Grout Clean-Up Archives - South Cumbria Tile Doctor

Brazilian Semi Riven Slate Kitchen Floor Kendal Cumbria

This client in Kendal recently had a new kitchen fitted, but the builder/ joiner didn’t put any protection over the Brazilian Black semi riven Slate flooring resulting in quite a mess. As a result, the new Kitchen units looked great but the floor was pulling the look of the whole job down.

Brazilian Black Slate Before Cleaning Kendal

The client called us in to rectify it, we have a lot of experience with stone floors and have the know-how and equipment to achieve a good result. You will see from the photographs we took time to protect the new kitchen units whilst we were cleaning, this is standard practice for a Tile Doctor it is just a shame the kitchen fitters hadn’t done the same to protect the floor.

Cleaning a Brazilian Black Semi Riven Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor

Work started by stripping off the old sealer with a product called Tile Doctor Remove and Go which was diluted and worked in with a 200-grit diamond milling pad. This process leaves the floor free of old sealers and dirt resulting in lots of soiling which was rinsed off with water and extracted with an industrial wet vacuum.

Brazilian Black Slate During Cleaning Kendal

The next step was to treat the floor to an acid wash using Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up, this removes any mineral staining from the tile including grout smears and leaves the tile in a pH neutral state after the use of Remove and Go which is a strong alkaline product. Another advantage of doing this is that it will improve the bond with the new sealer later. Once that was done the floor was given a rinse with water to remove the Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up and then dried with a wet vacuum.

Sealing a Brazilian Black Semi Riven Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor

Once the deep clean had been completed, the protective plastic was then removed from the kitchen units and the sealer was applied; on this occasion the client preferred a nice satin finish rather than a dull matt finish which was on there before we had arrived.

To seal the floor, we used Tile Doctor Seal and Go which produces an appealing satin finish and brings out the best in Slate tiles as you will see on the photos. The new sealer will protect the stone from staining and is very durable so will be ideal in this kitchen situation.

Brazilian Black Slate After Cleaning Sealing Kendal

For aftercare cleaning we recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. This is pH neutral product that is effective yet won’t impact the newly applied sealer which can be a problem with stronger floor cleaning products.

Professional Restoration of a Brazilian Black Slate Tiled Kitchen in South Cumbria

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Victorian Tiled Floor Renovation Cartmel

Late Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Impacted by Subsidence Renovated in Cartmel

Pictures below are from a Victorian tiled floor we recently renovated in the South Cumbrian village of Cartmel. The house had experienced a bit of subsidence in the past, which had settled long ago, but left a series of cracks running through from the front door to the staircase.

Victorian Floor Before Renovation Cartmel Cumbria

The owner of the property had decided to get the floor renovated and wondered if anything could be done to improve the cracks and reset several tiles which had become loose. Having restored numerous period floors previously I was confident all these problems could be resolved and the floor renovated to a high standard.

Repairing and Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Floor

Before cleaning the floor needed to be secure so the subsidence issues had to be resolved first. I had to take out several loose tiles, rake out the old adhesive and grout and then reset them with fresh rapid setting adhesive and grout. Then to resolve the cracking a colour matching grout filler was pushed into the gaps and this disguised the cracks quite well.

Victorian Floor During Renovation Cartmel Cumbria

Once the repairs had set the cleaning process could begin starting with the application Tile Doctor Remove and Go worked in with a coarse 200-grit milling pad. Remove and Go is a powerful tile cleaning product that as the name suggests will remove all sorts of coatings such as sealers.

Small hand-held Diamond blocks were used for cleaning up the Yellow tiles, these tiles contain sand in the clay to give it the colour as such they are always the most porous and most difficult to get clean. However we have found using a set of handheld Diamond blocks of different grits we can open up the pores of the clay, release the ingrained dirt and then close the pores ready for the final clean and seal.

The final clean involves giving the floor an acid rinse for which I use Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up. This final step removes old grout smears, clay resin and also counters the use of alkaline cleaning products such as Remove and Go leaving the floor with a neutral ph. Lastly it etches the clay slightly resulting in a stronger bond with the sealer, improved finish, and better performance.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor

To seal the floor a thin coat of X-Tra Seal was applied, this is an Oil based Impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores of the clay tile protecting it from within and helping the colours to pop out. Additional this sealer is fully breathable which is an important consideration when dealing with a floor laid in the Victorian era without the benefit of a damp proof membrane.

Victorian Floor After Renovation Cartmel Cumbria

As usual before leaving we like to advise the customer on how to maintain the tiles using a compatible cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner. This aftercare product has a neutral ph. which won’t impact the sealer like many of the standard bleach based products you find in supermarkets.

Professional Tile Repairing, Cleaning and Sealing for a Victorian Tiled Floor in Cartmel

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Victorian Tiled Floor Renovation Ulverston

1860s Victorian Mansion Flooring Restored in Ulverston

1 Comment / Ulverston Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / Heidi Taylor

Detailed below is the restoration of several original Victorian tiled floors at an older building in Ulverston. The large property was being fully redeveloped after being vacant and unoccupied for the last fourteen years which left it in a bad state of repair.

Damaged Victorian Floor Before Restoration Ulverston

The development company had already spent a significant amount of time and money turning this 1860s Victorian Mansion into 7 modern apartments. Fortunately, they had decided to keep as much of the original features as possible which included the amazing Victorian Floor tiling in the main hallway.

Physically the Victorian tiles were in good condition apart from two areas near the doors where some damage had been done to them in the past. The area measured 50m2 approximately so I could see it would need two Tile Doctors over four days to repair the damage and fully restore the tiles.

Deep Cleaning a 50m2 Victorian Tiled Hallway

The first day was mainly about deep cleaning the whole area using Tile Doctor Remove and Go worked into the floor using a 200-Grit Diamond pad fitted to a buffing machine. This process releases sediment, dirt and old coatings from the tile which is then extracted using a wet vacuum. It’s worth considering that you can’t really clean these types of tiles properly without a wet vacuum, a mop and bucket simply doesn’t cut it also mopping an area this size simply takes too long.

The next stage of the cleaning process was to give the floor an acid wash using another Tile Doctor product called Grout Clean-up which has an acidic base. This process neutralises the alkaline cleaning product used earlier and microscopically etches the clay tile to achieve a better boned with the sealer which will be applied later. This acid also helps in the cleaning process and will counter any efflorescent salt issues that are common problem with floors of this age. Once removed with the wet vacuum the floor is rinsed and extracted again to ensure any residue is removed and the floor is as dry as possible.

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway

Whilst the main floor was left to dry, we proceeded to work on the damaged and missing tiles. This is one of the advantages of using a Tile Doctor for work like this as you will find other tile cleaning companies won’t offer a Tiling service. I must say thought we only offer tiling as part of a larger “Restorative Cleaning” project which is something we specialise in.

Damaged Victorian Floor During Restoration Ulverston

Damaged Victorian Floor After Restoration Ulverston

Sealing a 50m2 Victorian Tiled Hallway

Once the Tiling was completed and the Tiles had dried out (24 hours later) we returned to seal the floor. For this a single coat of Tile Doctor X-Tra seal was applied, this was chosen for its durability and the fact that its fully breathable which is important feature for floors of this age without a damp proof membrane. It’s an oil resin formula which makes it thicker than a solvent-based sealer so in most cases only one coat is required, it can also be used externally.

It takes several hours for the sealer to fully dry and around 24 hours to fully cure so the photographs I took don’t really do the sealer justice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t wait around that long.

Professional Restoration of Victorian Mansion Flooring in South Cumbria

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