Renovating an Old Edwardian Office Floor in Newark

Posted on October 24, 2017 by AbzDominise

Here we have a small Edwardian Tiled Hallway located in a busy office building in the market town of Newark in Nottinghamshire. We were asked to come over and inspect the floor for renovation. Our subsequent survey highlighted inherent damage, historic wear and staining as well as salt staining from efflorescence. On top of that there were some loose tiles along a door threshold that would need fixing.

Keen to get the floor restored we were given the approval to start the work and agreed on a date to return.

Restoring an Edwardian Tiled Hallway Floor

On our return we started by lifting the loose tiles and cleaning up the recess of debris before re-fixing the tiles using fast setting adhesive & grout. Within half an hour the tiles were set and we were able to start our intensive cleaning process.

Edwardian Geometric Tiled Hallway Floor Newark Before Cleaning

The first part of the cleaning process was to apply a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove & Go coatings remover allowing it to dwell and soak into the tiles for thirty minutes. The solution was then agitated using a black scrubbing pad to help break down the historic-soiling that had been hiding the original colour of the tiles and also remove any old sealers.

There were paint spots and adhesive residues on the surface of the tile which we were now able to scrape off the after being softened by Remove & Go. The resulting slurry was vacuumed away and the floor was cleaned down with water to remove the suspended soils and cleaning product residues.

To deal with the salt staining Tile Doctor Acid Gel was liberally to the tiles and left to dwell for a long time in order to neutralize both the cleaning residues and to dissolve the efflorescence salts. We had warned the customer that because efflorescence salt staining was present it was a likely indication of inherent moisture under some of the tiles and we were able to confirm this with the use of a damp meter.

It worth noting that these old floors did not have damp proof membranes installed and were designed to allow moisture vapour to pass from the sub floor to the surface of the tiles. Under normal use this was manageable by the Victorians & Edwardians. Unfortunately since that date a lot of these floors have at some point been covered by other floor coverings such as modern hard floors or carpet etc. This causes a build up of moisture to develop and efflorescence to form. Over time this causes crystalline salt capillaries to form a foothold in the tile causing damages that can affect the tiles physically as well as a loss of colour.

Once the tiles were cleaned of Acid Gel and rinsed with water again to remove any trace of product the floor was then dried as much as possible with a wet vacuum to remove moisture.

Sealing an Edwardian Tiled Floor

After leaving the floor to dry off overnight I came back the following day to apply a sealer which would protect them from staining, ingrained dirt and make them easier to clean and going forward.

Knowing that efflorescence would be an issue I had already decided to use a fully breathable sealer to aid moisture transmission from the sub floor. In this instance we used our low maintenance Impregnating sealer Tile Doctors Colour Grow applying 3 coats to provide long term protection to the floor.

Edwardian Geometric Tiled Hallway Floor Newark After Cleaning

The work took us two days to complete and before leaving our customer was given instructions on how to clean the floor in future using Tile Doctors pH Neutral Floor Cleaning Solution which is highly effective on soiling but most importantly it’s not acidic and so will not damage the integrity of the sealer. It’s worth pointing out that many household cleaning products, and also high-street branded cleaning products, can quickly damage floor coatings; they can also leave residues on floors that contribute to rapid re-soiling.

Source: Edwardian Tile Cleaning and Renovation Service in Nottinghamshire

Restoring Victorian Floor Tiles in a Surrey Cafe

Posted on March 9, 2017 by terracotta

At Tile Doctor, we don’t just offer our tile cleaning and sealing services to residential properties, such as flats and houses we also cover tile installations in commercial properties, such as hotels and restaurants as well as

In fact, commercial properties tend to experience much higher daily foot traffic than residential floors resulting in much more strain on the sealer. This of course wears down the sealer more quickly and once the sealer had worn away the tiles are vulnerable to dirt becoming ingrained which makes the floor difficult to clean.

This Cafe in Chertsey is very popular with staff from the nearby hospital, as well as residents in the local area. Naturally, the cafe gets very busy and the Victorian tiled floor had experienced heavy traffic and was marked by footprints from hundreds of hungry customers.

I was called in to help the cafe owner restore this original feature back to its best possible condition and then seal again to protect it.

Cleaning a Heavily Soiled Victorian Tiled Floor

Once the cafe staff had left for the evening, I moved the tables aside to avoid damaging them and laid down a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean across the floor. This is our reliable alkaline cleaner which is designed to loosen the dirt on tiles and grout.

As the dirt was deeply ingrained in the stone, I scrubbed the floor using an abrasive 200 grit pad fitted to on rotary buffer. Within seconds the pad had worked its magic and I had a trail of filthy water to suck up using a wet vacuum machine.

Once the majority of the floor had been cleaned, I took to my knees to closely inspect the stone for dirt. Any particularly stubborn areas were tackled using a wire brush in combination with Tile Doctor Remove and Go, which is a heavy-duty cleaner/coatings remover which works well on removing any old sealers, paints and adhesives.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor

Once the floor was clean, I washed and neutralised the surface with plain water. While I was packing up for the day I also installed my air-blower to aid the drying process overnight.

Two nights later I returned to the cafe to seal the tiles with Tile Doctor Colour Grow. Colour Grow is a colour enhancing sealer that impregnates into the pores of the tile to bring out the natural colours whilst adding a durable matte finish that acts as a barrier to dirt.

As you can see from the photo above, the result was fantastic. In fact, the customer loved her newly restored floor so much that she even told me to help myself to any cake of choice, I do like a bonus!

Source: Victorian Tile and Grout Cleaning Service in Surrey

Refinishing Polished Limestone at a Bedforshire Office

Posted on January 26, 2017 by terracotta

The following photos show a modern Limestone tiled floor that had been damaged by the office cleaner. Bit of a long story but basically the cleaner had inadvertently placed a bottle of a strong cleaning chemical which was leaking in a bin liner, that then proceeded to leak onto several areas of the floor as he walked around the office. The chemical soaked into the Limestone tiles unnoticed causing damage and acid etching.

Polished Limestone Office Floor Before Refinishing in Maulden

These close-up photos below show the damage, which couldn’t be removed with normal cleaning products and required machine cleaning the floor with the Tile Doctor burnishing pad system as well as hand held Tile Doctor diamond blocks to get into the edges.

Polished Limestone Office Floor Before Refinishing in Maulden Closeup

Due to it being a busy office environment it wasn’t possible to do work during the week so the work was booked in for the weekend.

Burnishing and Polishing Limestone Floor Tiles

The process used for cleaning and restoring these floors was to use hand held diamond blocks starting with 100 grit and polishing out the acid etching lines using small amounts of water, I then repeated this process with a 200 grit block graduating the cleaned area to blend in before switching to the machine to apply the burnishing pads.
The burnishing pads are applied from coarse to fine starting with a coarse 400 grit pad that removes old sealers and dirt. The floor was rinsed and then then the 800 grit pad was applied which is the first step in restoring the polish to the Limestone, this was followed by the finer 1500 grit pad which brings up the polish even further and giving the whole area a consistent appearance. One of the benefits of using this system is as no chemical are required, only a little water to help lubricate so it’s extremely environmentally friendly.
After applying the third pad the floor was given a thorough rinse with water to remove any soil produced by the burnishing process. The water was then extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum and left to dry off overnight.

Sealing Limestone Floor Tiles

I returned on the Sunday to polish the floor to a high shine with the last very fine burnishing pad which is 3000 grit and is applied without any water. Once complete the floor was sealed using Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is a premium hard wearing sealer that provides a natural finish.

Polished Limestone Office Floor After Refinishing in Maulden Closeup

I appreciate it’s tricky to see the difference in these photographs but hopefully it’s comforting to know that if you have a similar problem it can be resolved.

Prevention of course is better than the cure of course so be wary of acidic products especially supermarket cleaning products which tend to have acidic formulas that will reduce the life of your sealer and damage the stone floor over time.

Polished Limestone Office Floor After Refinishing in Maulden

Source: Limestone Tile Cleaning and Restoration Service in Bedfordshire

Old Worcester Kitchen Farmhouse Floor Refurbished

Posted on December 9, 2016 by terracotta

This restoration of two different types of tiled floor took place in the kitchen of a farm property in Worcester which had been in same family for generations. The floor was made up of Quarry tiles, some of which were damaged and Flagstones both of which were in true need of a deep clean and seal.

Cleaning Quarry and Flagstone Tiles

Before I could start cleaning the Quarry floor, we needed to carefully remove and any broken tiles and install suitable replacements including a large damaged flagstone.

Quarry Tiles Refurbishment Worcestershire Farm

Flagstones Replacement Worcestershire Farm

I wanted everything to match as closely as possible so I also opted to grind out the old grout and replace with fresh grout in a light grey.

The whole area was then deep cleaned with a black scrubbing pad and Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to remove ingrained dirt, the soiled cleaning solution removed with a wet vacuum and then the floor was treated to an acid wash with Tile Doctor Acid Gel. Acid Gel is a blend of phosphoric and hydrochloric acids in gel form which can remove grout smears and efflorescence from salts on the tiles.

Sealing Quarry and Flagstone Tiles

After leaving the floor to dry completely overnight, I returned to the property to seal both sets of tiles with three coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra. This sealer is very breathable allowing moisture vapour to rise up through the tile and ideal for situations where no damp proof membrane has been installed which is especially relevant in older properties such as this one.

The customer was very pleased with the results. The positive influence of a deep clean and seal on both the Quarry and Flagstone tiles is very clear in the photos. Another satisfied customer.

Source: Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaning and Restoration Service in Worcestershire

Refinishing Kitchen Floor Tiles at a Yeovil Public House

Posted on July 17, 2016 by terracotta

The proprietor of this pub in the good old English country town of Yeovil, Somerset had plans for a complete refurbishment, including the restoration of the very poorly maintained Quarry tiled floor in the kitchen.

Without professional attention the kitchen floor had suffered under years worth of food and drink stains and grease, and plenty of general dirt, leaving it looking dull and grotty. In a busy kitchen environment this is to be expected, but the pub owner decided it was finally time for a thorough clean and a fresh seal, and recruited me to get the job done.

Quarry Tiles Before Cleaning Yeovil in Somerset

Cleaning a Dirty Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

To begin the restoration I covered the entire floor with Tile Doctor Remove and Go, our heavy duty remover designed to break down soil and grease buildup, and to strip away any old sealer on the tiles. I then proceeded to scrub the floor with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad to remove the many layers of muck. Special attention was paid to cleaning the grout lines by hand using a special grout brush.

The difference made by the cleaning was immediate once I had throughly rinsed the floor to remove any excess cleaning residue. As per usual, I then left the floor to dry completely. Having the floor completely dry before sealing it is essential as even the smallest amount of moisture can cloud the sealer and damage its ability to protect the tiles.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

The floor was left for two full days, leaving it plenty of time to dry. Upon my return to the pub, the owner requested a sealer that would provide a natural matte finish since this is a high traffic commercial kitchen used for a lot of cooking, and therefore would not suit a sheen finish in the same way that a residential kitchen would.

I sealed the floor with multiple coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow, an impregnating sealer that fills the pores of the Quarry to prevent muck from becoming ingrained, which will prove important in this area that is prone to spillages. Colour Grow also accentuated the reddish shades in the stone, while providing the natural no-sheen finish requested by the customer.

Quarry Tiles After Cleaning Yeovil in Somerset

To say that the condition of this Quarry tiled kitchen floor has been transformed would be quite an understatement. A deep clean has taken it from looking excessively grotty and greasy to fresh and clean, while the addition of a new, robust seal will prevent it from falling back into such a bad state. The customer was very pleased indeed!

Source: Commercial Tile Cleaning and Maintenance Service in Somerset

Edwardian Hotel Marble Floor Restoration

Posted on March 9, 2016 by terracotta

Windlestraw is a picturesque Edwardian manor hotel overlooking the Tweed Valley, near Walkerburn in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. One of the bathrooms in the manor was in the process of being refurbished when two layers of floor tiles were removed, unveiling an original Marble tiled floor dating back to the 1920s.

Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor Before Restoration Walkerburn

After the top layers of tile had been removed the Marble was still covered in old adhesive and cement and although Marble is known for its quality and durability the hotel owner didn’t want the building contractor to proceed any further in case they damaged it. The owner was keen to restore the Marble floor as an original feature so we were called in to set the situation right.

Refurbishing a Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor

To restore the floor I used two processes known as milling and burnishing. Milling literally involves grinding down uneven or rough surfaces using very coarse, diamond encrusted pads. The pads are usually used to resolve lippage issues on natural stone but in this case we needed to use the very coarse abrasive pads to grind off the adhesive and cement. I used a set of three coarse milling pads rinsing with water between each pad and starting with a 50 grit pad, before moving on to 100 and 200 grit pads. This process was very effective and ground off the cement and adhesive, while also removing any lippage in the tiles to leave a completely flat surface.

Milling leaves the surface of the Marble tiles clean but in a rough condition and this is where the second process Burnishing comes in. Similar to milling, burnishing focuses on achieving a polished finish with the application of ever finer grades of polishing pads and is often used to bring back the polish on Limestone and Travertine as well as Marble. Moving on to the burnishing, I worked my way through the four diamond encrusted pad system lubricating with a little water and again rinsing between each pad to remove the slurry. The grits go from Coarse (400 grit), Medium (800 grit), Fine (1500 grit) and then eventually Very Fine (3000 grit) and come in a 17” pad for use on a rotary floor machine and were applied twice in sequence to achieve a fantastic polished shine.

Sealing a Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor

The floor was given a final rinse and then dried with a wet-vacuum before we proceeded to seal the floor using Tile Doctor Shine Powder which is a crystallizing powder that is applied directly to the floor and worked in using a buffing pad fitted to a rotary machine.

Shine Powder provides a very high shine (as you can see from the photos), along with a tough durable finish. On top of this, it is suitable for sealing all natural stone, including, of course, Marble, along with Limestone, Granite, Slate and Travertine.

Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor After Restoration Walkerburn

The customer was absolutely delighted with the results as were we although it’s now up to them to ensure the bathroom fitters take appropriate care when completing the room which I’m sure will look absolutely fantastic when complete and no doubt add to the allure of this magnificent hotel in the Scottish Borders.

Source: Marble Floor Restoration Service in the Scottish Borders

Restoring Terrazzo Floor in a Surrey Church

Posted on February 18, 2016 by terracotta

Every so often I will get the chance to undertake tiled flooring restoration work in public buildings, and late last year I was asked to clean and seal a Terrazzo floor at a church in Redhill. The floor wasn’t in great condition; not only was it suffering from a significant amount of dirt due to a lack of proper maintenance, but it was also marked by several cracks. Overall, the appearance of the floor was very displeasing and the church was keen to have me in to complete some repairs, along with a deep clean and seal.

Terrazzo Flooring Redhill Church Before Restoration

Terrazzo Flooring Redhill Church During Crack Repair

Cleaning and Burnishing a Terrazzo tiled floor

Upon initial inspection of the floor, I was unable to say for certain whether there was any old sealer remaining on the tiles so to ensure it was removed I began the cleaning process by applying a layer of Tile Doctor Remove & Go, which is a powerful cleaner/stripper designed to both break down old layers of sealant and lift out any ingrained dirt.

I then gave the floor a rinse with water to remove any excess cleaning product, before moving onto a different cleaning process, known as burnishing. Burnishing involves polishing the surface with to achieve an aesthetically pleasing sheen finish. The Tile Doctor burnishing system consists of four diamond encrusted burnishing pads with different levels of grit.

Terrazzo Flooring Redhill Church Part Cleaned

I began by applying a Coarse burnishing pad, before working my way through the system with Medium, Fine and finally Very Fine pads to achieve a very refined, high quality polished finish, you need to use a little water to help lubricate the burnishing and you need to rinse the floor after each pad to remove the slurry.

Terrazzo Flooring Redhill Church Cleaning in Progress

Terrazzo Flooring Redhill Church During Burnishing

Once the floor had been allowed to dry completely following both cleaning processes, I set about filling the cracks in the tiles with two part resin stone filler.

Terrazzo Flooring Redhill Church Crack Filled

Then, once the filler had dried, I re-polished the floor using only the extra fine burnishing pad, focusing my attention along the crack lines. This really helped to reduce the evidence of cracks and left instead a smoothed surface.

Sealing a Terrazzo tiled floor

The final stage of the restoration involved sealing the Terrazzo tiles with Colour Grow, which is Tile Doctor’s colour intensifying sealer that impregnates the stone seeping into its pores to provide protecting the floor from within with a robust seal capable of withstanding the high amount of traffic experienced by church floors. The last step was to buff the entire area with a soft white buffing pad.

The church was very pleased with the results, especially that they were able to show it off for last year’s Remembrance Sunday and left the following comment on the Tile Doctor feedback system:

“Many thanks for the work on our Terrazzo floors. It’s only when you see the before and after that you realise how grubby they had become. We have had loads of complimentary comments as to how good they look. Bill Bailey was a very personable and professional contractor who put himself out to work around our requirements and others working in the buildings at the same time. More than happy to recommend the company and Bill personally. Many thanks for a job well done.”

Terrazzo Flooring Redhill Church Before and After Restoration

Source: Cleaning and Maintaining Terrazzo Flooring in Surrey

Tiled Floor Restoration at 13th Century Church

Posted on January 31, 2016 by terracotta

These beautiful Quarry tiled floors belong to a 13th century church in the heart of the old village of Frankton. I did some research on the internet and discovered that the church had gone through a major restoration in 1872 so it’s most probable the tiles date back to that time.

Victorian Floor Tile Cleaning Frankton Church

Cleaning Victorian Tiles

There were multiple quarry tiled floors that were all in need of a deep clean and seal; however there was concern that cleaning the tiles using conventional cleaning methods requiring a lot of water could result in damp permeating into the structure of the building and considering the age of the building may this could cause damage. With this in mind I ran some tests to work out an alternative and I worked out that the best alternative would be to use Acid Gel which would stay in place followed by a steam clean.

Victorian Floor Tiles Frankton Church Before Cleaning

There was quite a lot of floor to cover and I need to work in relatively small sections so it took two days to complete the cleaning. I used the method I worked out earlier applying Acid Gel, and then leaving it to dwell for ten minutes before working it in with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a buffing machine. The gel and resultant soil was then removed with a wet vacuum and then the section was steam cleaned to lift out any further dirt and neutralise the acid.

Victorian Floor Tiles Frankton Church During Cleaning

Sealing Victorian floor tiles

On the third day I returned to seal the floors; there are a number of sealers I could have used for this type of floor however with the building being as old as it was I wanted to ensure the tiles could breathe and any damp could rise up through the tiles. Additionally I wanted the sealer to bring out the best in the tiles so with these points in mind I sealed the floor using four coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go extra which covers all these points and is the recommended sealer for Victorian and Quarry tiles.

Victorian Floor Tiles Frankton Church After Sealing

I think you will agree the floors now look fantastic and with the sealer to protect them they should stay this way for some time to come, although give the amount of traffic these floors receive I will be working out a maintenance plan for them.

Source: Church Floor Restoration Service in Warwickshire

Restoring Old Victorian Tiles at a Public House

Posted on November 27, 2015 by terracotta

Here’s a really interesting commercial job for you, which I recently completed in the town of Hinckley, Leicestershire. I was asked to take a look at a Victorian Geometric and Encaustic tiled floor in the historic Queen’s Head pub.

This floor is over a century old and although in good condition for its age had suffered significant wear over the years, along with some cracked tiles and slight inherent moisture issues. What the pub landlord requested was a restorative clean to alleviate the aesthetically damaging effect of the wear, and to enhance the natural colours of the stone. I was also asked to seal the floor following the clean to achieve a semi-gloss finish.

Victorian Tiled Public House Floor Before Cleaning in Hinckley

Cleaning an old Victorian tiled floor

The first step in the cleaning process was to mix a strong solution of one part Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to four parts clean water. Pro-Clean is a high alkaline cleaner which also contains stripping properties, allowing it to break down old sealer and tackle heavy soil build-up. The solution was applied to the floor and left to dwell for 15 minutes, giving it times to seep into the stone, get underneath the dirt and lift it to the surface.

I addressed several paint spots and areas suffering from glue contamination by using Tile Doctor Remove & Go, which is specially formulated to break down paint and adhesives on unpolished natural stone floors, amongst others. The entire floor was then scrubbed using a special floor cleaning pad, and the resulting slurry was vacuumed away using a wet-vac machine.

The final issue to deal with was the inherent efflorescence staining. This was treated using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up, an acid-based product which removes not just efflorescence but also grout haze, mineral deposits, and rust stains. The solution here was one part Grout Clean-Up diluted with four parts water.

After completing the clean, I thoroughly rinsed the floor with clean water to remove any trace of cleaning product and dried the floor as much as possible with a wet vacuum, then before leaving for the day i installed a couple of air movers to assist with drying overnight.

Sealing an old Victorian tiled floor

Upon my return the following day, I checked the floor for any excess moisture before sealing it with our topical, semi-gloss finish sealer, known as Seal & Go Extra which due to its formula is ideal for external or old internal floors where there is unlikely to be damp from membrane.

This unique product provides excellent protection, and allows the tiles to breath where floors are suffering from inherent moisture issues. It is suitable for both internal and external use, on Victorian floor tiles, Sandstone, Flagstones, Terracotta, and rough Slate.

Victorian Tiled Public House Floor After Cleaning in Hinckley

As you can see from the photo, I was able to fulfil my client’s request to a high standard, bringing the pub’s old yet characterful Victorian tiled floor back to life again.

Source: Victorian Tile, Restoration, cleaning and sealing service in Leicestershire

Deep Cleaning Porcelain Floor Tiles at a Hospital

Posted on October 7, 2015 by terracotta

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.

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.

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

Sealing Flagstone Floor Tiles at a Farm Office

Posted on September 22, 2015 by terracotta

We work on a lot of residential tile installations but also cover commercial properties too, such as this new farm office which was in the process of being built in the market town of Driffield, East Yorkshire where a Flagstone tiled floor had been laid at the entrance. Driffield is known as the ‘Capital of the Yorkshire Wolds’ and lies near the source of the River Hull.

The farm office project was very big and, with the pressure on to complete it in time, the floor had been laid without being sealed first. As a result, the floor was getting dirty very easily, and was proving difficult to keep clean. It was clear that the Flagstone tiles would need to be cleaned and sealed, and I was called upon to get the job done.

Flagstone Floor in Driffield Farm Office Before Sealing

Cleaning dirty Flagstone floor tiles

To clean the floor I first mixed a 50:50 solution of clean water and Tile Doctor Pro Clean. Pro Clean is a high-alkaline cleaner which is safe to use on a wide range of natural stone floors. The cleaning solution was worked in using a rotary machine fitted with a black buffing pad which proved an effective method, lifting off the dust and residue that had been left on the surface of the Flagstone tiles during the course of construction work.

Flagstone Floor in Driffield Farm Office During Cleaning

The excess residue was extracted using a wet-vac machine. I then repeated the whole process over again several times in order to get the floor as clean as possible.

Flagstone Floor in Driffield Farm Office After Cleaning

Sealing the Flagstone tiled floor

To seal the floor I used a combination of two different Tile Doctor sealers. Firstly, I applied a layer of Tile Doctor Colour Grow to the floor. This colour intensifying sealer is specially formulated to enhance the fantastic natural colours in the stone, while at the same time providing durable surface protection.

The floor was then finished off with a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go. This added to the stain resistance of the floor, while also delivering a very nice subtle shine on the surface.

Flagstone Floor in Driffield Farm Office After Sealing

All signs of building work have been removed from the stone floor and it is now looking presentable ready for the opening of the new office, the combination sealer applied to the floor will also make sure it stays that way for some time to come.

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

Tiled Floor Restoration at French Investment Property

Posted on September 10, 2015 by terracotta

It’s not often that we get called abroad for a job, but when we do, it’s always a fantastic experience. We have done a few jobs abroad in the past, including the restoration of Terracotta tiled restaurant floor at a hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This job was closer to home at a chateau in the town of Arcis-le-Ponsart near Reims, located in the Champagne-Ardenne region of North Eastern France. As its name suggests, the Champagne-Ardenne region is famous for its champagne.

The owner of the chateau was, in fact, an English property developer. He asked us to work on two floors: a Terracotta tiled hallway, and a French Victorian tiled floor. The French style of Victorian tiles are actually made of encaustic cement rather than clay, so we were excited to have the chance to work on something a bit out of the ordinary.

It was going to be a long trip, so after packing the van with the necessary equipment and Tile Doctor products Heidi and I set off to France via the Channel Tunnel. Fortunately, we avoided any disruptions both on the way there and the way back!

On arrival at the chateau, we immediately spent two hours running tests on the two floors to determine the most effective processes. We had four days in which to complete the job, so it was essential to make sure our methods were correct before beginning to avoid any unwelcome surprises later on!

Encaustic Cement Tile Before Cleaning at the French Chateaux Reims

Encaustic Cement Tile Before Cleaning at the French Chateaux Reims Zoom

Cleaning and sealing French Victorian tiled floor

After running the tests, we set about cleaning the Victorian tiles using a combination of clean water and diamond burnishing pads. No damage was done to the tiles, and they polished up well. Following the cleaning process, we began sealing the floor using Tile Doctor Colour Grow, a sealer which helps to bring out the colour in the stone while also providing durable surface protection. We were only able to apply one coat of sealer, however, as the second coat kept smearing, preventing the shine from settling in – this was despite testing the process earlier. Nonetheless, we resolved to polish off the one coat we could apply with a fine burnishing pad. Thankfully, the results were still very good.

Encaustic Cement Tile During Cleaning at the French Chateaux Reims

Cleaning and sealing Terracotta hallway tiles

The Terracotta tiled hallway had no sealer, and so it had, over time, become very dirty. We cleaned the tiles using a solution of one part Tile Doctor Pro Clean to five parts clean water, in combination with a couple of black burnishing pads.

Quarry Tiles before cleaning at the French Chateaux Reims

As you can see from the pictures, the combination really helped to lift out the ingrained dirt, leaving the tiles looking at their best again. The floor took three days to dry completely before we could begin the sealing process. Once the floor was dry enough to seal, we applied eight coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go, which is suitable for use on a variety of internal, unsealed porous surfaces.

Quarry Tiles after cleaning at the French Chateaux Reims

It was a long and exhausting week but the client was delighted with the results on both floors and left the following comments, he also mentioned using Tile Doctor in the future to work on the other properties he is developing.

“Thanks for yours and Heidi’s work in renovating our floors. It was also great to meet you guys and I hope you have enjoyed your visit to champagne and will come back some time. “

Heidi and Russell at the French Chateaux Reims

Source: Professional Tile, Stone and Grout restoration services

Dealing with Urine Smelling Slate floor in Bowling Alley Toilets

Posted on August 17, 2015 by terracotta

Although we do get a lot of residential work we also cover commercial properties such as this local bowling complex in Slough where complaints of a bad odour in the male toilets had been received. The owner of the bowling complex realised the problem was coming from the slate tiled floor and decided to call in their local Tile Doctor to identify and eliminate the odour.

Slate Floor Gents Toilets at Bowling Alley Inspection

Upon closer inspection, it was identified that the unsealed slate floor in the toilets had been contaminated by urine ingress. Urine ingress is a common problem for people who have small animals like cats or dogs as household pets, but it also quite often affects public toilets.

Urine ingress occurs because urine, after leaving the body as an acid, becomes a white alkali crystal salt as it dries. Using normal detergents (including bleaches) for cleaning will actually add to both the odour and the problem overall since they are alkaline-based cleaners. At the same time, neglecting to clean can also be damaging, as urine in its initial acidic form will start to eat away at the sealer if not removed quickly.

Cleaning Slate Tiles

Our first action was to use Tile Doctor Remove & Go, a tile and stone friendly stripper, which we applied liberally to the toilet floor. This particular solution is highly effective at removing protective sealers, whilst also drawing out ingrained stains and removing any heavy grease build-up. The solution was allowed to sit for a short period of about ten minutes. It is important not to leave the product to dwell on the surface for too long in case it dries completely. Next, we added a small amount of water to the Remove & Go, before employing a heavy weighted rotary with a nylon brush to carefully scrub the slate and grout lines.

Slate Floor Gents Toilets at Bowling Alley Stripping

After the soils and sealers had been successfully removed, the next task at hand was to neutralise the bad odour caused by urine ingress. This was achieved using a mild mix of the phosphoric acid-based detergent Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up, which was able to neutralise the alkali crystal salts back to a neutral state. The floor was then scrubbed again, before being thoroughly rinsed with plenty of fresh water.

Sealing a Slate Floor

As the bowling complex experiences high volumes of customers on a daily basis, it was essential to use a sealer which would provide the floor with durable protection. We advised our client that an impregnating sealer rather than a topical sealer would be the most suitable for use in this type of environment and recommended a combination of Tile Doctor Stone Oil and Ultra-Seal (suitable for use on all natural stone, including slate) be used instead.

Slate Floor Gents Toilets at Bowling Alley Sealing

We left the floor to dry overnight before applying the Stone Oil. Stone oil reconditions the Slate tile and enhances the colours within the stone. The product then needed a further period of time to dry before we applied two coats of Ultra-Seal impregnating sealer to the stone.

Why did we use an impregnation sealer instead of a topical sealer?
Impregnation sealers, such as Ultra-Seal and Colour Grow, are absorbed by the pores in the stone, offering both stain and soil resistance, and providing protection from within. In addition, they are usually solvent-based, and provide durable protection even in areas which experience high traffic. By comparison, topical sealers will essentially build up layers on top of the stone in order to offer protection. The downside to using this is that, in high traffic areas, the sealer can be effectively ‘kicked’ or walked off the surface of the stone.

You’ll notice in some of the photos that the grout appears to be a different colour after cleaning. That’s because the grout had been repaired by the bowling complex prior to our work on the floor. This mistake has been realised, however, as they have matched the grout in with the dirty discolouration, rather than the clean so addressing this issue will be another job on their list!

In summary I’m happy to report we were able to effectively clean the slate floor and eliminate the bad odour caused by urine ingress in the process; then due to the busy nature of the bowling complex a combination of sealing products were applied to the stone to provide long-lasting protection.

Overall, our client was left with a cleaner and more durable slate floor.

Source: Professional Tile, Stone and Grout Cleaning service in Berkshire

Cleaning A Victorian Floor At Brighton Offices

Posted on August 16, 2015 by terracotta

Recently, I was asked to do some Tile Doctoring at Palmeira Square, in the seaside city of Brighton and Hove, to restore the Victorian tiled floor of one of the downstairs offices. Palmeira Square is a residential area which was first developed in the mid-19th century during the reign of Queen Victoria, so many of the buildings feature some fantastic original Victorian tile floors. Although there are many large terraced houses and even mansions in the area, some of the buildings have been converted into offices for commercial use. My client, who leased the downstairs office, managed to persuade the other tenants to employ professional help to restore the tiles, and so I was asked to come in to clean and seal the floor to get it back to looking its best.

Victorian Tiled Office Floor Brighton Before Cleaning

Cleaning a Victorian tile floor

With Palmeira Square being quite a lively area, I made sure to fence off the front door area from the wandering public. My first job was to apply Tile Doctor Remove & Go to the floor, a heavy duty stripper, multi-purpose stripper that was able to remove the stubborn marks, stains and ingrained dirt on and between the tiles. In particular, Remove & Go helped to remove some rust stains I found near the door hinges.

I left the product to sit and work its magic for twenty minutes, and during this time I began cleaning the floor using a buffing pad, which is suitable for use on all types of floor (except polished stone), and a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted with water. The combination of a buffing pad and Pro-Clean helped to remove the general dirt and grime that had built up over time in this high traffic area of the office. After the cleaning was complete, the black tiles appeared grey because any remaining sealer had been removed. However, the colour would return after resealing the tiles, which was my next job.

Victorian Tiled Office Floor Brighton After Cleaning

Sealing a Victorian tile floor

I returned to the office after two days to seal the Victorian tile floor. To do this, I needed to use Tile Doctor Seal & Go, which meant I had to ask the office workers to keep off the floor for most of the day. This is because I needed to apply six coats of Seal & Go to the floor, and each coat takes roughly fourty minutes to dry. Seal & Go provides a stain-resistant surface seal and a durable low-sheen finish, which will help keep this floor looking great for a long time, even with a high traffic of workers coming in and out of the office.

Luckily, it was a warm day outside, and the floor dried quickly, leaving a shiny, deep black surface. Both my client and I were very happy with the result. The client was also pleasantly surprised to see that I had been able to remove the rust stains near the door.

Source: Professional Tile, Stone and Grout Restoration service in East Sussex

Slate Floor Builders Clean at Scottish Business Park

Posted on July 27, 2015 by terracotta

The photographs on this page are of a natural Rough Slate tiled floor installed in the ground floor and stairs of the Touch Business Centre in Stirling where recent building renovation works had left the floor covered in dirt and plaster dust which they couldn’t remove. The owner of the business centre now needed the floor renovating prior to renting out the units to new tenants.

Dating from around 1750 the business units had been converted within the stable block of a large house; now a listed building they would originally have been used for horses and carriages before becoming a milking parlour, estate workshops and garages. The conversion was supported by Historic Scotland and had to retain the feel and features of an historic building and the slate floor was an important part of this.

Natural Rough Slate Tiled Floor Touch Estate Before Cleaning

Cleaning Slate Floor Tile and Grout

To remove the dirt and plaster we used a dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a strong coatings remover that’s safe to use on natural stone but also very effective. It was mopped onto the tile and left for around twenty minutes to allow it to soak into the pores of the tile and get to work and break down and soften any remaining sealer and plaster etc. This was then scrubbed into the tiles using a black pad fitted to a rotary machine running on a slow speed; the resultant soiled cleaning solution was then extracted using a wet vacuum, the floor rinsed and the process repeated until we were satisfied the floor was completely clean.

Natural Rough Slate Tiled Stairs Touch Estate During Sealing

Sealing Slate Floor Tiles

After allowing the floor sufficient time to dry we returned on-site to seal the slate tile and protect it from stains etc checking first with a damp meter that the tiles were indeed dry. To seal the floor we used five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is a water based sealer (no smell) which adds a nice sheen to the tile and gave the desired finish.

Natural Rough Slate Tiled Floor Touch Estate After Cleaning and Sealing

Source: Professional Tile, Stone and Grout maintenance service in Glasgow

Restoring old Church floor tiles

Posted on July 26, 2015 by terracotta

The photographs below are from the Lyle Kirk Church of Scotland in Greenock where we asked to clean the Quarry tiles in the main entrance of the church. As you can imagine the floor is very busy and is constantly in use from parishioners and had now become very unappealing from ingrained dirt and was proving impossible to clean effectively.

Lyle Kirk Church Quarry Tiles Before Cleaning Greenock

Cleaning Old Quarry Tiles

With such an old floor we had to take a lot of care and so using a buffer machine to speed up the process was out of the question. As a result so we cleaned the whole tiled floor including the grout by hand using various strength dilutions of Tile Doctor Remove and Go and then Pro-Clean to remove the years of wax and coatings from the tiles, both products I should mention are safe to use on tile, stone and grout. It was arduous and slow work taking us four days to complete and the floor was given a thorough wash down once clean to remove any trace of cleaning product before sealing.

Dealing with Efflorescence

Whilst cleaning the floor we noticed some signs of efflorescence which is where salts from the ground below evaporate up through the pores in the tile and leave white deposits on the surface of the tile above. The efflorescence was removed easily using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up but it alerted us to the fact that normally old floors were traditionally laid directly on compacted earth with no damp proof course and that damp could be an issue that could affect the sealer.

Sealing an old Quarry Tiled Floor

We left the floor to dry off and when we returned being cognizant of the damp issue we chose Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra to seal the floor, this a new sealing product which is highly breathable and ideal for sealing external tiles or internal tiles where there is a damp problem. Four coats were sufficient and once done the floor looked completely transformed.

Lyle Kirk Church Quarry Tiles After Cleaning Greenock

Source: Professional Tile, Stone and Grout restoration service in Glasgow

Refinishing 145m2 Polished Limestone Reception Area

Posted on June 18, 2015 by terracotta

We were engaged by a commercial maintenance contractor to clean the large Limestone reception floor area of a very prestigious office building in the centre of Cardiff. The office’s main tenant is a bank and the owners were keen to restore the floor as they were letting out the remaining office space and keen to show off its potential to other businesses. The Limestone floor had been laid in 2009 and naturally being a reception area had seen a lot of foot traffic and the standard cleaning process was struggling to keep pace with the ingrained dirt and would now need to be burnished with diamond encrusted pads to remove the ingrained dirt and bring back the polish.

Polished Limestone Central Cardiff Offices

Restoring Polished Limestone

First went over the area with a very course black burnishing pad fitted to a rotary cleaning machine and a little water to remove the worst dirt and cleaned the grout lines with Tile Doctor Pro Clean in the process with a stiff grout brush. For stubborn areas I mixed in a little Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU which deals with the heavy build-up of dirt, rinsing and extracting the soil with a wet vacuum as I worked.

Once the main ingrained dirt was lifted I moved onto the a medium burnishing pad which is the first step in restoring the surface back to its normal appearance; this was followed with the next pad in the sequence all the time lubricating with water as you go. The floor was then given a thorough rinse to remove any soil created by the processes and left to dry overnight.

The next day the floor was given a final polish with the last burnishing pad which is super fine and then it was sealed including the grout lines with a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which impregnates the stone to prevent contaminates becoming ingrained into the tile, it also enhances the natural colours in the stone. Last step was a final run over with a buffing pad to ensure any blemishes were removed.

Source: Commercial Limestone floor maintenance in Cardiff

Commerical Kitchen Floor Cleaning

Posted on February 19, 2014 by terracotta

The Quarry tiles shown below were installed in the kitchen of a take away restaurant near Hockliffe, as you can see they were quite tarnished and not looking their best due to general wear and tear and the use of strong cleaning products; an inspection was also due and the proprietor was concerned it would be an issue.

Cleaning Quarry Tiles

To clean the floor tile and grout I decided to apply a strong combination of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed 50/50 with NanoTech Ultra Clean and then diluted with water. This combination creates a powerful cleaning product containing nano sized abrasive particles that can penetrate deep into the dirt. The cleaning solution was left to dwell on the surface of the tile for twenty minutes before scrubbing with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and then washed off with a Rotovac machine which applies and removes hot water at high pressure effectively cleaning the tile and grout and rinsing then removing the water at the same time.

Sealing Quarry Tiles

Once we were happy with the Quarry tile and grout was clean we left the floor to dry assisted with air blowers to speed up the process. It wasn’t long before it had dried and we were then able to the Tile and Grout using Tile Doctor High Shine sealer which should protect the floor for at least three years given the high traffic, this is of course as long as they use the correct cleaning products as acidic products will reduce the life of a sealer. The kitchen was now ready for inspection where it should pass with flying colours.

Source: Cleaning Takeaway Kitchen Tiles Prior to Inspection in Bedfordshire

Holiday Home Floor Cleaning

Posted on November 3, 2013 by terracotta

This Limestone tiled floor was installed in a holiday rental cottage in Chipping Norton which had a regular change of occupants and was in need of a deep clean and polish. To deep clean stone floors such as Limestone, Marble and Travertine the floor needs to be burnished with diamond encrusted pads.

Limestone Floor Chipping Norton Before

Cleaning Limestone Floor Tiles

The floor was given a quick wash with Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner in order to remove any surface grit and then cleaned using a set of Burnishing pads fitted to a rotary machine. The burnishing pads come in four different types and you work your way through them starting off with a course stripper pad with a little just water and then carry on with the white pad and then the yellow pad until the floor is thoroughly cleaned and any previous sealer removed. Next step was to use Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines with a stiff brush to get the grout cleaner. To bring up the polish on the Limestone tiles I used a polishing pad which is the last in the set of the four burnishing pads. The floor was still wet at this stage so an air dryer machine was used to speed up the drying process.

Sealing Limestone Floor Tiles

Once the floor was dry we set about sealing it using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing sealer designed to provide maximum stain protection on natural stone floors whilst bringing out the deep colour in the stone. The last step was to buff the floor to a nice shine with a rotary machine fitted with a white pad.

Limestone Floor Chipping Norton After

Source: Limestone holiday cottage floor maintenance in Cambridgeshire