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Expert Advice For Professional Janitorial Floor Cleaning Or Residential Floor Cleaning
The Dobmeier Professional Floor Cleaning Guide Provides Answers To Your Most Important Questions About Cleaning Floors

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SECTION 3. - CLEANING STONE FLOORS

Stone Floors can be made from a variety of naturally occurring or man-made stone materials:
3.1. Natural Stone Floors including Marble, Granite, Travertine, Flagstone, Slate...
3.2. Man-Made Stone Floors including Ceramic Tiles, Clay Bricks & Tiles, Quarry Tiles, Terrazzo, Concrete...

The best way to clean Your Sealed & Finished Stone Floor depends upon the specific type of stone and also the the size of the floor and how much use it gets:
3.3. Cleaning Residential Stone Floors
3.4. Janitorial Cleaning Recommendations For Stone Floors
3.5. Green Cleaning Supplies For Stone Floors
Download the Recommended Diversey Floor Cleaning Supplies Summary Table (PDF)

3.2. MAN-MADE STONE FLOORS

Man Made Stone Flooring products can be very attractive and durable and the various available types range significantly in price and popularity. The most popularly applied flooring products in this category include:

Ceramic Floor Tiles
Clay Floor Bricks & Tiles
Quarry Tiles
Terrazzo Floor Tiles
Poured Concrete Floors

CERAMIC TILE FLOORING
The shiny glazing on Glazed Ceramic Floor Tiles seals their surface, making them very easy to maintain. However, Unglazed Ceramic Floor Tiles are highly porous, and they must therefore be properly sealed with an impregnating sealer, and then finished in order to protect the tile surface and maintain a clean appearance. Both types of ceramic floor tile are installed with grouted seams, which are intrinsically porous and should be sealed.

CLAY BRICK & CLAY BRICK TILE FLOORING
Clay Brick Floors and Clay Brick Flooring Tiles are highly durable and may be used inside or outside. However, both the clay bricks, and the mortar installed at the brick seams, are intrinsically porous. So brick flooring must be properly sealed with an impregnating sealer, and then finished in order to protect the sealed surface and maintain a clean appearance.

QUARRY TILE FLOORING
Quarry tiles are made from clays blended with shales and other natural rock particles. They are intrinsically highly porous (as is the grout installed at tile seams), and so must be properly sealed with 2 or 3 coats of an impregnating sealer, and then finished in order to protect the surface and maintain a clean appearance.

TERRAZZO TILE FLOORING
Traditional Terrazzo Flooring is made from natural marble chips or other hard stone chips that are set in a matrix of cement mortar and then cut to shape, ground and polished. Traditional Terrazzo is therefore porous, and must be properly sealed with an impregnating sealer and then may be optionally coated with a water-based acrylic floor finish to protect the surface. Newer Terrazzo variants replace the porous cement matrix with a tough urethane or epoxy resin that is essentially non-porous and does not require sealing.

POURED CONCRETE FLOORING
Concrete floors are widely used in garages, basements and for patios. Concrete is very strong and resilient, but it is also porous and can easily absorb oils and other fluids. Sealing with an impregnating sealer, or finishing with a paint designed for concrete floors, can therefore dramatically reduce the time required for floor cleaning & maintenance.

CLEANING MAN-MADE STONE FLOORS

The Importance Of Your Stone Floor Finish

As with Natural Stone Flooring Products, the cleaning requirements of these different types of man-made stone floors vary with their surface state and texture. Again, sealed floors are very much easier to maintain than unsealed floors, and some colors and patterns show dirt and marks more easily than others.

For Easy Care & Maintenance All Porous Man-Made Stone Floors (Which Excludes Non-Porous Polymer-Bonded Terrazzo Tiles) Must Be Properly Sealed & Finished!

SEALING Porous Stone Floors
Apply undiluted Diversey Plaza Plus Stone Floor Sealer onto new or stripped stone floors using a mop. When used as a sealant, Plaza Plus can be top coated with other Diversey floor finish products. When used alone as a combination sealant/finish this product can be maintained with conventional or UHS floor machines.

FINISHING Sealed Stone Floors
Solvent-based waxes are durable but may discolor some porous man-made stone flooring products - so test in an inconspicuous place before applying to the entire floor. Water-based waxes tend to build up and require stripping, but are less likely to discolor your floor. There are many products specifically formulated for use on porous stone and tile floors.
Download the Diversey Hard Floor Care Recommendations Table (PDF).

Specific Recommendations for Cleaning Residential Stone Floors:

Recomendations for Janitorial Cleaning of Stone Floors
Download the Recommended Diversey Floor Cleaning Supplies Summary Table (PDF)

Green Cleaning Supplies For Stone Floors

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