[John M Byrne]

Hi,

Below is a pic of a ceramic tile in a Toilet in a hotel.  The tiles are marked like to one in the pic.  it looks as if something has been spilled on it and the coating has been removed.  I tested this with an acid cleaner on a shiny patch and it removed the shine.  This leads me to believe there is a coating on the tiles.  The marks look like the etching you get when you spill somthing acidic on marble, but these are not marble they are definately ceramic

What im wondering is if this is some sort of anti slip coating and if so what would be used to remove it all and then what to use as another coating.  Any Ideas?

Thanks

John

[BDCS]

Have you tried hard floor polish stripper ? If its etched then you can only really apply a high solids polish

[garyj]

Doubt it is an anti slip, I would guess it's just a normal high gloss polish. The only company I can think of that actually sold an anti slip polish no longer sells it, I think even though it worked there was an issue with litigation if someone did actually slip on it.

Why not just apply some normal polish and see what it looks like after an hour! Then its a case of stripping the whole lot and applying a few coats. 

[swanson]

This is my trade im a ceramic tiler thats just gone into the tile and stone cleaning game.

Theres nothing you can do you have taken the coating of the tile away (the glaze) best thing to do is ask the client if he has any spare tiles if he does take out the damaged ones and replace them.IF HE HASENT got any replacements just walk away from thge job

[John M Byrne]

Thanks Everyone,

Swanson,  I do find it hard to believe that a tile is sold with a glaze that is fairly easy to remove and then just say, Sorry you have to replace the tiles.  I removed some of the glaze with an acid to test them and these tiles are in a Toilet, Urine is acidic., the Whole floor of the toilet will have to be replaced if thats the case.

Is there nothing I can do to solve this, apart from remove all of the Glaze and leave them with a matt finish on the floor

Thanks

John

[Pristine Clean]

On a couple of sites that we have we have those tiles (Well they look very similar) The same thing has happened. Part of the glaze has come away. Looks exactly the same as your picture.

We were asked to remedy it. Not our field at all. But we have glazed/sealed  tiles before and used

http://www.travertinedirect.co.uk/products/Glaze-Protector-Tile-Sealer.html

Or search for an alternative product. And always test an inconspicuous area.

Dave

[John M Byrne]

Dave,

Thanks for this. Definately looks and sounds like the solution. and there is a number of suppliers in Ireland.  I wll let you know how i Get on

Cheers

John