How to clean outdoor tiles?

[Sajjad]

Hi Guys,

I am trying to clean my outdoor tiles which have stubborn marks. I have tried few cleaning products from bunnings, water pressure, and hand scrubbed with brush but cannot get marks out. I was advised it is possibly because of nature of tile as it has rough texture for outdoors. These are only 1 year old tiles. 

Is there any easy solution to clean this? 

The other options I am considering at last moment are either Re tiling or Modular Deck/Tile from Ikea.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Sajjad. It's a pleasure to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about cleaning tiles.

Do you know if these tiles have a sealer on them? Sealers offer a certain amount of protection but can still allow stains to penetrate if they are not regularly cleaned. If that's a rust stain at the top of the image that has penetrated the sealer, it would be tough to remove. If these are un-sealed tiles, you'd need to seal them to prevent staining.

Do you know what the markings are from, or is it just general grime? I suspect that if you tried several methods to remove the staining, then it could have penetrated the tile or sealer and become permanent. If the tiles are only a year old, it might be worth following up with the manufacturer to see if anything can be done. I wouldn't necessarily expect such new tiles to be marked so heavily by foot traffic. If these were our tiles, I'd be happy to check that out for you.

These tiles should have been sealed after installation, and regular maintenance carried out. Either the sealer has worn through, it wasn't cleaned regularly enough, or it might never have been applied. You might like to look at having them professionally cleaned and then re-sealed. With regular cleaning and re-sealing, a tiled area should look fantastic for years to come. If the pavers were not swept weekly and cleaned every few months, then the sealer itself could have become stained. In that case, you could look at having the sealer stripped off and hopefully the tiles underneath are perfectly fine. A new sealer can then be re-applied.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Sajjad]

Hi Mitchell,

Thanks for your message. I am not sure but I think these tiles were not sealed as marks starting appearing from very first use. I did talk to Bunning guys about selaing it but they mentioned it could not be done due to pourous or non pourous type. I am sharing a link to the tile, they were purchased from Beaumont and they are external textured tiles. 

https://www.beaumont-tiles.com.au/1235678-valencia-white-text

These marks are of foot traffice and general grime. My worry is even if I get it professionally cleaned and sealed (if can be done), would it still be hard to clean them on regular basis? These tiles should be easy to clean like my internal home tiles as they both are from same range but internals are Matt finish and these are Textured. 

Can you paint the tile with floor paints or put epoxy on top of it?? I am looking at easy and affordable solution. The nearest I have come to is Modular Porcelain tiling from Ikea that are easy to lay over, are suitable for outdoor and easy to clean like regular porcelain tiles. 

Thank you

[EricL]

Hello @Sajjad

It's great that you've received excellent advice from my colleague @MitchellMc. Due to the surface finish of the tile, I suspect that the dirt is trapped in its pores. I suggest using a steam cleaner to melt any oil or grease that may have mixed in with the dirt. I recommend testing a spot that is not in direct view to see if the steam cleaner works. If successful you can then proceed to clean the entire area.

Please keep us updated with your progress, we look forward to seeing your outdoor tiles clean.

Eric