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We recommend using any detergent made for regular floors- Mr. Clean, Pinesol, Fabuloso, Etc. We don't recommend using dish soap only because it leaves the saltillo so "squeeky clean" that the rubber soles of your shoes tend to leave a rubber spot every time your shoes squeek on the floor. This is easily cleaned up but can be annoying. Detergents made for floors eliminate this problem by leaving a very fine film on the surface of the tiles that eliminate the squeek.
Do not Use Mop and Glow on your Saltillo floors.
Absolutely not! There are many erroneous "facts" about Saltillo tile on the internet. While vinegar and warm water will not harm your Saltillo tile, it doesn't clean very well and can slowly weaken your grout over time because it is acidic. For hundreds of years Saltillo tile was sealed with beeswax and or turpentine which was very difficult to maintain. With the extremely strong and modern-day safe sealers, there is no reason to baby your floors. Any detergent marketed for floors will work fine. For exterior Saltillo tile we recommend to our customers that they scrub with any liquid car soap made for cleaning cars(sold in Walmart, Target, etc) and simply hose it off with water.
Chemicals that remove paint such as nail-polish-remover, lacquer thinner, 99% alcohol can harm your Saltillo floors by harming the sealer. The damage can be easily fixed but is easier to avoid.
Dragging heavy and hard objects across the floor can scratch your floors also. We recommend to our customers adding felt stickers to the bottom of their furniture to avoid these problems. Saltilo, while significantly more resilient than wood floors, can still be scratched.
Most of our customers average 8 to 12 years before needing to reseal areas of their Saltillo floors- some average much longer. Rarely, if ever, will a full strip and reseal be necessary. Resealing generally involves cleaning the area and applying a new topcoat seal. A 200-square-foot room usually takes about an hour to clean, dry and reseal, and is ready for use an hour later. When it comes time to maintain areas of your floor, you only need to maintain the worn areas- you don't have to do the whole house or even the entire room.
Absolutely! We service and repair Saltillo but most basic maintence is so simple that most of our customers do the maintence themselves. We are here to answer any of your Saltillo questions.