Best way to clean natural limestone floors?
Throughout my home, I have (had) beautiful white limestone floors. I had them sealed (although the guy that sealed them said they would be much easier to clean but I have seen absolutely no difference). Despite that, the floors have gotten so filthy from people, dogs, dirt, etc. I seem to have tried everything available and I just can’t afford to have them professionally done. Tried stone cleaner, bleach, warm water, the Hoover Floor Mate, soft bristle brushes. The one thing I did try that worked was CLR (on a small spot), but read that I shouldn’t use it on natural stone. The stone is naturally dull, there’s no gloss or shine to it, and it soaks up everything! Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you so much! I appreciate the help… i’ll give it a go 
Tagged with: bleach • bristle brushes • dirt • dogs • gloss • hoover floor mate • warm water
Filed under: Natural Bristle Brush
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Firstly, just because a sales rep tells you something is going to be better than what you had before, aint necessarily so. They are sales people and most are born to lie. Besides, like with any sealant, it needs to be reapplied with a soft cloth in a circular motion then left to dry and then polished with a clean soft cloth in the same fashion. You can buy this from places that sell marble.
You can try lustro italiano stone cleaner which is suitable for marble, granite and dimensional stone surfaces. Another reader suggested this to me for white marks I had on my ceramic tiles which turned out to be lime marks which were successfully treated with CLR.
After his suggestion of lustro I contacted the supplier, Cicilot & Son on the internet who can answer any queries you have in relation to maintaining your natural stone floors. Henry Ciciliot was honest to deal with and said his product would not help with the ceramic tiles but suggested it could be lime marks and try a cleaner that could remove limescale etc. which I did and it worked.
Go to his website and contact him – he will reply back very quickly and hopefully his product will help you. He is in USA but like anything on the internet, international postage works fine. I used to work at a Church and I know they use to get the marble cleaner sent over from Cyprus because they have a lot of marble over there in houses etc. and it did work.
Good luck and always test in an inconspicous spot in the corner first before applying any cleaner to a natural stone floor, sealed or not.
You might be pooched on this one.
Considering the pourous nature of natural stone, maintenance is the key. For maximum cleanability and to retain the pristine look of unmarked stone you need to reseal it every six months. I’m not kidding.
No need to tell you that there are better choices for floors and countertops.
At this point, you may have to sandblast the floors to get all the stains out and reseal them. There is no quick fix for this.
I would suggest some sort of floor covers like rugs, where it’s appropriate and a strict shoes off policy for areas that aren’t appropriate.
I was a proffessional housecleaner for 3 years and I would cringe everytime I saw a homeowner installing sandstone or limestone! One gal had tottlers!! And sandstone in the kitchen!! The first grape juice spill must have broke her heart.
My only other suggestion that might possibly work is if you can expose the floors to large amounts of sunlight. Ancient ruins made of limestone and sandstone are exposed to the elements and to sunlight and over time got that bleached out look. Mind you, the process did take centuries and you might not be that patient.
Good luck.