Oil drops on terracotta tiles

Is it possible to get oil drops - I think the stains are wood oil - out of a terracotta tile? The tiles have been impregnated with a sealant, but not yet waxed.

Thanks,

Daniele

Reply to
D.M. Procida
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All I can think of is heating the tile and evaporating the oil out. I'm not sure how you would do that with tiles that are laid, though.

Reply to
Gib Bogle

Think I'd start with the same method for removing candle wax, gentle heat from an iron and absorbant something to wick up the wax/oil has it's viscosity changes.

Unless the oil is completely volatile it will leave a residue behind and if it is completely volatile it will disappear on it's own anyway...

If the wax method is not 100% then as we are dealing with an oil I'd try lighter fluid to dissolve the residue and again wicking that up with kitchen roll or similar.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

You could try the old trick of placing a piece of blotting paper over the stain, and using a hot iron

Reply to
Harry Stottle

You could install underfloor heating below them - which is what in fact we have done, so that's very lucky.

I'm encouraged that the consensus so far is that removing the oil is not a lost cause. Otherwise, the builder would have had to remove and replace them, since his workers managed to drip the oil on the brand new floor.

Daniele

Reply to
D.M. Procida

If you have some left-over bits of tile you could experiment. I'd let some liquid hand cleaner soak in and then wash with water.

Reply to
Matty F

Thanks for all the suggestions received. I was able to get some of the stains out with hot water, but some were more stubborn. In the end we referred it back to the builders, since they were the ones who'd made the mess through carelessness.

So the tiler had a go at cleaning them yesterday. I really don't know what he did. There's a partially-used bottle of concentrated acid brick cleaner perched on the stool, which I don't know if he used, since apparently he said he'd used "detergent".

Anyway, the tiles are now a smeary, patchy mess.

I suspect that the only cleaning agent that will work now is a chisel and a few hundred pound's worth of new terracotta tiles.

Daniele

Reply to
D.M. Procida

No.

You might reduce the quantity, and you might spread it to make it less visible - especially if you're then going to seal the things with Lithofin or similar afterwards.

Blotting paper and hot air is a good idea, but don't use blotting paper, use fuller's earth instead (the pale grey cat litter, ground fine in a big pestle and mortar).

Then go for solvents, but _ONLY_ as a way of transporting more of the remaining oil into your absorbing blotter. Also make sure that your solvent will evaporate _COMPLETELY_ itself. So use something guaranteed not to contain further oil, such as aerosol brake cleaner from a car parts place, not white spirit. As always, start at the edges and work inwards - you're trying to lift this stuff off, not spread it around.

Whatever you do, don't use a detergent - that will encourage the oil to migrate further into the terracotta.

I'd then try a sample with the sealant to see how it looks.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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