FILA Surface Care Solutions, DETERDEK PRO, Cement Remover and Brick Acid Cleaner, Efflorescence Remover, Strong Patio Cleaner, Ideal for Porcelain Tile, 1L

I don’t usually write reviews but was compelled to recommend this product for efflorescence removal from brickwork. For the last 6 years I’ve tried different products that promise to work but don’t deliver. It’s not an easy process as I did have to apply 3-4 times with 50/50 dilution and give it a good scrub with a hard brush but each time it cleared the brickwork a bit more. Still need to go over again to get an even better finish but very impressed as shown in the before and after pic.

I will give this 7/10.. I got this to remove sand/cement sediments from the surface of my garden slabs.. with the use of a steel brush and a lot of hard scrubbing it did remove 85% also bear in mind its not the cheapest of products! I followed instructions to the T I also used tiny amounts neat in the stubborn areas.. see my pics

I bought this to remove the yellow mortar staining left on a porcelain patio after laying it. I have a very powerful pressure washer and it wouldn’t shift the stains. For that, this product works amazingly well. Dilute it 5:1 in a bucket and pour it over a few slabs at a time, spreading it around with a scrubbing brush. Waited 3 minutes then scrubbed thoroughly with a stiff bristle natural scrubbing brush. Then waited another minute and scrubbed again before washing it off with the pressure washer. The slabs came up good as new! What it’s not so good at is removing porcelain slab primer. Lesson learned there - do not let that dry on the top of the slabs! I did manage to get that off with some Sika brick and patio acid used neat, and a lot of scrubbing! I have another patio to lay so I ordered more of this to remove the mortar residue. Photos below of the cleaned and uncleaned slabs.

Did quite a good job on our mahogany patterned composite door, - but then again,- so did WD40. We only used about half and even though I closed the top tightly, when I came to re-use it a couple of months later, there was a thick hard skin on it, and not much left in the can that was usable. ( Don't put too much on as it shows and takes ages to dry). With all this in mind, I feel that it is vastly overpriced.

On rough-face tiles, getting rid of the film left by grout is really difficult. The surface clings on to the residue. To make it worse, the grout I used was pretty much the same colour as the tiles. I couldn't wash down very thoroughly until the grout is fully set because I risked washing out the grout. I had a problem. It looked awful once dry. It looked much worse when wet as the patchy residue darkened. Despair! I tried 2 different 'grout clean-up' products, both well-known brands from DIY supermarkets. They worked slowly and made it very hard work. It took me a day to clean up about 4sq m, using several applications and endless scrubbing. Even using them undiluted didn't help. More despair! With much more to do, I bought this Fila stuff I'd never heard of. It was expensive but I'd used up all the cheap not-very-good products. It couldn't be worse. It's not only a bit better, it's massively better. Used as directed (wet with water, dilute the Fila with warm water, apply, leave 15mins, scrub with a brush - I used Scotchbrite on the toughest bits - then wash off thoroughly), the grout all came off easily in a single pass. It took me an hour to do about 8sq m. It has the same health warnings as the others: wear gloves and eye protection. I suspect they aren't kidding, but I just used rubber gloves and escaped without damage. I'd used 2 x 1L of the 'other products', but have half the bottle of the Fila left over. Which means it wasn't only much better because it worked, but it also worked out much cheaper. Relief!

Does what is says. Cleans and no marks after! Good value. Definitely buying again when needed.

Doesn’t work. Absolute waste of time. the aim of using this product was to get concrete off porcelain outdoor tiles- off to find something that works

Good quality strength for floors, but smaller container then expected. So needs diluting for better coverage cleanup brick effervescence.