How to refresh slate tile floors?

[Munchkin]

Our slate tile floors are marked (someone spilt bleach perhaps?) and in fact, it all needs a refresh. I am wondering about hiring a machine to thoroughly wash it all…I understand one shouldn’t sand slat tiles as such. One post in the workshop suggested one can paint over marked tiles…is this so?

[Dave-1]

Good Morning @Munchkin 

Welcome to The Bunnings Community Painting tiles always catches my interest and yes there are certain types of paint that can be used. Any chance of a few photos to see the area and discolouration? Bleach can be a pain 😕 

Dave

[Munchkin]

[Dave-1]

Thankyou @Munchkin for the extra pics.

I am going to suggest to wait until someone with more knowledge comes along. I suppose the question becomes, do you want to paint the whole floor? or just a touch up? And I havnt heard of sanding a tile. I am also interested in hearing a solution. 

Dave

[EricL]

Hello @Munchkin 

Allow me to welcome you as well to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's marvellous to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your slate floor tile.

Those white spots you are seeing on your slate floor tile are weak spots on the surface sealer. Sealers after some time will eventually fade or peel in certain spots. It appears as a form of a blemish on the slate surface, in order to repair it, I suggest engaging the services of a slate restoration specialist. They use a special impregnator dye to correct the fade away.

However, I believe that you need to take into consideration whether you want a full restoration or a repair. Sealing over your existing sealer is not recommended as it is starting to fail. In order to re-seal the tile slate the old sealer must be stripped off. This will require the services of the restoration specialist as they have the necessary equipment and chemicals to strip your old sealer off.

Just in case you are wondering the store does carry slate sealers such as Betta TileCare 1L Slate Sealer, Crommelin 4L Gloss DiamondCoat Slate And Stone Sealer and Feast Watson 1L Gloss Clear Slate And Pebble Sealer. 

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric