Epoxy grout has become a lot popular in the recent years. It’s stain resistant, crack resistant and superior leveling property makes epoxy grouts a great choice for commercial use.
It is sometimes that customers complain about tiled floors being too difficult to maintain. It is generally due to a layer of grout haze that is nearly invisible to the eye and sets itself during installation. A fine residue of epoxy resins is left behind due to improper cleaning during installation. Grout haze has become the most common issues with new owners of tiles and stones. After several frustrating attempts and a burning hole in your pocket, it still remains unaffected and dirty. People not being able to detect the problem fail to realize that it’s a haze layer sitting on the surface and not the tile or stone itself. Haze is simply a residue that has been left on the surface to dry.
Grout haze is often left ignored during installation due to the moisture created in the process. This leads to its permanent invisibility from the customer as the customer has never seen the tile/stone without the haze. However, with time the effects of the haze become visible dulling the surfaces completely and causing them to catch dirt quickly. Conventional cleaning methods like washing with soap, detergent and water are harmless against it, and this frustrates the customer even further.
Most of these difficulties can be avoided by following the guidelines developed specially for epoxy grout installation instead of adopting the same techniques used for current cement grout installation techniques.
Initial cleaning methods:
After 30-45 mins of application of the grout, the surface of the tile and joint should be scrubbed with clean water and the scrubber provided with RachTR EG150 cleaning kit to remove any excess grout. Then use a clean thick towel to drag across the tile and remove residue. It is important that once the cleaning process has ended, no traces of RachTR EG150 are left behind visible.
Final cleaning:
The final and complete removal of the haze layer demands specially designed chemicals for the process. This cleaning cycle can be completed using the RachTR XC3, which can remove thin residues of grout several hours after application. RachTR XC3 is a unique product designed for the removal of epoxy grout film from tile, concrete and stone surfaces. It can eliminate the residue left behind after installation of epoxy grout. It is ideal for use with tiles, glass, and mosaics. To remove the haze the product must be left to react for a longer time(15-20 mins).
The efficiency of RachTR XC3 depends on the amount of resin residue left over the surface and the time passed after application. More amount of time lets it react with the surface haze even better. Cleaning must always be carried out while the grout is still fresh.
Generally, the problem is identified long after the grout is installed. RachTR XC3 is ineffective over the surface as hard film of epoxy residue is formed over the surface and that cannot be removed by a water-based remover such as XC3. For such conditions RachTR XC4 is of use. If the grout residue is not cleaned from the tile surface within 24 hours of installation then XC4 is to be used. RachTR XC4 is powerful solvent based cleaner used to remove the epoxy residue and thus haze from the tile. It is specially designed for quick and effective removal of cured epoxy residue such as epoxy grout residues from tiles. It is best suited for glazed floor tile, unglazed floor tile, quarry, marble, stone, slate, terrazzo, terracotta, brick.
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