While rough floor tiles are preferred by most homeowners for their durability, sometimes, cleaning rough floor tiles can be a bit complicated. However, with the right cleaning strategies, cleaning rough floor tiles shouldn’t be so complicated.
Are you confused about how to clean rough floor tiles the right way? Well, with the help of this post, you will have your rough floor tiles shining in no time, provided you follow the procedure outlined in this post. There are various methods to clean rough tiles from using vinegar, dishwasher, and so on.
We will get more in-depth with some of these procedures.
Read: How to clean tile floors naturally
What are Rough Floor Tiles
Table of Contents
Before we get into the cleaning strategies for rough tiles, we need to understand what rough tiles are. Rough tiles are sometimes called textured tiles, and as the name suggests, their tile surface is not smooth or polished.
Rough floor tiles are best suited for areas surface that frequently gets wet, like the kitchen or bathroom. These types of floorings are considered in these areas because they are less slippery than a polished surface.
Rough floor tiles can either be porcelain or ceramic tile. The cool thing about most rough tiles is that they are resistant to water and never need to be refinished. Rough tiles come in various patterns, shapes, and sizes, from large-format tile to tiny mosaics.
Are Rough Tiles Hard to Clean?
There is a consensus that rough tiles a harder to clean. Well. This is partially true. Since rough tiles have a rough or textured surface, dirt and grime can easily hide in between the grout and cervices.
Thus, rough tiles need to clean regularly to prevent the build-up of dirt and grime. Most people hire a professional cleaning service to clean their rough tiles. But that is completely unnecessary and expensive. With few household ingredients, you can restore your rough tiles to their former glory. Let’s show you how:
How to Clean Rough Floor Tiles
Step 1: Vacuum or Sweep the Floor
The first step is to remove loose dirt by sweeping or vacuuming. Vacuuming is recommended because a vacuum cleaner can suck our dirt and dust from the crevices of the tiles. If you don’t have a vacuum cleaner handy, use a soft bristle broom and sweep in two directions.
Read: Top 8 Vacuum Cleaners
Step 2: Make a Baking-Soda Paste
Baking soda is a known household cleaning agent. Mix baking soda with water until it forms a thick baking soda paste that’s not too watery. Spread the mixture over tiles and let it sit for at least ten minutes or so.
Step 3: Use a Soft Bristle Brush to Scrub in the Baking Soda
A fairly soft bristle hand brush will be needed. Use the brush to scrub in the baking soda, focusing especially on any obvious stains and grout.
Step 4: Clean with a Vinegar Solution
Allow the scrubbed baking soda sit for some time on the tiles while you make a vinegar solution. Mix water and vinegar up in equal parts and pour into a spray bottle.
Spray it all over the baking-soda covered tile. The vinegar solution will react to the alkaline baking soda mixture and fizz up (the windows and door should be open for proper ventilation).
Use the soft bristle hand brush to scrub in this mixture, and then let the mixture sit for about five minutes.
Step 5: Rinse with a Damp Mop
Now it’s time to wash off the mixture, fill the bucket with clean water and use a clean mop to clean. Make sure to remove all the baking soda and vinegar from the floor.
Work in small sections, rinsing the mop periodically as you are done with a section. Once the water becomes visibly dirty, dump it out and refill the bucket with fresh water.
How do you Smooth Rough Floor Tiles?
Seeing the rough tiles are a bit harder to clean, you might want tiles with a smoother surface. If that is the case, you can easily add polyurethane to the surface of the tile. Polyurethane finish is also applied to hardwoods to give it a glossy surface.
To get started, sand the tile surface with medium sandpaper. If the tiles have a previous finish, sand carefully so as not to sand the previous finish off. You’re just interested for the polyurethane to adhere to the surface.
Apply polyurethane to the tiles with a paintbrush and not over the grout lines. Give the polyurethane coat at least eight hours to dry, then sand it again with the medium sandpaper.
Apply a second layer of polyurethane. Repeat the process if you feel the need to apply more coats of polyurethane.
Read: How to seal porcelain tile floor
What is the Best Mop for Rough Tile Floors?
Microfiber mops are best suited for rough tiles floors. Most microfiber mops can be gotten in Amazon.
Here you go: Best mops for tile floors
Conclusion
With this post on how to clean rough floor tiles, you will discover that keeping your rough tiles clean is not as difficult as you imagined, right?
Most homeowners find themselves calling in professional cleaners to clean their rough tiles. But really, that is not needed. With some household ingredients, you can have your rough tiles shining in no time!