Stained tiles - possible to rectify?

[MiamiCuse]

A friend of mine had brand new tiles installed in his living room, dinning room and hallways, all 2200 SF of it.

After the installation was done he thought he needed to clean the tiles and someone (a fellow from work) told him he can buy some thinner and slightly dilute it and mop the floor it will give the new floor a nice shine.

He did that.

I don't know what kind of tiles he has. He is not sure either. I suspect it is either ceramic or porcelain tiles, it seems to be glazed. I have a picture of the back of the tiles and it is textured and looking at the edge the entire tile seem to be white all the way through the thickness of it so I bet it is porcelain tiles. The back says "R.A.K." never heard of this brand myself. Here is a pic of the back of the tile:

Now onto the problem, after he mopped the floor with diluted thinner, the tiles started to show some stains that looked like "shadows" under the light. See this image:

see the dark shadow in the middle? That is not a shadow but a stain. I think it looks like the glaze is partially gone? Will that cause the tiles to look this way?

Is there a way to rectify this? They have tried everything to no avail.

Can they wax the entire floor? or can they do something to unglaze the entire floor to give it a uniform look?

Any idea appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

MC

[85 Capri]

Looks like a limestone, Stained forever.

Try a penetrating sealer

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Thinners are used to dilute stuff. What do you thin thinner with? That is odd in itself.

Glazed would just clean up wiht a soap solution. Unglazed will absorb some liquid. It is actuall porous. Many floor tiles are not glazed.

Try some cat litter or "Speedy Dry" type stuff used for oil. It may absorb some or most of the solvents out. It may lighten over time, but it can be a long time.

[Charles Schuler]

Turpentine, alcohol, lacquer thinner, acetone, ...? I had bathroom tiles ruined by fingernail polish remover. Some "thinners" do a job on some tiles.

I am afraid not.

Heck, WD-40 would make it look good for a while, but you would not want to live there or walk on it with wet feet. Maybe the glaze could be removed, but that would be a real bitch. I think they are screwed.

[bennet]

That does not look like glazed tile. You can't really stain glazed tile. That looks like a porous tile. It is stained forever, as someone else said. Porous tiles must be sealed with a penetrating sealer made for the type of tile being sealed. It is then cleaned with a mild cleaning solution (like soapy water). It's no wonder it stained putting something nasty like paint thinner on it. Unfortunately, porous tile must be sealed right away, or it WILL eventually get stained and need to be replaced.

BRW

[dadiOH]

Wait. It looks to me as if the thinner has soaked down through the grout and thence up into the tile via the porous back. If that is the case, the thinner will eventually evaporate and the tile should be good as new.

[Norminn]

Silly question, but are the tiles grouted? Judging from the pattern of the darkened area, it appears the solvent might have soaked into the body of the tile, absorbed until it reaches the "back" of the glaze. Kind of like water getting spilled on a wood table that has a glass top on it. I can't imagine mineral spirits doing permanent damage to a fired tile, but I haven't seen everything. It might dry out with no permanent effect. I'd be very cautious about trying to "fix" it. Went googling and found this:

(Don't use your real name .. uncle is watching :o)

[Norminn]

The link works better in IE; not loading in Netscape.

[Bob S.]

I agree. I think I'd try a hair dryer on med heat on it for an hour or two. But then the thinner may have liquified the tile adhesive and soaked it into the tile. If so, it's shot.

Bob S.

[Norminn]

Wouldn't it set again if the fumes evaporate? If it absorbed into the tile body first, perhaps it didn't get to adhesive very much.

[Bill]

I feel a business idea coming on...

a complete line of Thinner Thinners. "Friends, don't waste your money using full-strength thinner, stretch your dollars by diluting first with Bill's new Thinner Thinner!