Cleaning and Sealing Black Limestone

angelica_99

Its proving quite hard to get this floor to look clean after having it laid and grouted, we have tried commerical limestone cleaning products from places like Topps Tiles but they don't seem to have helped.

We want it to look a deep black colour rather than the dusty grey colour it looks at the moment - it does go this colour when we're sprayed WD40 (a tip from the guy who laid it for us) and we thought we could just use a sealant to keep it this colour - any thoughts or recommedations as I would hate to ruin it after so much time and effort!

Cheers

Mecoconuts

Had a quick look on the net and the only thing that kept popping up on various sites was stuff called :

MB-6 Stone Color Enhancer

http://www.mygranitecare.com/color-enhancer.html

Looks like you can only get it from the US though !

savemoney

Would boiled linseed oil work, it works for black slate as mine was a grey colour with bits of grout stuck in the fine holes, but applying linseed oil made it a lovely black, shiny at first but we rubbed it with a cloth to remove oil that didnt sink in and now its a lovely matt black

angelica_99

Thank you :beer:

I'll try the boiled linseed oil and see what that looks like !

I'll get there in the end !! :T

divorcingjack

Hi angelica_99,

It would be great of you could update this thread when you've tried the linseed oil because I have the same problem with my slate kitchen floor.

The tiles are a dusty grey instead of the gorgeous colours we can see when they are wet. I have tried everything to remove the grout/cement and worn out several scrubbing brushes with the effort, but nothing seems to make any difference. It's gutting because they just look dirty and I know they aren't!

Do you know why it has to be boiled, or is this just a type of oil? I haven't heard of it before.

Thanks for the tip savemoney!

dj

pusscat

I have used Lithofin Slate Seal on the basalt tiles in my garden - it looks fantastic, they look wet all the time and the colours show through perfectly.....

It came from the local stone supplier and was quite expensive - a 5 litre tin was £80 ish. However, the tin did 3 coats on 20m2 ish of tiles - as they are outside I have done good thick coats and I still have half a tin left.

Ahhh found a link

http://www.pureadhesion.co.uk/product/297/lithofin-slate-seal-a-sealant-that-produces-a-high-sheen-finish

Made a huge difference to my garden - if you need pics I can try and post some

Puss
xx

Meant to add - you can get mortar cleaner (it is HCL acid) which cleaned all of the builders mortar, plaster and gunk off my tiles. Comes from builders yards and is about £5 for a couple of litres - you just wash, throw it on, scrub and rinse.

Poppycat

We used boiled lineseed oil on a slate hearth recently it was only about £1 from Boyes store. The builder who fitted the hearth told use to use it and we just rubbed it in, left over night and rubbed off with warm water and a rag.

angelica_99

Quick update - we applied it to the flooring which will be covered by units (just in case) and it looked fantastic. Very dark - just what we wanted.

However the surface was tacky for about 3 days afterwards and has only just started to dry out.

One of the flags seemed to go quite crumbly when we rubbed it in - almost like it was disintergrating and has gone abit odd looking - not sure if its a faulty one which seems a shame as it would be a real pain to try take it out without damaging the ones around it.

I might also try it on the Yorkstone heart we've just had fitted.

I'll take some pics tonight and post them tomorrow.