Acrylic polymer(WAX) on a travetine floor? How to remove?

[Jay D]

I cleaned the carpet in this customers home. While the wife was gone the husband put a product called Finishing gloss sealer and finish by custom building products. He got it from home depot. Anyway Its a gloss wax on a stone product which I have not had experience removing wax from a stone product. I know it can be a devil removing wax from grout. I am just trying to find out how to remove and seal with the correct product or is it too late. The product on the website says for terra cotta and saltillo type tiles. This is their problem and not mine. WHAT TO DO WITH THIS FLOOR? Walk or run? I was even thinking of a scrub and recoat with this companys Matte finish?........ :roll:

 

[Larry Cobb]

Jay;

If it is a conventional "wax", it will be strippable by a high pH detergent with a solvent. A solvent-based sealer will require a seal remover.

Try a little area for removal before you bid the job.

I would not normally put a "gloss" topical product on that stone material.

The proper technique for establishing a shine on travertine, is with a "powder polish" for stone.

Charge should be $2-3 dollars per foot.

Larry Cobb

 

[RickL]

What Larry Said

Jay I also recommend what larry said test a few strippers on it and I use Barebones but some guys i know rave about Johnson's Fastripbut I don't know if it's okay for stone you want to check first. I would think that this is strippable but might be a son of a gun as in certain states treavertine can be porous so you might end up with mixed results.Also the polishing with diamonds is the correct way to do it.

 

[Jimmy L]

There are some jobs that you must turn away.

 

[Terry]

any fresh ideas on this subject. I used a wax stripper with rotary brush followed by sx 12 and its very slow in releasing. In the middle of the project so any ideas would be welcome.


Terry

 

[Gary T]

My favorite is Johnson's Fastrip. I have used it for situations just like this where some mope put a gloss coating on trav. It is the best stripper I have ever used. It has not harmed any trav I have used it on.

 

[boazcan]

Travertine - is it filled and honed or tumbled?

The smoother the stone the easier this job will be. The rougher the face the more spaces for the "wax" to get into. That is what will cause you the trouble. A smooth honed stone should strip pretty easily.

I use barebones or pioneer on several of these projects with no problems. I try a green pad before going rougher to try and not scratch it.

I would charge 2-3x your normal rate for tile/grout cleaning. Should take you about 50% longer than a normal job. Mop it, dwell, scrub it and suck it.

 

[Terry]

filled and relatively smooth. thanks for the tips.


Terry

 

[juniorc82]

I know marble is ph sensitive towards acid. I would say travertine might also be so you could probly strip with high ph but you would have to use either fresh water or a neutral rinse to clean up.Acidity could damage that type of floor so stay away from acids . I heard a horror story of a maid that mopped marble with vinigar and water it left horrible streaks in the marble.

 

[Gary T]

Travertine IS acid sensitive, so no acid cleaners. Just rinse well with water after stripping.

 

[J Scott W]

I agree that a floor dinish (wax) stripper is likely best. Often, there is a companion product of the same brand that is specifically made to remove a floor finish. Maybe, Home Depot has a stripper made to remove the product he applied.

Whatever stripper you use, it is likely to take more than one pass.

Stonetech has a pretty poerful coating stripper that can take almost anything off a stone floor. However, it has long dwell times (2 hours average), is unpleasant to work with and pricey. I would used the Stonetech Coating Stripper only as a last resort.

My preference for Travertine is a penetrating or impregnating sealer rather than something on the surface that can be worn way and leave a blotchy look in a short time. Give Spinergy SolidRock a try when you get that other stuff off.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

A good sponge squeegee is essential and minimizes rinsing problems.

 

[Ron Lippold]

just get after it hp ph some heat and it will come off.. might even get out the heavy duty brush. then pull out the monkey pads.

 

[Jay D]

Old post but pertinent information. I have stripped thousands of sq. ft. of VCT but I was not comfortable in ruining her tile further than it already was, I did not do the job. :|

 

[BUSY BEE]

Try Fastrip at first, if that doesn't work try fastrip mixed with honing powder, extra weight w/pad on a 175. If that doesn't work then try sol gel/rinse which works good. Then hone/polish with resin diamonds unless it's tumbled travertine.

 

[Terry]

thanks for the input.

There was sealer and wax multiple tiers, what a pain especially in the less travelled areas.in paint stripper with Methyl chloride in it was the most successful.



What a pain!!!!!!!!


Terry

 

[Gary T]

Do be careful with the meth chloride, that sh*t is nasty, works great, but very, very bad for you. Really, try the Fastrip next time. It is expensive, but works awesome. I have only had one occasion where it did not work.

 

[Terry]

Gary, you're right. It has the potential to do a lot of damage to both me and the home. Logistics and timing didn't allow me to get some of the preferred product in time. I got new cartridges for mask and had open doors and windows for airflow.

I hate using solvents and try to use the safest products available to get the job done.

I won't be in a hurry to take job like that again.


Terry

 

[Mikey P]

Time for a Malgrit brush in your arsenal.