Stripper on tile

I have porcelian tile.Zep Industrial Floor Stripper was applied to the tile and left for two hours to remove a silocone gloss sealer.What damage could be done to tile and grout by this process.The container said not for use on natural stone.It also said leave on for eight to twelve minutes.

The stripper should not hurt the finish on the tiles.

Was this something like the red quarry tile? I don't know what other type of porcelain would even have needed a sealer. The tile might be OK. I don't know what might have been done to the grout.

Is the stripper basically an ammonia-based product? The deed is done....can you tell us if the tile appears to be affected? The three best places to consult on this question are:

1) The Tile Council of America www.tileusa.com
2) Jonn Bridge tile forum www.johnbridge.com
3) THe manufacture of the tile
4) ZEP

The grout is the most likely thing to be affected...if it is intact and not crumbly, or the top layer doesn't come off when you mop, you are probably okay. The tile, if not etched should be okay. Worst case on the grout is to dig it out and regrout.

Typically, porcelain tile does NOT need anything on it, and will usually look streaky if you try. The grout can benefit from a good sealer, unless it is an epoxy based product, then, nothing except periodic cleaning for appearance is all that is required.

jimbo said:

Was this something like the red quarry tile? I don't know what other type of porcelain would even have needed a sealer. The tile might be OK. I don't know what might have been done to the grout.

Is the stripper basically an ammonia-based product? The deed is done....can you tell us if the tile appears to be affected? The three best places to consult on this question are:

1) The Tile Council of America www.tileusa.com
2) Jonn Bridge tile forum www.johnbridge.com
3) THe manufacture of the tile
4) ZEP

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Yes it is the reddish type tile.We put the sealer on it to give it a gloss.It was a non penatrating sealer.After a few years it started to wear off in the heavy traffic aeeas.Zep tells us the tile would be surly dammaged because that stripper is designed for vinal floors.They said it is an acid base and could etch and bleach the floor.Tge reason im putting this on the board is because a floor inspection service charges $400.00 to stamp the floor dammaged or not.So before hiring them im trying to get some feed back.A tile cleaning service did this to our floor.Yes the tile seems to be discolored etched and bleached.

Sounds like the damage is done. One last thing I might check: take some ammonia, maybe just to one tile, and see if there is still just some surface residual from the sealer. Ventilate well; ammonia is strong stuff.

Next move is to call the tile council or the manufacturer of that tile for advice. There is still the outside possibility that reapplication of a good sealer product will restore the appearance. Don't try this until you have done a lot of research.

Sounds like you have something like saltillo. This is a very soft ceramic tile, and also very porous. It is definately not a porcelain - that stuff is almost indestructable - very dense, hard, and does not absorb much of anything. Saltillo, along with the grout, would be severely affected by an acid based solution sitting on it for awhile.

Cass said:

The stripper should not hurt the finish on the tiles.

Click to expand...

Maybe if you have a real bimbo stripping and lots of booze and a wild party you could do some damage....probably better off than a stripper party on carpet

Sorry, couldn't resist.