Last year a client was having some tiles installed but they had been sitting in his yard which is basically a forest surrounded by redwood trees. I attempted to completely remove the stains left by the redwood trees so I spent a couple hours trying different methods.
I had a couple sample pieces to work with so I started at 2% and worked all the way up to straight undiluted 12 1/2% SH with pressure washing with 175° water in between treatments. That got it looking better but it was not perfect by any means. Thinking that because it was organic staining that only SH would remove it, I started to think outside the box when it failed even at its strongest. I ultimately tried full strength undiluted F9 Barc, then Efflo, and just to rule out any weird possibilities some undiluted degreaser. Even after throwing all of these products at it, it still held on to the stains. Is there something else I could try that I don’t know about, or is this just going to be impossible to fully remove? Pictures of how it looks again attached (they asked me to come back and do it again this year).
Just advise your customer the tiles are ruined and to replace them. I don’t understand what would go through your thought processes to end up in a situation scrambling around looking for the right solution to this problem when replacement is the obvious solution. Just smile and say “I don’t do that”…
Did you try any acids? Like ox and work up from there. I’d only go that route if the customer signed off on liability from potential damage from the stronger acids.
I think the color is fading. Here’s a zoomed in pic of it (not sure if zooming in on a posted photo has as much clarity)
It’s weird I don’t know how they add color and/or designs to tile like this. It’s not paint but some kind of an integral mix maybe? i’m going to try some TSP this time. They know it will not be perfect,it will definitely look better but at this point if I can make it look 80% better and learn something about tile through this it will be a win.
