Glazed porcelain is very resistant to all types of dirt and wear. Unglazed porcelain requires sealing and a regular professional regimen of care from a flooring maintenance pro. Hire the flooring maintenance company to clean and seal. And establish a regular maintenance and visit from them.

Thank you. That would have been useful for the flooring company to tell us! In fact, the manufacturer advertises even the unglazed product as being extremely durable, stain resistant and low maintenance, which is why we bought it.

What would a flooring maintenance company do to wash it? Hot water and vinegar? I have read over and over on Houzz forums and elsewhere that all it takes is some wiping with hot water.

It IS stain resistant. That tile is not stained. The dirt is in the texture of the tile. It isn’t penetrating the tile. It's on the surface. A smoother textured glazed tile would allow you to wipe it right up.

A flooring maintenance pro will have a hot water scrubber extraction system with professional level cleaners. It’s not going to be able to be duplicated unless you buy a used machine. You might go to a janitorial supply house and buy some of the cleaner though. https://catalog.nationalew.com/p/ECO6100036/Ecolab-High-Performance-Neutral-Floor-Cleaner-25-Gal/

I doubt you have enough grunge (yet) to require a professional cleaning, but you may have to use tougher chemicals.

We are a hard surface service company that cleans tile and grout and restores natural stone. In maintaining the life of a floor, there are different levels of commercial and residential cleaning. I will discuss the cleaning life of the floor but please read this care guide we have on our website as it will explain in great detail how to address your situation.

Hard Surface care guide Please note: For those with natural stone such as marble, limestone and travertine flooring, do not use the grout haze removal discussed for porcelain tile.

Cleaning life of a hard surface floor:

1. Post install clean to remove grout haze from the tile surface. It is not uncommon for a slight haze of the grout to remain post install. Once the grout cures it can be extremely difficult to remove. Even more difficult on tiles that are textured. This sounds like this is the problem you are experiencing.

2. Maintaining the flooring is performed by the home owner of commercial staff. Make sure the exterior of the doorway entrance is kept clean. Have adequate walk-off matts at doorways. Sweep and/or vacuum regularly. Use neutral cleaning solutions to clean the flooring. For standard tile flooring the goal is to remove the soil from the tile without pushing into the grout lines. Depending on the floor, determine your best practice. We find most flooring is receptive to misting with a neutral floor cleaner, allow a minute of dwell time, then using a quality microfiber flat mop, dry the floor which will lift the soil from the tile and not push into the grout lines. Have several pads to be able to replace the pad once it becomes soiled or too wet.

3. Regular heavy maintenance is where we use high heat extraction to clean the heavy traffic areas to keep the tile and grout clean. On natural stone we maintain the finish and remove isolated etching.

4. Restoration clean is the level of clean where most people throw up their hands and call a professional service to deep clean the tile and grout or restore the natural stone flooring or countertops.

Understanding the floor and counter material you have and understanding the best practices for care will help you extend the time before you will need to consider the restoration level of service.

Wherever you are, there are service professionals like us that can provide assistance when the project is too large or difficult for you to resolve. Hope this helps!