CLEANING LIMESTONE
ADVICE ON SAFE AND EFFECTIVE LIMESTONE CLEANING

Cleaning limestone and caring for limestone floors does not have to be complicated. However, care should be taken with stones like limestone and also marble. Armed with a little knowledge and the right products for cleaning limestone, caring for your limestone floor should be relatively straightforward.

Limestone is generally speaking as relatively soft stone compared with say granite or even marble. As a result consideration should be given to wear prevention. Perhaps even more important when cleaning limestone is an understanding of the nature of the stone. Limestone is a calcium-based stone and as a result is very sensitive to acids, when choosing the best products for cleaning limestone, on no account use an acid product.

Below is our 6 point guide to limestone care and maintenance:

1. Make sure your limestone is protected with a good quality sealer like Sealer’s Choice 15 Gold

2. Eliminate Grit – Grit is the main cause of wear to limestone floors, especially polished limestone. Ideally, a dust matt placed both inside and outside the room will help remove grit form shoes and thus prevent it from getting onto the floor.

3. Sweep or vacuum regularly – As well as keeping the floor looking clean this also removes grit.

4. Mop up isolated spills as they occur – Don’t leave strong contaminants like wine or coffee to dwell, mop up immediately

5. Wash the limestone at regular intervals using a mild, neutral cleaner - this will clean the limestone without harming the stone, grout or sealer.

6. From time to time perform a periodic deep clean – for this we recommend a high alkaline cleaner

Detailed instructions for cleaning limestone floors:

For routine cleaning use Concentrated Tile Cleaner . Concentrated Tile Cleaner is a mild cleaner that is safe for cleaning limestone floors on a routine or regular basis.

For cleaning limestone more intensively on an infrequent basis we would recommend the use of Heavy Duty Tile & Grout Cleaner is a powerful degreaser and deep cleaning solution. When applied to the floor, leave to dwell for 5 to 15 minutes depending on the severity of the dirt. Then agitate by scrubbing with a nylon or natural bristle scrubbing brush. Mop up or wet vac the dirty solution and rinse well with clean water. The important things here are dwell time and rinsing; Alkaline-cleaning solutions need time to ‘work’. The longer you leave the solution before scrubbing (without allowing it to dry out of course) the more ‘work’ it will do and the deeper the clean you will achieve. Once you have ‘lifted’ the dirt off the floor it will be suspended in the solution, so it is critical that you remove this dirty solution (don’t allow it to dry naturally) otherwise the dissolved dirt will just go straight back onto the limestone along with detergent residue!

Don’t delay; Buy your limestone care products online today in our cleaners department.

Related Articles:

• Glossary of terms
• Stain Removal
• Sealing Limestone

Disclaimer
These recommendations are intended as general guidelines for the product/situation covered.

• ALWAYS READ PRODUCT LABEL ENTIRELY BEFORE USING
• ALWAYS CONDUCT A SMALL TEST TO DETERMINE DESIRED RESULTS
• Any advice or recommendations given on this site are given on the strict understanding that neither Tile and Stone Care or the Taylor Tiles Group can accept any responsibility for damage or loss arising out of the use or misuse of such advice or recommendations