shower losing shine and grout

Dear Maurizio I have a 9 years old house and the shower (with stone wall tile although i don't know the type of stone, not marble probably). over years I have used some strong cleansers (sometime with bleach - terrible mistake I know now!) to clean it so it's been losing shines in both the wall tile and base. Also due to the scrubbing, the grouts are reducing and it's getting harder to clean them. My questions are: 1. are there any way to restore the shine of the wall tile? are the "shine losing" simply due to deposit of minerals or was it because of scrubing? Is there a way such like "polishing spary after removal of mineral deposit"? If so, how do i do it? 2. regarding the grout: Can I buy, from Homedepot maybe, regular bath tube grout and re-grout them? it will re-fill the gaps and cover some hard-to-remove mildew under it so I don't know if this is an good option. and after re-grout, what kind of cleanser do you suggest I use to prevent same "grout gap" in future? 3. at last, the base: it's losing shine as well. Is there a way to re-shine it? thanks so much! Sincerely, Hendry

 

Dear Hendry:

The short answer is that you will not find anything in a bottle or a tube or a can that will do anything effective to your shower stall.

Stone – whatever it is that you have – is polished mechanically by abrasion and friction, not by slapping some sealer onto it. But the polishing, I'm afraid, is the least of your problems. The lack a grout has usually consequences that go way beyond cosmetic issues. Your report that you have excessive mildew and hard deposit in the grout line is a very bad indicator. It means that you have water under your tiles and, in certain cases, if the situation is too far gone, the ripping out of the whole stall is the only option. I hope that it's not your case, but I can tell you right off the bat that none of the “solutions” that you suggested has a slightest chance to work; you can't seal water under your tiles.

Your best bet is to consult with a reputable stone restoration contractor in your neck of the woods. Only a physical inspection by a professional could determine if there are different options.

 

May I ask you now to please read and e-sign our Statement of Purpose at: http://www.marblecleaning.org/purpose.htm?   :-)

Ciao and good luck,

Mauri z io Bertoli

 

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