Author name: TileProf

Limestone Tile After Strip and Seal

Limestone Tiled Floor Strip and Seal in Wimbledon

Leatherhead Tile Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing /

Details below of a Limestone tiled floor strip and seal job we did recently for a lady in Wimbledon, South West London. It was a fairly common Limestone problem which had lost its polished appearance and was looking dull.

Stripping the Limestone Tiled Floor

To resolve we had to stripped back the Limestone surface using a set of burnishing pads, these diamond encrusted pads come in a number of different colours each one does a different job from scrubbing to polishing. I started with the red pad together with water and then carried on with the white, then yellow pads using water. Finally when I had dried the floor I used a green pad to buff the floor up. This activity took most of the day so left the floor to dry overnight.

Limestone Tiled Floor in Wimbledon Limestone Tiles in Wimbledon

Sealing the Limestone Floor

The next morning I arrived to find the floor had dried out enough for me to seal it which was done using a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a great sealer for lifting the natural colours in the Limestone floor as well as providing stain protection. Once the sealer had dried I then finished it all off with a quick buff using a white buffing pad.

Limestone Tile After Strip and Seal Limestone Tile After Strip and Seal

I’m not sure the photographs really show the difference in the floor however I can tell you that when the lady returned home from work that day she was over the moon with the transformation and wrote the following testimonial:

So pleased with the service and advice received. Prompt and Professional, My floor looks like new again. Would highly recommend and use again. Thank you.

 

Limestone Floor Restoration in Wimbledon

Limestone Tiled Floor Strip and Seal in Wimbledon Read More »

Victorian Floor Cleaned and partly Sealed in Richmond

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration in Richmond

Leatherhead Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning /

Set of photographs here from a Victorian Tiled floor in a block of flats in Richmond Upon Thames. The floor was in the communal hallway and as a result had seen a lot of traffic and was looking very dull and in need of a good clean and re-seal.

Victorian Floor before cleaining in Richmond

Cleaning the Victorian Tiled Floor

The floor was cleaned using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which had been left to dwell for 20 minutes before being agitated using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. We use a wet vacuum to remove the dirty cleaning solution before thoroughly rinsing the floor down with clean water to remove any remaining cleaning product that might have an adverse effect on the sealer. The floor was left to dry assisted by the use of a warm air blower.

Victorian Floor Cleaned and partly Sealed in Richmond

Sealing the Victorian Tiled Floor

Having the right equipment can make light work of cleaning a large area and the blower meant we were soon looking at sealing the floor. The trouble with working in a communal area however is we had residents coming and going so we had to seal the floor in two halves. We used Tile Doctor Pro-Seal to seal the floor; it’s more expensive than some but gives a natural look whilst penetrating deeper into the tile to provide maximum stain protection, something you need in high traffic areas.

When the rest of the floor was completed and left to dry for an hour I used a rotary machine fitted with a white buffing pad to harden the floor up.

The managing agent was really pleased because she received a lot of calls from the residents to thank her as this floor hadn’t been cleaned and sealed for a lot of years.

Victorian Floor Cleaned Sealed in Richmond
 

Victorian Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Richmond Upon Thames

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration in Richmond Read More »

Travertine Wall Tiles After Cleaning

Travertine Wall Tile Shower Refresh in Wandsworth

Leatherhead Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning /

These travertine wall tiles were laid in a brick pattern in a large shower cubicle in a house in Wandsworth, South London. As you can see the tiles hadn’t been cleaned for a couple of years and had become discoloured from the shampoo dyes etc, there was also some mould which is a common problem in wet areas and usually down to insufficient ventilation. The owner wanted to sell her house and was keen to get the shower looking like new again.

Cleaning Travertine Wall Tiles

We cleaned the Travertine wall tiles using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. It’s always best to leave Pro-Clean to dwell for a few minutes before cleaning so it can get to work on the dirt, as you would expect however liquids will simply run down a wall tile so the trick here is to apply the solution using a spray attachment; the idea behind this is to combine the product with air so it becomes lighter and sticks to the tile. Then next step is to get in with a small stiff scrubbing brush and really work the solution into the tile and grout and loosening the dirt along the way and the wash the wall down with water to remove any cleaning products.

Travertine Wall Tiles Before Cleaning Travertine Wall Tiles Before Cleaning

Sealing the Travertine Wall Tiles

The wall was wiped down and allowed to dry for before applying the sealer. There are a number of products you can use for sealing Travertine and in this case I used Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which provides stain protection without changing the appearance of the tile. The last step was to remove and replace the silicone seal between the Travertine tile and the shower tray, there was some mould build up on the original silicone which wants it gets a hold into the silicone it cannot be removed and so it’s always best to replace. At the end I had one happy customer and I think you will agree I achieved the aim of making it look like new again.

Travertine Wall Tiles After Cleaning Travertine Wall Tiles After Cleaning
Travertine Wall Tiles Finished

 

Wandsworth Travertine Shower Refresh

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Line Textured Slate Kensington Partly Sealed

Removing Limescale from a Slate Tiled Floor in Kensington

Leatherhead Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning /

We were asked to look a bathroom at a flat in Kensington by a property management company; the slate tiled floor was textured with lines and the stone was affected by a number of problems including limescale and grout haze which had been partly sealed in. The owner was at the property when I arrived and I was able to demonstrate how it was possible to remove the limescale and grout haze using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which is an acid based product and so was given instructions to complete the job.

Line Textured Slate Kensington Before

Removing Limescale from Textured Slate

Armed with more quantities of Grout Clean-Up we were able to remove the limescale from the surface of the slate tile. The floor was then rinsed and then covered with Tile Doctor Remove and Go in order to remove the remaining sealer. We had to repeat this process twice in order to remove the grout haze that had been locked in under the sealer.

Sealing Textured Slate

After a thorough rinsing down to ensure no products remained on the floor we left it to dry and returned later to apply three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which will provide future protection and as you can see from the photographs really helped to give the floors appearance..

Line Textured Slate Kensington Partly Sealed Line Textured Slate Kensington Sealed

I then explained how to clean the tiles going forward. She was extremely happy with the work carried out and also pleased with the management company for contacting us in the first place.

Removing Limescale from a Slate Tiled Floor

Removing Limescale from a Slate Tiled Floor in Kensington Read More »

Black Porcelain Floor After Photo

Putting the Shine Back on Black Porcelain Floor Tiles

Oxted Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning /

We were asked to clean and seal these black Porcelain floor tiles that had been laid in a bridal shop in the Lakeside shopping centre. The shop fitters and builders had been in to setup the internal layout and the floor was looking dull and not in a presentable state good enough for the shop opening.

Black Porcelain Floor Before Photo

Cleaning black Porcelain floor tiles

We set about scrubbing the floor using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean Tile and Grout cleaner followed by a thorough rinse. We then waited for it to dry before buffing the porcelain tile surface to a deep shine with a white buffing pad.

The floor was ready for sealing so we applied Tile Doctor Ultra Seal to a small test area but it didn’t take, not wishing to waste our time or the customers’ money we called it a day. Most porcelain tiles won’t take a sealer however some are micro porous and do need sealing so it’s always best to check.

Black Porcelain Floor After Photo
They were really pleased with result and they were even happier we were honest about not charging them for not sealing the floor; the deep shine on the floor really did look spectacular.

Black Porcelain Floor Photo
 

Restoring the Shine on Black Porcelain Floor Tiles

Putting the Shine Back on Black Porcelain Floor Tiles Read More »

Marylebone Slate After Restoration

Slate Tiled Floor in Marylebone, London

Leatherhead Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning /

The customer was an American lady who lived in a flat in Marylebone right in the centre of London; she worked in the City and had the slate tiles in her kitchen cleaned and sealed by another company the year before and she had not been impressed with the results.

I had provided a quote and did a small demonstration on the floor to give her an idea of how the finished result would look; having been unhappy with the previous company we had to work hard to win her confidence but the demo combined with photographs and testimonials from previous work that we had done managed to assure her we could complete the job to the right standard.

Cleaning the Slate Tiled Floor

Having turned up at 7am so that she could get to work we set about scrubbing the slate tiled floor with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a rotary machine fitted with a black pad, we used a grout brush to clean out the grout lines and then rinsed the floor thoroughly with clean water before switching on a air blower to help the floor to dry.

Marylebone Slate Before Restoration

Sealing the Slate Tiled Floor

Once the floor was dry we proceeded to seal it with Tile Doctor Seal and Go which provides good stain protection with a low sheen finish, slate is quite porous and it took five coats before it was fully sealed.

That night I received a call from the lady thanking me for such a good job and not only was she pleased with the work but we were half the price of the original company.

Marylebone Slate After Restoration
 

Cleaning and Sealing a Slate Tiled Floor in Marylebone, London

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