GOOD RIDDANZ

Eradicates Moss, Mould & Fungus the EASY way

Just Spray & Leave

more info

TILE CARE, CLEANING & MAINTENANCE

A tiled floor whether it be in an entranceway, office or a domestic environment is quite a cost intensive outlay, so it is of the utmost importance to keep them looking fresh and clean to protect your investment. A clean well maintained tiled floor can and usually does reflect the ambience of these areas as well as the quality look that is wanting to be achieved. Therefore, part of Merlin’s tile treatment range is chemicals that ensure areas where tiles have been laid stay looking their absolute best at all times. 

Natural stone sealing, cleaning, and maintenance.

When choosing natural stone, whether it is for a floor, wall, entrance way or for simply wanting a product of beauty to enhance your lifestyle. Our resident expert Kevin from Merlin should be your first point of contact when it comes to looking after your investment, your stones beauty, and maintaining its ambience.

Kevin has the skills to bring stone surfaces back to life especially when they are looking dull and perhaps are looking a little worse for wear. Kevin has been consulted widely from architects, building owners, government departments, tile companies and many homeowners enquiring and wanting his expertise regarding issues that they have and providing a sound solution to their issues.

He says that stone has a personal appeal, and the selection of the chosen stone reflects the image that the end user wants to convey. Once Kevin is consulted, he likes to spend time with you and discuss all the options available and will maintain a connection with you to ensure that the absolute best outcome is achieved.

Many times, to keep stone looking its absolute best is just a matter of giving the stone a deep clean to remove any soiling that has penetrated its surface and then sealing the stone to prevent any further contamination of it.

Graffiti has become a real problem as once paint has been sprayed onto a stone or tile surface it is incredibly difficult to remove the paint and restore the surface back to its best. A case in point was the Remembrance Wall dedicated to the victims of the Christchurch earthquake. Paint had been sprayed over an area of this wall and had penetrated the stone. Contractors had tried to remove the paint however it was less that successful and the only option was to leave the wall in its compromised state or replace the stained stone. Kevin was consulted over this, he made recommendations to return the wall back to its pristine condition and following his guidance the wall has once again returned to the perfect condition it once was.

Quite often there is no need to replace worn, slightly damaged or badly soiled stone tiles as there are many and varied ways to bring the stone back to its original condition. Stone by its very nature is a long-lasting medium and maintenance is the key to keeping it in top condition and looking as good as the day they were laid.

ANTI-SLIP TILE TREATMENTS

Tiles enhance the beauty of any environment that they have been specified and installed in. Whether they are in the floor areas of homes and offices right through to entrance ways into commercial and public buildings, the visual impact of tiles speaks well of the ambience and quality that they reflect. The issue with tiles is that they can be extremely slippery and once wet, or a liquid has been split on them they can become problematic and develop into a major slipping issue.

Having outlaid considerable expense getting the look that you want should not be compromised by tiles that you are unsure of your footing, or that you feel unsafe walking across them.

Merlin Anti-slip has been involved in making tile areas safe, even when they are wet, and has accumulated vast knowledge when it comes to solving this issue. Merlin’s inhouse tile expert Kevin has been treating tiles for many years, he understands how to add the safety factor into them and is always available to discuss any issue of unsafe tiles with you and offer up a sound solution to correcting any problem surrounding slippery tiles.

Slippery and unsafe tiles can be made safe without compromising the visual good looks of them and without having to place mats or other materials over them to prevent people losing their footing on them.

How is this achieved?

Basically, the surface area of the tile needs to be treated to give the tile a minute texture that enables it to then become less slippery. This is achieved by etching into the glaze of the tile about 5 microns. The normal glaze on a tile is typically 100 microns so you are etching only into 1/20^th of the depth of the glaze and this allows sufficient area for the water or liquid to be displaced down these minute channels.

Your foot is now actually making contact with the surface of the tile and not the liquid that is on the tiles surface. Liquids are now being displaced down these minute channels that have been created into the tile and this creates the non-slip surface.

Due to the etching process, there is now a multitude of microscopic channels in the tiles for water and liquids to escape providing an abundance of contact points for footwear, this is how the non-slip surface is created.

There are also acrylic sealers that also play a part in preventing slip trip and fall accidents on tiled surfaces. These acrylic sealers come with a texture in them. These sealers can be overcoated on top of slippery tiles and there are special applications for this kind of solution.

A typical use for these types of sealers is around swimming pools and hydrotherapy pools where the tiles are very heavily textured. However, these textured tiles do not necessarily provide the non-slip capabilities that is required when walking around in bare feet. Once these types of tiles are overcoated with a textured sealer this will then give the tiles the correct coefficient.

GROUT CLEANING

You can have a cleaning program for tiled areas however if the cleaning solution used does not clean the grout lines this then gives the cleaned tiles a compromised look. Eye focus carries onto the grout lines and should they appear dirty or discoloured this then gives the illusion of not being cleaned thoroughly.

The reason for grout lines appearing discoloured and dirty is usually down to the fact that the grout line is the lowest point in the tiled floor so therefore dirty water through the cleaning process will pool in the line and over a short period of time discolour the line.

Periotic cleaning of the tile and grout lines can keep a tiled surface looking like new. The staff at Merlin understand how important it is to keep tiled surfaces and grout lines spotless and well maintained so therefore a coating is applied to the grout line as part of the cleaning process. This coating then prevents any dirty contaminants from staining the line. Dirty water will simply sit on top of the surface and not penetrate the grout whereby it can be easily removed.