removing grout haze on tumbled traverten

Q.Hi We have had a villa built in the Mugla area of Turkey (an experience I would not reccommend to my worst enemy). Being one of the main areas for traverten production (Denizli less than 30mins away) I assumed that the contractors would know all about traverten installation. Our contractor was supposedly one of the best in the area.We have had polished marble floors to the ground floor and stairs, honed traverten to the bedroom floors and porches and covered terrace, tumbled traverten to the laundry & bathroom walls and floors with polished countertops and sink bowls,tumbled and filled traverten to the pool area. All seems to be installed fairly well with the exception of the laundry which has been left with a grout haze. The tumbled traverten in here is very contoured and therefore not able to be cleaned using sanding. How can I clean this haze off as it really does spoil the look. Also, our water supply is a private well which is very hard water (a water softener is on the shopping list), therefore is cleaning with the new type of steam floor cleaners (Polti make) likely to cause any damage.I know that there are many proprietory chemical cleaners available but I have been unable to locate any in the Mugla region of Turkey. Also transporting them from home is not possible due to restrictions of carrying fluids onboard planes. Can you reccommend what measures I can take to rectify this problem. Many thanks, Kevin Dobson

A.Kevin, sounds like they used sanded grout.A steam cleaner wont damage your floor but it wont help the grout residue either.You will need a floor machine(buffer)that can be fitted with different grit brushes such as 80grit thru 500 grit.They are made by malish corporation.Do not use any acidic grout cleaners on your stone period.Our MB-3

combined with the agitation of the brushes should get rid

of the problem.Before using the more aggressive grit(you need someone with experience to use the grit brushes) brushes malish also makes some less aggressive

brushes that may work as well.In short you will probably be better off finding a stone refinisher to remove the grout residue and match the original factory finish or at least get as close as possible.If you cant find a stone refinisher in Turkey(you should be able to)you can always fly us over to do the job!

Stu Rosen