Tile is hard, and the finish on tile is not. Most floors that look permanently dull have been cleaned with something too alkaline or too abrasive, and the shine that disappeared was the glaze or the sealant, not dirt.
Neutral first, abrasive never
Dust-mop or vacuum first, then damp-mop with a pH-neutral cleaner at label dilution. Use an alkaline cleaner for grease, and an acid cleaner only for scale and only on ceramic or porcelain. Keep abrasive pads and powders off the tile face, and rinse so no detergent film is left behind.
Prices are Freshway catalogue prices as at 16 September 2026 and are subject to change. Confirm the current price, and whether GST applies, before quoting.
The routine, in order
- Remove dry soil first. Dust-mop or vacuum. Grit under a mop is what scratches a polished tile over time.
- Damp-mop with a neutral cleaner and a flat microfibre mop, working in sections of a few square metres.
- Rinse the mop often. Dirty water redeposits a film that reads as dullness.
- For grease — kitchens, food areas — use an alkaline degreaser at dilution, then rinse.
- For scale and grout film use an acid cleaner, keep it wet for the dwell time, agitate the joints with a grout brush, and rinse thoroughly.
Why professionals get a shine
Two things separate a domestic mop from a professional result: extraction or rinsing, so no detergent film is left behind, and mechanical agitation on the joints. On large floors, a rotary or cylindrical scrubber with a wet pickup does both in one pass, and that is why a scrubbed-and-rinsed floor looks different from a mopped one.
| Item | Use | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Britex Grout & Tile Cleaner | Acid cleaning for grout film and scale, 1 L | A$20.00 |
| Research Products Punch | Alkaline cleaner for grease and heavy soil | A$68.00 |
| Hydro-Force SX-12 rotary tile tool | Mechanical cleaning of tiles and grout lines | A$2,025.00 |
| Grout brush refill | Hand work on joints | A$10.00 |
What should you not clean tile floors with?
- Acid on marble, travertine or limestone. It etches the stone in seconds, permanently.
- Bleach as a general floor cleaner. It whitens grout for a while and degrades sealant.
- Abrasive pads and scouring powders. On polished porcelain they leave a haze that no product removes.
- Wax or oil-based polishes unless the floor was designed for them. On ceramic they build a film that holds dirt.
Making tiles shine again
Where the floor is sound and simply filmed, a scrub-and-rinse with the right chemistry restores it. Where the tiles are polished porcelain and the haze remains, the surface has been etched or abraded, and only mechanical polishing helps. Where the grout is the problem, our grout cleaning guide covers the alkaline-then-acid method and the brushes that reach the joint.
Grout lines, and the mop you use
The joints decide how a tiled floor reads. A floor with clean tiles and grey joints still looks dirty, which is why a grout brush belongs on the trolley alongside the mop. Work the joints with the alkaline cleaner on the routine pass and reserve the acid for the quarterly one.
The mop matters too. A string mop holds water and releases it unevenly, which leaves streaks on a polished tile and pools in the joints. A flat microfibre mop with a press wringer gives you control over how much water reaches the floor, and that control is what separates a clean finish from a filmed one.
Large areas without streaks
On a floor bigger than a bathroom, streaks come from three things: cleaning in one pass with a dirty mop, letting the solution dry before it is picked up, and mopping into a corner you then have to walk out of. The method that avoids all three is to work in a grid, mopping towards a doorway, rinsing the mop at each section boundary rather than at the end, and finishing each square metre before moving on.
Where the area is large enough to justify it, a scrubber-dryer solves the problem outright: it applies the solution, agitates it and picks it up in one pass, so nothing is left to dry on the tile. Our floor scrubbers collection covers the walk-behind sizes used in retail and hospitality.
Questions we get asked most
- What is the best thing to clean your tile floors with?
- A pH-neutral cleaner for routine mopping, an alkaline product for grease, and an acid product for grout film and scale. The tile type decides which of the three you can use.
- How do professionals clean tile floors?
- They remove dry soil, scrub with the right chemistry, and rinse or extract so no film is left. On large areas that means a scrubber with wet pickup rather than a mop and bucket.
- How do I make my floor tiles shine again?
- Remove the film by cleaning and rinsing properly. If the shine does not return, the glaze has been etched or scratched and the fix is mechanical polishing, not another product.
- What should you not clean tile floors with?
- Acid on calcium-based stone, abrasive pads on polished porcelain, bleach as a routine cleaner, and oil-based polish on ceramic.
- Can I steam mop a tiled floor?
- Yes on sound ceramic and porcelain — our steam cleaner range covers that method. Keep it off stone, and off any grout that is already crumbling.
References
- SafeWork NSW — chemicals and other substances.
- NSW Environment Protection Authority — chemical handling and disposal.
Large tiled area to maintain?
Tell us the tile type and the area, and we will recommend a method that keeps the finish rather than slowly dulling it. Browse cleaning chemicals or ask our team.