Test your terracotta tiles for porosity by placing water in the middle of a tile.
Terracotta tile cleaning and restoration.
This will darken the tiles a little so to get an idea of the finished colour wet the tiles to assess the effect.
Example of restoring an old terracotta tile floor which had been left untreated for many years and had become badly stained.
These soft clay terracotta tiles such as tecate pavers saltillo tiles slate and many other porous tiles but especially terracotta tiles must be approached more distinctly.
The elemens such as rain and algae pose a luminous.
The most important part is the acid cleaning solution.
This is how the terracotta floor looked after cleaning with just water.
Cleaning outdoor terracotta tiles is a whole other project seperate from cleaning indoor terracotta tiles.
The waxes and polishes originally applied to saltillo mexican tiles terracotta and pavers them easy to clean and maintain but after many years buildup and soiling becomes evident.
The best way to clean terracotta and or saltillo tiles is on your hands and knees using brass tipped bristles and green scrubber steel will scratch and damage.
If after 15 minutes the water has soaked into the floor the tiles will need to be impregnated with boiled linseed oil.