What Happens To Old Tile?

There’s a saying in the tiling industry that goes something like this – “tile isn’t forever.”

Here, professionals are recognizing that maintenance is needed for this kind of flooring. It’s not just something that stays in place year after year and decade after decade without any kind of deterioration. You can see this principle at work in old tile on unrenovated commercial buildings – the kinds of interesting empty spaces that pepper the American landscape – but you can see it in people’s homes, too.

So what happens to the old tile? The deterioration of this flooring often happens with several distinguishable steps. Let’s take a look. 

Discoloration and Debris

First, as the tile gets older, the grout around it may be getting discolored and grimy. Small amounts of debris or contaminants will get ground into the grout. The wider the grout is, the more of a problem this becomes. You can see this happening over time, especially depending on how often the floor is cleaned, and how it is cleaned. 

Regular cleaning can’t always eradicate these types of issues, and over time, you’ll see light-colored grout getting darker and darker. Some darker grout doesn’t show dirt as readily, but may also darken. 

Crumbling

At some particular point, the grout around a certain tile or tile area may start to crumble. You may see top pieces coming off onto the floor, which might get swept up and thrown away. As the integrity of the grout wears down, you have gaps and crevices in the tile, which make it even harder to clean.

Loose Tiles

When grout has been sufficiently deteriorated, you can see tiles coming loose from the floor, or the wall.

Other factors involve humidity and temperature, where pressure can affect tile work over time. Here’s where it’s important to monitor your tile over time, to check and make sure that it is preserving its integrity, and doing cleaning regularly and appropriately. 

Our Tile Cleaning Process

Now let’s talk about how we take a particular high-powered cleaning approach to your tile flooring.

First, we apply a spray layer that starts to work on the surface of the grout and tile.

Then we utilize a bristle brush that applies high-pressure to the grout and tile areas to make sure they are clean.

The third step is drying, and this is an important step. Tile cleaning processes without sufficient drying leave the floor surface moist and potentially unsafe. We don’t wait for the floor to dry – we dry it ourselves.

We also assess tile flooring for some of the advanced problems we talked about above. Get help from a professional firm that values customer service and impeccable results. We are here for you in the Jersey Shore area!