How do I remove the stains in my Granite Floor Tiles?

QUESTION

Have dark gray granite floors in living room, dining room and kitchen. Started getting darker colored spots on top of granite floor.
Very irregular shapes and locations ... mostly in living room and dining area.

Can I have the granite polished and sealed to get these spots to go away or do I need to have granite tiles replaced? These tiles are 12" by 12"and very heavy. Kitchen cabinets are resting on these tiles and would have to remove cabinets to take up these tiles in kitchen.

ANSWER

ANSWER - The dark color spots could possibly be due to underlying moisture below the granite tiles or they could be stains in the granite tiles.

Granite is suppose to be technically impervious meaning low absorption and stain resistant.  Although some stone tiles are sold as granite, but they actually are technically not a granite and can be porous and can stain.  The dark spots may be oil or food stains from food preparation or from spilling liquids such as wine and etc.  There are poultice stain removers that can be used to clean the spots.  You can hire a professional stone restoration company to clean and re-polish the floor tiles and they should come completely clean in most cases.  You can have them seal the granite tiles afterwards when the floor is dry so that the floor tiles will be more resistant to staining.

If the dark spots are from moisture, then you can confirm this with a moisture meter to see if there is moisture beneath the tiles in those spots.  If there is high moisture then you have to determine where it is coming from in order to determine how to remediate the problem.

2 thoughts on “How do I remove the stains in my Granite Floor Tiles?

  1. Ray Nevarez says:

    I have in my building porcelain tile (American Olean) carbon color in the restrooms and seem to have a dull spotty looking tile in front of the urinals that we can’t get rid of. When mopping is done, it appears to have constant streak throughout as if the mop water is dirty. We had been trying to use vinegar and per your site, vinegar will not help. What kind of porcelain/tile cleaner would you recommend?

    • Donato Pompo says:

      Chances are that the urine which is acidic has caused the glazed surface of the tile to etch. Normally urine won’t cause most glazed floor tiles to etch, but if it isn’t cleaned up timely or not cleaned in a proper way to remove it all it is possible to cause etching. Etching actually changes the molecular structure of the glaze and it isn’t repairable.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *