A while back I cleaned up a mosaic tiled slate shower enclosure in a farm style cottage which took me about a day to complete. Slate tiles are actually very durable and apart from mild surface scratching they are quite resistant to acids and many things that would otherwise mark or etch the likes of marble and limestone. Slate also has a nice rustic look to it which works very well in certain situations.
This slate mosaic shower was very dirty after several years of not being professionally cleaned. The shower was used to bath the dog from time to time and there was allot of hair build-up. Slate while rustic and characteristic does trap dirt etc so a good detail scrub with this type of slate shower is an absolute must on a periodic basis.
Cleaning this type of rustic slate mosaic tile
Along with the hair and product build-up, limescale is an unfortunate occurrence in England and it loves hiding in all the little nooks and crannies in slate. Luckily for us slate is acid resistant so the products we use to remove limescale do not damage the slate. This is definitely not the case for marble or limestone which essentially are made of the same base material as the limescale itself, namely calcium.
However removing limescale that has been left to build-up for some time is quite a job. This type of rough slate mosaic does not allow one to scrape the limescale of effectively and the acids we use to remove limescale only take a small fraction off of the surface. It therefore becomes a process of applying the chemical then painstakingly chipping away at the limescale and repeating it several times per contaminated tile.
Another thing many don’t realise is that after the first initial clean much of the limescale that was previously unnoticed and kind of blending in, will then turn white and become much more noticeable against the dark colour of the slate.
After a day of detail cleaning and removing limescale along with a thorough grout line clean and steam the slate mosaic tiles where in a good position to be sealed thoroughly.
Its best to do this when things have dried properly and depending on the sealer used we can enhance the colour of the slate giving it a newish look. The sealer will make the slate more impervious and make cleaning easier. Due to this the limescale should not take as much of a root as it did to the unsealed slate so this is an important step.
If you would like this service or you have any tile cleaning work please do get in touch. We restore Victorian floors, polish stone, clean and repoint patios and much much more. [email protected]