Limestone is extremely soft and porous making limestone tile floors extremely difficult to clean and maintain.  Dirt and debris can easily get embedded in the limestone that can be extremely difficult to remove with normal tile cleaning techniques.

 

 

Cleaning limestone floors with normal tile cleaning products and procedures will often times not remove all the dirt and debris in the limestone tiles.  Traffic patterns may still be evident in the limestone floor tiles due to embedded dirt, grease and grime that has not been completely removed.

The original finish of the limestone floor can also effect the cleaning results.  A highly polished limestone tile floor will often show many scratches and scuff marks after the floor has been cleaned. These scratches and scuff marks can cause the cleaned limestone floor to still look dirty and dingy after it has been cleaned.   Often times scratches and scuff marks are hidden within the dirt and debris on the limestone and they only become noticeable after the limestone floor has been cleaned.

A honed limestone tile floor will typically allow dirt and debris to become more embedded deep within the limestone.  Honed limestone floors can often be cleaned and honed at the same time to restore the original honed look and finish of the floor. Polished limestone floors usually require more professional level diamond polishing procedures after the floor has been cleaned to bring back the original look and finish of the polished limestone tile floor.

Many limestone tile floors are finished to a honed or slightly reflective finish so that they are much easier to clean and maintain.   Polished limestone can be extremely slippery when wet so many homes and businesses prefer honed limestone over polished limestone for their limestone tile floors. You can often scrub a honed limestone tile floor with an aggressive scrub pad to hone and clean the limestone at the same time. A black pad under a floor machine can work adequately to clean and hone a limestone tile floor. 

Only a specialized alkaline tile, grout and stone cleaning solution should be used for cleaning any type of limestone.  Acidic cleaners should never be used on limestone because they can etch the finish of the limestone.  Additionally many general purpose alkaline cleaners can dull the finish of limestone.  A specialized tile, grout and stone alkaline cleaning product like Stonetech Klenzall will effectively clean the limestone tiles without damaging the delicate finish of the limestone.  A one (1) gallon container of Stonetech Klenzall can typically clean 1000 sq/ft of limestone floor tiles. 

You can use the alkaline tile cleaning solution underneath a black pad with a professional rotating floor machine to loosen up the dirt and grime on the limestone floor. The black pad agitates and hones the limestone floor at the same time that it cleans it.  Professional floor machines and black pads can be rented at local rental shops and they can also be rented at the local home improvement stores.  For smaller limestone tile floors as well as limestone countertops you can also manually scrub the limestone tiles with an aggressive black scrub pad as well.  Also an angle grinder with a rubber backer and a piece of black pad attached to it can be used to clean and hone smaller areas of limestone.  Limestone showers require specialized cleaning and restoration procedures that are much different than cleaning a limestone floor. You can read more information about cleaning and restoring a limestone shower here.

Using an aggressive scrub pad to clean and hone limestone floor tiles will give an extremely low honed finish with almost zero reflection on the limestone floor tiles. Also there will often be areas near the edges of the floor where the floor machine or angle grinder could not reach. These areas will need to be cleaned and honed by hand. While this technique is not perfect many DIY homeowners get satisfactory results with this technique and their limestone tile floors look much better after being cleaned and honed with this procedure.

Another way to clean and hone limestone tile floors is to combine the alkaline cleaning solution with honing powder to clean and hone the limestone floor.  Combining the honing powder with the alkaline cleaning solution will enable the honing powder to agitate the dirt and grime from the limestone and hone the tile floor at the same time.  Honing powders can produce a much more reflective and even looking floor than simply scrubbing the floor with an aggressive scrub pad. You should combine the alkaline cleaning solution and the honing powder together and use a soft white scrub pad under a floor machine to clean and hone the limestone tile floor. Smaller areas can be done by hand or by using an angle grinder with a soft white scrub pad underneath the angle grinder.

When cleaning a polished limestone tile floor you can also choose to clean and hone the floor at the same time but you will loose the original polished shiny looking appearance. If you want to clean the polished limestone tile floor and preserve its polished appearance then only a soft white scrub pad should be used. The alkaline cleaning solution can be used along with the soft scrub pads to clean and scrub away the dirt and grime from the limestone floor. Polished limestone will typically be easier to clean than honed limestone. The alkaline cleaner and soft scrub pad are all that is typically needed to remove the dirt and stains from polished limestone floors.  On most polished limestone tile floors scratches and scuff marks will be evident on the polished limestone floor that must be polished out requiring a professional stone restoration company.

After cleaning any type of limestone tile floor there may be deeply embedded stains that could not be removed with the alkaline cleaning solution.  In these cases a stone cleaning poultice can be used to draw out the deeply embedded stains from deep within the limestone tiles. You will need to mix the poultice with water according to the manufactures instructions and apply the resulting poultice paste directly to the stain. Then you need to cover the poultice paste with plastic and allow 24-48 hours for the poultice paste to draw out the stain from deep within the limestone. A poultice is the best way to remove stubborn stains in limestone and other types of stone tiles.

After cleaning limestone it is important to thoroughly rinse the limestone to remove all of the excess dirt and cleaning solution.  Limestone floors should definitely be sealed after they have been cleaned and polished or honed.  Dirt, debris and spills can easily be absorbed by the porous limestone and be extremely difficult to remove.  Only a professional level impregnating tile, grout and stone sealer should be used for sealing the limestone tiles and keeping them from becoming stained.  You should not use any type of topical sealer on limestone because the limestone can start to spall or flake away underneath the topical sealer.   You can read more information about sealing limestone tiles here.

Cleaning, polishing and honing limestone tiles can be a difficult task for many DIY homeowners.  In many cases it makes better sense to hire a professional stone cleaning and restoration contractor to do this work for you. 

You can read some valuable information and tips on how to hire a professional stone cleaning and restoration contractor at our contractor information page here. . . Stone Restoration Contractor.