Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Tampa Wood Floor Cleaning & Polishing of 100 Year Old Wood Floor

This 100 year old wood floor was in bad shape when we arrived. The floor wasn't a candidate for a full wood floor restoration due to its age and termite damage. The property owners didn't want to replace the floor so they called the Floor Cleaning Experts to provide a thorough wood floor cleaning, sealing, & polishing in Tampa.




We cleaned the wood floors with a solvent based wood floor cleaner and scrubbed the wood floor with a hogs hair pad to break the dirt and old finish from the wood floor.

Then we used a high speed floor buffer to bring up the shine.

Call Floor Cleaning Experts at 727-399-8803 for a free exact price quote.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Marble Scratch Removal & Travertine Marble Polishing in Tampa

This marble floor had scratches from the manufacturing process on the surface of the marble that required a full diamond restoration and marble polishing to remove scratches from the marble.
The Floor Cleaning Experts use a dual plenary grinding machine with either metal bonded diamond grinding disks for marble lippage removal and floor leveling or resin bonded diamond polishing disks for travertine marble polishing and marble scratch removal.
On this floor we used resin diamond polishing to remove the scratches. We started with 50 grit disks to grind out the marble scratches. Then polished the marble with 120, 220, 400, 800, 1800, 3600 grit resin marble polishing disks. This gave a deep consistent shine to the floor. All of the edges were polishing by hand .
We then used a high speed buffer with diamond embedded 3600 grit polishing pads to buff the floor to a high shine.




This floor not only had a high consistent shine but also had NO damage done to the custom wood cabinetry or stainless steel appliances.
We take a lot of pride in the work we do and take the time to get all the details right. If your travertine or marble floor needs marble scratch removal or marble polishing give us a call at 727-399-8803

How to Clean Grout Yourself When Money is Tight..

When times are tough and money is tight it is sometime necessary to try and tackle projects we would normally pay someone to do for us. One of those projects is cleaning tile and grout in your home.

How to clean grout yourself the easiest way: You will need a mop and bucket, a shop vac, a grout brush, a strong grout cleaner, and a grout restoration acid.

The hardest part of cleaning tile and grout yourself is rinsing the grout. Grout is very porous and dirt and detergent embed deep in the grout when the grout sealer breaks down. When the Floor Cleaning Experts clean tile and grout we use a truck mounted hot water extraction rinse that uses 1200 psi and 5.5 gallons of 250 degree water. You're going to need to use a little more elbow grease in rinsing the floor.

Fill your mop bucket with steaming hot water and add your strong grout cleaner into the mix. Dip your mop into the bucket of hot detergent and soak the mop. lift mop out of the bucket and let it drain off into the bucket. When it slows to a dribble put the mop in the center of the room and work out to the edges.

You want to mop the floor and spread the detergent solution evenly leaving the floor wet without pooling. You want to let the detergent work for you. Keep the tile and grout wet for 30 minutes allowing the detergent to do most of the work.

Now that the floor is soaking in the hot detergent its time for the fun to begin!! Grab your grout brush. A brush on a long wooden handle is mush easier and more effective then a hand brush. Brush the grout lines vigorously, this works the detergent into the grout by scrubbing off the top laying of soil.

Now its time to rinse the tile and grout cleaner from the floor. Get your shop vac and clean and refill the mop bucket with clean clear water. Repeat the process above but use more water. Slight pooling is OK in the center of the room. Now use the shop vac to suck up the dirty water. Now repeat the process and brush the grout when its wet to work the dirt and detergent up out of the grout. Keep repeating this process until it stops making dirty lines when brushed. It may take as many as 5-10 rinsings to get the floor clean and detergent free.

Now we are going to repeat the whole process above using a grout restoration acid cleaner. Please be very careful with this product around stainless steel and marble as it will etch those surfaces very quickly.

Now that you've that your done cleaning tile and grout its time for sealing tile and grout. Grout needs to be sealed with a penetrating sealer. Only specialty tile and grout like Mexican tile, saltillo tile, quarry tile, or porcelain tile should be sealed with a topical acrylic sealer.


If that's too much work for you the Floor Cleaning Experts will get your tile and grout looking like brand new freshly poured grout and seal it for you.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Tampa St Petersburg Tile & Grout Cleaning & Sealing Process

The Floor Cleaning Experts specialize in restoring tile and grout back to as clean as new.
We do this by cleaning tile and grout twice with two different types of cleaning detergents. The first grout restoration cleaning detergent breaks down greases and oils in the grout and is a strong alkaline grout cleaner. This is brushed into the grout with a grout brush and left to work for 15 to 30 minutes.
Rinsing the dirt and detergent from the grout is a very important part of the process. The Floor Cleaning Experts use powerful truck mounted hot water extractors that rinse the grout with 1200 psi hot water. This is done under a contained grout cleaning rinse tool that sprays the water on the tile & grout and creates a rinsing cyclone of water scrubbing the dirt and detergent from the tile and grout.
After all of the first detergent has been rinsed from the floor a tile and grout restoration acid cleaning agent is applied to the grout lines. The grout restoration acid restores the grout back to that new condition by dissolving a fine layer of grout to get to pristine new grout underneath.

Special grout cleaning tools are used to rinse hard to reach areas like corners and edges. This ensures the grout on the edges and in the corners is as clean as the rest of the floor. The tile and grout are then dried with microfiber mops and towels.
The Floor Cleaning Experts offers two types of grout sealer. A water based grout sealer that lasts between 3-5 years or Dry-Treat StainProof solvent sealer that permanently bonds with the grout and comes with a fifteen year warranty when applied by a Dry-Treat Authorized Applicator. The Floor Cleaning Experts have been a Dry-Treat Certified Applicator since 2005 and have permanently sealed over 100,000 feet of grout.

If you are tired of looking at dirty grout contact us and we will make your grout look like brand new again!