Porcelain tile floor - HELP!

[Irishchic]

I have a porcelain tile floor which I was told when I bought it (2 years ago) that you could use any cleaner on it pretty much as it was indestructible.

2 Days ago my toddler squirted a bit of cif creme cleaner on to the floor. I wiped it off with kitchen roll, but didnt bother rinsing the floor or anything.

I can see now on the floor the area where I wiped off the cif has a permanent bleach type stain, in that it is lighter that the creme color of the tile, and I have tried with lots of hot water, rubbing, buffing and using vinegar etc but cannot get this quite large bleach stain off. At first I thought it was residue but it definitely not or it would have come off by now.

What the HELL can i do here?

bump

Now I have also noticed a the print of a shoe sole which will not come off. What the hell is wrong with this floor?? A wet shoe print that is now indelible, surely that shouldnt happen??

hmmm, tricky. I was told ours should be 'sealed' (it was in Switzerland, so was told it in German, don't know correct english words or terminology) and ours weren't, so they stained easily. But then I got a (very expensive) sepcialised cleaner for them. Normal cleaning only required 1 capful in a bucket, so worked out not too ££££ iyswim, but used neat it got otherwise fixed stains up like a miracle. Over time, it also seemed to form this barrier that it should have originally had put on it. I don't know if it's available in UK but it's called Glastilan by company Lithofin. If you can't get that, then I'd at least splash out on a special cleaning product for your tiles, and use it on the area neat.

ALso, contact the place where you bought the tiles and get them to either look at the stain or recommend a solution. Good luck.

Thanks Ernest, I will look out for that product.

The guy who sold me the tiles actually called round today because I had rung him about this problem. He coulndt understand how or why the marks had appeared. He is going to contact the tiler who laid the floor to see if he put some kind of sealer on it (though he was clear that these tiles did not need any sealer as were pre sealed in prodcution) then depending on tilers answer he will contact the manufacturer to see what can be done.

It is very annoying as they were very expensive but I thought I was buying quality that would last..

I did try using a bit of bicarbonate of soda and water solution then rinsing and buffing dry and that seemed to get rid of the shoe stain but it has also dulled the shiny patina of the tile surface so that is not exactly a great solution either.

I will def try and get my hands on that product you mentioned, thanks for that.

If it is really bad or obvious but localised to 1 or 2 tiles you could always get those 2 removed and replaced, you do have some spares? But obviously first you need to find out why they marked in the first place and try to remove the marks. Good luck.

(I used to have tiles which I loved though highly impractical pale glossy sandy now I have even less practical pale oiled horrible oiled maple - sounds fan y, looks crap) and in 10 weeks I am moving into my own home again, and I have again chosen beautiful, highly impractical pale sandy glossy tiles. Didn't think I could get excited about tiles. Good luck with yours.

I can recommend the Lithofin products - we've got a slate kitchen floor and the slates had to be sealed after they were laid. It's good stuff.

Thanks Ernest and Octavia, will get on to it and hopefully it will get sorted.

Any success in solving your cif on tile floor problem. Advice would be appreciated