Sarah reached out to me a few days ago. Six months ago, she had a new master shower installed with a marble tile floor. The pieces of marble are small 1-inch hexagons. Sarah’s finding impossible to keep the grout clean.
Fortunately, she uploaded a high-resolution photo of the tile floor via my Ask Tim page AsktheBuilder.com. That photo allowed me to zero in on what I believe is the source of the problem.
Sarah’s conundrum reminded me of a contentious email exchange I had with another reader about 10 years ago. That memory caused me to think long and hard about how I’d respond to Sarah. You see, all those years ago the other reader claimed I had ruined her tile floor.
Years ago, this woman had bought oxygen-bleach cleaner on my website. It’s the most powerful oxygen-bleach cleaner you can buy. She was using it to clean her wood deck. For whatever reason, she took her shoes off while cleaning the deck and got her socks saturated with the cleaning solution. She then walked back in her home with her wet feet across her tile floor.
This cleaning solution was so powerful that it could clean without scrubbing. That’s what happened when the woman tracked the solution across her kitchen floor. When the solution dried, her footprints were clearly visible. She insisted my solution had etched and ruined her tiles. She didn’t take it too kindly when I suggested that perhaps her kitchen floor needed a thorough cleaning.
Fortunately, she had a pantry closet with the same tile floor. I suggested that if she went into the corners of the pantry where no one ever walked, she’d see the original color of the tile. I never heard back from her.
Based on the photo that Sarah sent, it appears she, or the person responsible for cleaning the shower, isn’t doing it right. You tell me how I’m supposed to communicate that! Most people I know would react with flared nostrils. But I digress.
