QUESTION

Cleaning Grout Off Travertine - I recently layed travertine tile in my bathroom. It was a mix of colors and shapes on a netting. Some tiles had holes as a natural part of the stone formation. The display showed it filled with grout and it looked pretty. I grouted on Monday and did the usual damp sponge wipe off. When I went to wash it down two days later, grout is stuck on alot of the tile in streaks. Is there a product to remove this. I was told to seal over the grout and tile all at once. I won't do this until corrected. Please help...I could cry after all my hard work and expense.

ANSWER

ANSWER - Apparently when you cleaned the travertine stone after grouting you didn't clean it well enough.  You should have changed your water and cleaned it again with a lightly damp sponge, and then within an hour after it developed a dry haze you should have used cheese cloth and buffed the cement haze off.  Then it would have come clean easily.

Since you do have some grout residual on the travertine tile you have to determine if it is only a polymer or latex haze or if it is a cement residue.  If it is cement you might be able to use something acidic to remove it.  If it is a latex haze then you have to buy a latex remover to remove it.  If your stone is polished then you have to be very careful to not use something too acidic or two abrasive or it can damage the surface of the stone.

Based on your description it sounds like you might have a tumbled and slightly honed surface stone mosaics.  In that case you might not need to worry too much about using too strong of acid or too abrasive of a scrubber, although there are limitations.  You need to test it on a trial and error basis.  I would start with dilute vinegar and a scrub brush.  Thoroughly wet the surface of the stone so the acid doesn't readily absorb into it.  If the stone surface can take it, add some clean silica sand to the scrubbing if necessary to further abrade the grout residue off. You can also buy special non-corrosive acids that are very diluted sulphamic or phosphoric acids that are designed for tile and stone use.  Make sure once you are done scrubbing pick it up with a wet/dry vacuum or sponge and then rinse the floor with clean water to make sure no acid residuals remain.

If it is a latex haze then buy the latex remover and follow their instructions.  To find a selection of tile cleaners and where to buy them, go to our website for cleaners and sealers to find a list of manufacturers with links to their websites.  Good luck.