Porous bathroom tiles? OS cleaning tips?

*miaomiao*

Hello!

Been a bit since we've been able to get online as we've moved house! It's nice to be back!

Our new home has porous tiles in the bathroom (although not ones made of expensive materials - these looks like bog standard modern screen-printed tiles but without the finish). They are stained with dark patches of dirt, possibly mildew, but I can't seem to get this out.

Any tips? Thank you!

Rummer

I made a dreadful choice of tiles for my kitchen and bathroom and mopping does not clean then well so I spend many a happy hour on my knees scrubbing them with a stiff bristled brush :mad:

*miaomiao*

Ah, Rummer, I know what you mean. I gave the tiles a go with a very stiff bristled brush and a bleach solution but the mess is still on the floors, especially around the toilet. How bad is it when people can't even clean their floors so that urine ends up being what eats through the dirt. We have all sorts of these marks from the previous residents!

Rummer

The one thing we did in our previous flat was to replace our floors with cheap lino tiles from poundland. It looked much better than what had been down and although not ideal gave us some time to save for a proper flooring solution

tpt

really not sure what they may be from that description. if they are real tiles then they are very unlikely to be porous. Any ceramic\porcelain tile wont be!

they could be natural stone, but you say they appear to be 'screen printed' ?? are you able to post a picture?

Could you describe the finish too? does it have a texture or is it smooth?

*miaomiao*

tpt, thanks for your comments!

the tiles are smooth on their surface and they have been used on the bathroom walls, around the tub and in the shower. when i look at them closely they appear to have been printed (i'll try to get a pic up today or tomorrow) and we have some spares in the shed so i'll see if i can find out what they look like on the back.

the 2 big problems with them are that they are dark grey and black where someone has left a lot of moisture on them (mildew, i think) and they also are spotted around the toilet, through the dirt (eww) which makes us think that these are urine stains that have eaten through the dirt. i tried some bleach and a scrub brush already, no luck!

*miaomiao*

oops, not sure how to post an image!

lynnellen

bicarbonate of soda in hot water is a very good cleaning solution i use it alot all over the house

tpt

if you can rule out that they have been painted (normal or tile paint) and that they dont have tile transfers\stickers on them theres definately a cleaner that will get whatever it is off - if they are ceramic or porcelain then they will be just like a dinner plate and whatever it is will be sitting on the top.

*miaomiao*

Thanks again, everyone. Unfortunately the bicarb didn't work. The tiles look like they are ceramic. The photo I'm trying use is not uploading!

tpt, can you recommend a cleaner? Perhaps I'd best call a local tile shop.

tpt

you can email me the picture if you like, but yes your local tile shop should be able to help you. cleaners basically go in 2 directions, akaline or acidic and it depends on what your trying to get off. In truth my delivery charge on something small like a cleaner is likely to be cost prohibitive but send me the photo i'll gladly help.

have a look here http://ltp-online.co.uk/

You should be able to source something from here or along these lines. if i can make out enough in the photo i can try to direct you. i would have though something like LTP Grimex would do the job.