner and method will provide fantastic results, and PS87 PRO has more than one string to its bow. Perfect if you want to refresh your floor with a deep clean, it is a 3-in-one product that can remove old wax treatments from floors and stubborn stains from porcelain tiles.
In the event of organic stains such as tea, coffee and glue, simply pour undiluted onto the stain and leave to act until dry before washing and rinsing the surface. PS87 PRO is also great for the basic cleaning of unpolished natural stones that are sensitive to acid.
Specialist treatments for stubborn stains
Stains can be frustrating to find on porcelain and natural stone floors; however, the right product will make tackling them easy. STOP DIRT is a dirt-repellent for very structured porcelain tiles, natural tiles or polished lappato tiles that are hard to clean and maintain. STOP DIRT can also be used indoors or out but as it is hard to apply, should only be applied to certain tiles and for particular problems. Alternatively, NOPAINT STAR works to remove graffiti from stone and SR95 – coffee and wine, whereas NORUST effectively removes rust stains in minutes.
Other useful tips to care for porcelain tiles
Cleaning porcelain tiles is pretty straightforward, but there are ways to keep them looking fresher for longer. Things like dealing with spills as they happen can make a big difference as can avoiding products like ammonia and bleach. You should also avoid steel wool, and other abrasive agents as these can scratch and cause surface damage to porcelain tiles. A regular vacuum or sweep will additionally get rid of grit and over time, will stop the tile surface from wearing.
They say a clean home is a happy home and so we hope that you have found this blog post helpful. To keep your porcelain tiles looking their best, simply follow these tips – with the right FILA products behind you, you can’t go wrong!
