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THE LIFETIME
OF THE TILED SURFACE ALSO DEPENDS ON HOW WELL IT IS CARED FOR.
The user, therefore, must
do his/her part to ensure that the tiled floor or wall keeps its technical
characteristics and continues to look beautiful.
A tiled floor or wall that
has been correctly designed and installed is one of the most hard wearing
surfaces there is, especially compared to surfaces that have been covered
with other materials that are softer, inflammable or stain easily.
Some precautions nevertheless
have to be taken that are dictated by both common sense and knowledge
of the characteristics of the materials.
Some examples:
- Cleaning products
Use appropriate detergents, such
as standard commercial tile care products. In particular, avoid using
acid bases detergents that are very harsh and corrosive, such as
those used for removing scaling from lavatories. Even if they do not
damage the tiles, acids of this type could damage cement based grouting.
Also remember that only grouts made of epoxy materials have good resistance
to chemical corrosion.
- Cleaning methods
When cleaning, try to avoid
using highly abrasive materials such as metal pads. If they must
be used, exercise extreme caution. This applies especially to tiles
with a shiny surface, as these will show up scoring, scratching, and
loss of gloss most clearly.
- Abrasive dirt
Certain types of dirt, (powder,
sand) aggravate the abrasion caused by people’s feet. You should therefore
try to keep the floor as clean as possible in order to prevent
this type of dirt from being brought inside be providing doormats at
entrance.
- Precautions and protection
Tiled floors are not "resilient".
In other words, they are only moderately shock proof. Every effort
should be made to prevent heavy objects from dropping on them. Areas
on which objects are more likely to be dropped or on which they drop
more frequently should be protected with mats. For example, in
the kitchen, the area in front of the oven and sink should be protected.
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