Tag Archives: porcelain tiles

Deep Cleaning Porcelain Floor Tiles at a Hospital

Posted on by

Although we do work on a lot of residential floors we also get commercial work such as the following request to deep clean Porcelain floor tiles in the high-traffic entrance area of the NHS Cancer Ward in Cottingham, near the city of Hull.

Deep Cleaning Porcelain Tiled Floor Cottingham Hospital

The Porcelain floor itself was quite large, measuring 170 square metres, and was in need of a thorough clean. The Porcelain tiles were Italian with a cement grey grout line, in addition, they had been laid in sections using a plastic Schluter Systems expansion joint. As you can imagine, the unit has a lot of patients walking around, along with doctors, nurses and other staff. Consequently, my contact at the NHS requested that we conduct the work at night, as this is the quietest time of day and therefore both risk and disruption are minimised.

Cleaning the Porcelain tiled floor

I started the job off with a deep clean, using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted with water, the dilution was roughly thirty per cent Pro-Clean to seventy per cent water. This strength of solution was sufficient enough to lift the ingrained dirt and stains out of the Porcelain tiles. Pro-Clean is a very versatile alkaline cleaner which can be used on most types of floor including natural stone.

Deep Cleaning Porcelain Tiled Floor Cottingham Hospital Deep Cleaning Porcelain Tiled Floor Cottingham Hospital

Working in small sections, I used a spray gun to coat the floor with this cleaning solution, before leaving this to dwell for roughly 20 to 30 minutes. The solution was then scrubbed in to the tiles using a black buffing pad attached to a 17″ scrubbing machine. The resulting cleaning residue was then promptly removed using a wet-vac machine.

Cleaning the grout

After completing the tile cleaning and inspecting the floor to ensure all dirt and stains had been removed, I paid special attention to the grey grout lines. I opted to use a solution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up diluted with clean water. The ratio in this instance was roughly twenty per cent Grout Clean up to eighty per cent water.

Grout Clean Up is an acid-based product designed to penetrate beneath the surface of the grout to remove grout smears and mineral deposits, including rust. It is recommended for use on masonry surfaces and acid resistant stone such as Porcelain, Ceramic, Sandstone and Slate. Once both the tiles and the grout had been individually cleaned, I gave the floor a thorough rinse with clean water to remove any trace of product. All fluids were extracted using a wet vacuum.

Deep cleaning the entire Porcelain floor took some time but the was certainly worth the effort, the tiles now look so much cleaner and the grout a consistent shade of grey.

Deep Cleaning Porcelain Tiled Floor Cottingham Hospital

 
 
Source: Professional Tile, Stone and Grout cleaning services in East Yorkshire

Removing Limescale from Swimming Pool Tiles

Posted on by

The owner of this swimming pool at a large residence in the suburban village of Oxshott had put the property on the market and naturally wanted the pool area to look its best. The pool was surrounded by Porcelain tiles which are very resilient and generally a good choice for a swimming pool surround, additionally the slate effect tiles in this post had a riven surface which would make them less slippery than the highly polished variety. The chemicals used in swimming pools however are quite strong and I suspect this has contributed to the build-up of Limescale on the surface of the tiles.

Cleaning Porcelain Tiles

The first job was to give the tiles a deep clean and this was done by scrubbing in Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted 1 part cleaner to four parts hot water using a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine. Once scrubbed the soiled cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum and the tiles given a thorough rinse. There were a lot of tiles to clean and naturally care has to be taken to avoid getting any cleaning solution in the pool.

Porcelain Pool Surround Oxshott Before Cleaning Porcelain Pool Surround Oxshott Before Cleaning

After rinsing the tiles were dried with the assistance of an air mover so we could get an idea of what other remedial work would be required and in this case it became clear where the areas with Limescale staining were.

Porcelain Pool Surround Oxshott During Cleaning

Removing Limescale from Porcelain Tiles

To remove the Limescale each stain was spot treated using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which is a strong acid based cleaning product normally used to remove grout smears from tiles but also equally useful at dealing with mineral deposits such as Limescale. You have to be very careful with acids on tiles, especially natural stone so once it had done its job the tiles were thoroughly rinsed and the whole floor rinsed again once we have completed everything.

Porcelain Pool Surround Oxshott After Cleaning Porcelain Pool Surround Oxshott After Cleaning

When we had finished the client couldn’t believe the transformation we have managed to achieve.

Porcelain Pool Surround Oxshott Before And After
Source: Tile, Stone and Grout Problems Resolved in Surrey

Applying Anti-Slip to a Golf Course Changing Rooms

Posted on by

I recently paid a visit to a Golf Club in Derbyshire to assist local Tile Doctor Steve Carpenter with the application of Anti-Slip treatment to the 6inch porcelain tiles in the men’s changing rooms. This is the advantage of being a member of a large network, if a fellow member needs assistance on a time consuming job they can just ask for assistance. In this case the floor was only around 12m2 but the Golf Club were hosting a Tournament later that afternoon and needed the work completing before 1pm.

Anti-Slip Preparation Derbyshire Golf Course

Cleaning Porcelain Tiles ready for Anti-Slip treatment

For best results the Anti-Slip treatment requires a clean surface so the first job was to give the tiles a thorough wash using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked into the floor with a rotary machine fitted with a scrubbing pad. The resultant dirty cleaning solution was then removed using a wet vacuum and the floor rinsed with clean water.

Applying Anti-Slip treatment to Porcelain tiles

The next step was to apply the Priming and Locking solution to the tile surface diluted one part solution to four parts water and this was left to dry. Once dry we applied the Anti-Slip treatment ensuring the tile was kept wet for up to 20 minutes in the process. The last step in the treatment was to re-apply the diluted Priming and Locking solution before the floor fully dried, it’s this last step that activates the treatment and locks it in place. There’s no need to wait for the floor to dry at this point it can be used immediately after the last step has been applied.

Anti-Slip Treatment Derbyshire Golf Course

To test the floor I invited the manager to try the floor dry and wet so he could experience the improvement in surface friction on a wet surface for himself. The treatment worked well and the manager was impressed, not only that we managed to complete the job with 45 minutes to spare.

For after care we recommend the floor should be cleaned daily by damp mopping with our Neutral Tile Cleaner, diluted at 35ml per 5-Litres of water periodically scrubbing the floor with a deck brush.
 
 
Source: Residential and Commercial Tile, Stone and Grout Cleaning in Lancashire

Slippy Porcelain Tile Solutions

Posted on by

We were contacted by a builder who had recently laid Porcelain Tiles in an office reception in Wimbledon. Although he has laid this type of tile in various art galleries around London without problem, in this particular lobby which is situated next to a shopping centre the tiles were extremely slippery and the facilities manager wanted the tiles changed at the expense of the builder.

Antislip Application Porcelain Tile Wimbledon

Obviously this would have been an expensive option and so the builder contacted Tile Doctor for help. Initially he had considered having a member of his team apply the treatment however he realised that as a Tile Doctor applicator we had been trained to apply the treatment properly and this gave the facilities manager confidence it would have been applied to the correct standard so we were awarded the work and asked to carry it out on a Sunday when the building would be empty.

Antislip Application Porcelain Tile Wimbledon

Applying the Anti-Slip Treatment

We arrived at the agreed time and were let in by the shopping centre security team. The area we were treating was around 25m2 so decided to work in 5m2 sections first cleaning the tile using the first stage Ant Slip product worked into the tile with a rotary floor machine fitted with a polypropylene brush head and then removing with a wet vacuum followed by rinsing with clean water.

We carried on with this process until the whole floor was done and let it dry before going onto the next stage to apply the Tile Doctor Anti slip (stage two) and leaving for between 3 to 5 minutes before applying the stage three which locks in the Anti Slip.

Antislip Porcelain Tile Wimbledon

The Anti Slip product is invisible to the eye however it’s very easy to test it’s been applied, all you need to do is wet the tile as the product only activates when it’s wet.

Antislip Porcelain Tile Wimbledon

When we had finished the whole floor we then tested it again just to make sure that everything worked well we cleared away all the tools making sure we left the area tidy and safe and locked the building up.

The Job took us one night and the customer is now recommending us to all other sites that have had these tiles fitted.
 
 
Source: Porcelain Tile Cleaning Questions Answered