Floor Cleaning Experts of St Petersburg hires new office manager

We are pleased to announce that Wendi Folkersen has accepted the position of Office Manager with Tampa Floor Cleaning Experts

Wendi will be the person you talk to when you book your terrazzo restoration, Mexican tile cleaning, VCT floor maintenance or any of our other floor cleaning services in the Tampa Bay area.

Wendi can be reached at 727-399-8803 or wendi@floorcleaningexperts.com

Types of Natural Stone Floors: Slate

Slate:

Slate is a metamorphic stone formed by hardened clay and volcanic ash. Slate floor tiles can be a solid color or may have many rich beautiful colors running through the stone. Slate tile is very durable and hard to stain and can be used inside and outside the home. Slate floors can be sealed with a topical slate sealer to provide a glossy look or with a penetrating slate sealer with a color enhancer. Slate services include: Slate stripping, slate cleaning, and slate sealing.

Slate restoration is a labor of love for the Floor Cleaning Experts! We’ll restore the WOW to your slate floor.

How to Remove Red Wine From White Grout

Red wine and white grout are a very dramatic combination. Sealed or unsealed, red wine will stain white grout. Sealed grout will keep the stain up at the surface making removal much easier.

Blot up the spilled wine getting the grout as dry as possible. Then mix a little neutral floor detergent according to label instructions and pour on the stained area. Brush into the grout lines and then blot up the detergent. Rinse with clean water and let dry.

That will get rid of most of the stain. When the grout is dry use a fresh bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide, fill the gout joint with the peroxide and let it sit. As it dries the remaining stain will fade.

If you have a stain you can’t remove call the Floor Cleaning Experts 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.

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!

Tampa Construction Clean up of Saltillo Tile also known as Mexican

When Saltillo tile is installed it is very dull and porous. It may come bare of any type of coating or it may have a light coating from the factory that will need to be stripped before waxing the Mexican or Saltillo tile and grout.

When the floor has been down during the construction process construction clean up can be complicated by paint, mortar, and drywall mud. The Saltillo tile and grout need a thorough cleaning before stripping and waxing the Mexican tile.

This Tampa construction clean up of Mexican tile involved cleaning drywall mud and paint from the Saltillo tile and grout,stripping the wax coating, and then waxing the Saltillo tile and grout with a urethane reinforced acrylic floor finish. This makes a hard coating over the soft sun baked clay of the Mexican tiles.

This Mexican tile floor was in the common areas of a busy apartment complex. After a years worth of traffic and abuse they are still in great condition with a consistent even shine.

The Floor Cleaning Experts cleans, polishes, and seals all types of floors. We clean Saltillo tile & grout, restore Saltillo and Mexican tile and grout, and strip and wax Saltillo tile and grout.