Cleaning Satillo or Mexican Tile

When your saltillo or Mexican tile and grout stop responding to your mop bucket and brush it may be time to strip the floor down and clean it. Then, after it dries, rebuild the finish.

The floor needs to be completely empty for stipping and waxing saltillo tile. Base boards and delicate surfases need to be protected. The stripper disolves the wax in the tile creating a slippery slurry that needs to be rinsed from the floor. Stripping mexican tile is the most challenging job that the Floor Cleaning Experts does. Most old saltillo tile and grout floors have multiple layers of wax from many different era's. Some of the finishes used in the 70's are VERY hard to break down and require a special stripper.

Once the Mexican tile and grout have been stripped completely free of wax or sealer it is cleaned just like normal tile and gout.

Saltillo or Mexican tile is a sun backed clay tile that is not fire hardened. This leaves the tile soft and very porous. Sealing satillo or Mexican tile is very important as is how you seal it.

The first thing you need to decide is whether to coat the tile and grout with an acrylic topical sealer or a penetrating flourochemical sealer. Floors inside can be decided solely on preference. Shinny finish that needs to be redone every 3-5 years but is easy to keep clean or the natural texture of the stone with a penetrating sealer that lasts much longer but isn't as easy to keep clean due to the course texture of satillo tile.

Outdoors acrylic finishes really get abused by the sun and rain and need either a solvent based acrylic sealer or a UV resistant penetrating sealer. The Drytreat StainProof penetrating sealer bonds to the molecular structure of the tile and permanently seals the tile with the flat texture. And comes with a 15 year warranty when applied by a certified applicator like the Floor Cleaning Experts.