Very unmaintained marble ?

[AntoAll]

Hello,

First, I'm a carpenter but very unexperienced with tiling!

I recently moved in an appartment as a tenant, and the bathroom is all tiles. I don't know exactly what type of tiles it is but it feels really marble to me. Maybe I'm wrong if someone can correct me ?

The problem is that it is very dirty and I would even say damaged.. The ex tenant told me he tried to clean it before but with acidic solution like CLR, and maybe he let it on there for too long ?

I've tried different products on one tiles and nothing seems to help.. So I was reading about diamond pads with a polisher is what I need but I wanted to get solutions from pros, so here I am !

If anyone with experience could help me, I would be really be grateful.

Thanks guys and happy new year !

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Welcome to the forum, Antoine!

Yeah, the use of CLR was a rather large mistake. It appears to have severely etched the surface. There’s no “cleaning” that will help. You appear to be on right track with wanting to polish the surface to remove the micro-fine rough, etched surface to restore an extremely smooth, polished surface.

Polishing the surface of tile isn’t hard using wet polishing pads and water. But it’s hard to avoid a wavy surface with a small, single pad. Usually, it takes a lot of practice and more advanced equipment. And it’s rather challenging containing all the water.

The floor tile appears cracked. If that’s the case, there’s no halting that damage.

I’m assuming you’re just trying to make it better while you’re there and looking for any helpful info you can get your hands on? And do I dare ask if the owner has given permission to attempt repairs?

[AntoAll]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply !

You are absolutely right, I'm just looking to make it a little bit better, I do not really care about the cracks and big repair, I just want to make it so it looks a little more clean.

I did not ask the owner yet, because I did not know exactly what was going on and what is needed to work on the tiles, once I know a little better on what to do I will definitely discuss it with him.

[Tile & Stone Guild]

Looks like Negro Marquina or similar. This stone needs to be finished with oxalic acid to get the color and shine to pop. There's a fine line between a good job and "orange peel" from too much acid and burnishing.

I don't recommend attempting this stone in a customers home and your first foray into the fold.

[AntoAll]

But do you think that diamond pads and water can make a good job of juste getting the CLR off or would it just make it worst?

[jerrymlr1]

Those dull spots may a or may not be from the CLR Antoine. I've seen water do the same thing to marble from just sitting on it for too long. Depends on the water.
As for polishing to get the CLR off, it's not going to happen. Something has etched the stone and the diamond pads would bring the "rough" surface back to a polished state similar to using fine grit sandpaper to bring rough wood to a smooth surface. It's not an easy task with stone though.

[Tile & Stone Guild]

You will get it to shine but it will look grey without hitting it with oxalic afterwards. You will also have visible swirl marks.