Cleaning Products That Can Damage Your Tile

Tiles are a beautiful, durable and long lasting flooring option available in so many shapes, colors, patterns and sizes. However, using the wrong cleaning products may strip your tiles of all of its beauty, durability and longevity. While some damages from using harmful cleaning products can be reversed, you may need to replace your tiles altogether depending on the level of damage.
Cleaning Products That Can Damage Your Tile

Most people don’t read the labels and forget about the fine print on cleaning products. It may feel silly to read labels when you have been cleaning for years. However, it really is worth it to read the labels to avoid causing serious damage to the appearance, strip the cleanliness or reduce the safety of your floors.

While all tiles are made differently, you are generally safer avoiding the following three cleaning products.

Oil-Based Cleaners

Using an oil-based cleaner on your tiled floors will not only cause damage, but may also be a danger to you and your family. Many people choose oil-based cleaners as they make your floors look sleek and shiny. However, since tiles are already shiny when clean, this really is not necessary.

Instead of cleaning the floors, oil based cleaners may actually soak into the grout between the tiles, attracting dirt and debris. Not only will oil-based cleaners not really help clean tiles at all, it will actually make the floors dirtier and harder to clean than before.

Since tiles can already be very slippery, adding a slippery oil-based cleaner will only create an even more dangerous floor. Tiles are most usually found in showers, kitchens and bathrooms, all places where slipping can lead to pretty bad injuries. If oil seeping into the grout creating a bigger mess isn’t enough to deter you from using these cleaners on your tiles, make your safety a priority instead.

Abrasive Cleaners

Abrasive cleaners tend to get a bad rap, since they can cause damage to many different floor surfaces. That being said, abrasive cleaners have their purpose and if used correctly they can be a great cleaning supply to help remove hard to get rid of dirt and other buildups.

Abrasive cleaners tend to have a gritty texture which will damage the sealant; all tiles have to keep dirt out of the tile pores. These aggressive cleaners will remove layers of the sealant or scratch up the coating. When dirt reaches the tile pores, it becomes virtually impossible to remove, which will mean your tiles will need to be replaced.

Abrasive cleaners are meant for intense dirt buildups, as their gritty texture does wonders removing impossible stains. While abrasive cleaners may be useful on some floors as a regular cleaner, it really only needs to be considered with the most difficult to remove buildups.

To ensure you can keep your tiles for as long as possible, do not use abrasive cleaners as your regular cleaning product.

Ammonia and Bleach-Based Cleaners

Many of the popular floor cleaners available on the market actually seem to be ammonia and bleach-based, which are extremely harmful chemicals for tiled floors. Oftentimes these bleach and ammonia cleaners are advertised to remove impossible stains, which can be true.

Unfortunately, these cleaners may actually create a stain of their own, lightening and discoloring the floor tiles and grout beneath where you were cleaning. They can leave an awkward spot that is far worse than the original stain or dirt buildup. Since bleach and ammonia are also not great to use for your health, or your tiled floors, it is best just to avoid them all together.

Related Content >> Tile Floor Maintenance Tips

In Summary

When it comes to picking out a cleaning product, reading the labels is an important step. Though damage may not be apparent at first, even the supplies you have been using your whole life may have done irreversible damage that may require replacing your tiles altogether.

For safety and prevent serious tile damage, try to avoid using oil-based, abrasive, and ammonia or bleach-based cleaners. If you have been using these harmful cleaners on your tile floors and have caused damage, call a tile cleaning Orlando company like us to see how we can help you.