specialist
Stone, tile and grout cleaning
Stone and tile cleaning costs £8 to £20 a square metre cleaned and sealed, over a minimum charge of £200 to £300 that most domestic floors land on, so a small kitchen floor is usually £250 to £450 and a hallway with a Victorian tiled path £300 to £600. Almost all of the price is in the sealing rather than the cleaning: stone that is not resealed after a deep clean is more absorbent the week after than it was the week before.
What this covers
What it costs. Stone and tile cleaning costs £8 to £20 a square metre cleaned and sealed, over a minimum charge of £200 to £300. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Limestone, travertine, marble and slate floors deep cleaned
- Grout lines cleaned and, where wanted, recoloured
- Sealer stripped back and reapplied
- Honing and polishing marble and terrazzo
- Victorian and quarry tiled hallways brought back
What is involved
Natural stone is porous and the sealer is what stands between it and everything dropped on it. A deep clean strips that sealer along with the dirt, which is the point, and a floor left unsealed takes up red wine, oil and pet accidents straight into the stone where no cleaning reaches them.
The stone decides the chemistry. Limestone, travertine and marble are calcareous and acid eats them, so anything descaling or citrus-based will etch a dull mark that is physical damage rather than a stain. Slate, quarry tile and porcelain take far more. Somebody who cleans stone for a living asks what the floor is before they open a bottle.
Grout is usually what makes a floor look tired. It is cement, it is lower than the tile, and it collects everything; a floor that reads as dirty is very often clean tiles with dark grout between them. Grout can be cleaned and it can be recoloured, and recolouring is the one that lasts.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask what the floor is made of and see whether they ask you first. Using an acidic product on limestone is the single most expensive mistake in this trade.
Ask which sealer goes back on and whether it is impregnating or topical. One soaks in and changes nothing about the look; the other sits on top and can be taken off later.
Ask whether grout recolouring is offered. On an older floor it changes the result more than anything done to the tiles.
Common questions
Does the floor have to be resealed?
Yes on natural stone. A deep clean takes the old sealer off, and unsealed limestone or travertine will absorb whatever is spilled on it. Porcelain and fully vitrified tile are a different case and often need nothing.
Can etch marks be cleaned off?
No, because they are not marks. An acid has dissolved a shallow dip in the surface, so the fix is honing and polishing the stone back flat rather than cleaning it.