kitchen floor

Cracked Travertine Kitchen Floor Repair in Redhill

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Renovated in Redhill

This client from Redhill had her kitchen floor tiled with Travertine tiles following a house extension a few years ago. The extension had enabled the kitchen to be made significantly larger however as the new floor settled a crack developed along the line of the join between the old and new concrete floor causing the Travertine tiles to crack along the line.

I was tasked with removing the broken tiles and existing adhesive, fitting replacement tiles, sealing and re-grouting. Fortunately, the floor did not have electric underfloor heating installed, removing tiles with an electric floor matt stuck to it is bound to break the circuit so best avoided.

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Restoration Redhill

I visited the property to get a good understanding of the problems and then prepared a quote for the whole restoration which was accepted. I also had to source new Travertine tiles to replace the cracked ones. Its worth noting that Tile Doctor often gets asked to replace cracked tiles but unless its part of a bigger renovation job like this one we won’t take it on.

Replacing Travertines in a Redhill Kitchen

Removing tile is a noisy, messy operation that can generate dust so I had agreed with the customer that they would clear the room beforehand and remove anything they might need from the cupboards so I could tape them up.

Work started by cutting the grout lines with an oscillating tool and then started removing the tile by knocking out from the centre outwards. Once all tiles where removed this exposed the previous floor adhesive which was carefully removed using a chisel and hammer.

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor During Repair Redhill Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor During Repair Redhill

After a much need lunch break, I mixed up some fresh quick setting flexible adhesive and laid in the replacement Travertine tiles. Later that day I was then able to apply the grout and left the floor to them to set.

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor After Repair Redhill

Deep Cleaning and Sealing Travertine Kitchen Tiles

A week later, once the tiles had cured and had time to settle, I returned to deep clean and seal the tiles which would blend in the replacement tiles with the original and make the floor look whole again.

Firstly, I hand cleaned the grout lines with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked in with a wire brush. Its hard work but I find this is the most effective way to get grout clean.

The next job was to remove what remained of the previous sealer and top layer of dirt. This was done with a rotating buffing machine and a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads. The first one applied is a coarse 400-grit pad followed by 800 and 1500-grit, working through the pads in sequence. You might be familiar with the grit system from sandpaper, rough down to smooth. The process is lubricated with water and the slurry generated is rinsed off with water and extracted using a wet vacuum.

I left the floor to dry off overnight, they can walk on it during this time, but they needed to be careful of any spillages.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

The second day started with and inspection of the Travertine tile and grout looking for any areas that need further attention. I was satisfied that the floor was looking its’ best and once the preparation was complete, I applied the first coat of sealer.

On this occasion I went with Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is doesn’t change the look of the stone giving a completely natural look. This product soaks into the pores of the stone protecting if from within and should last between three and five years depending on the amount of wear it received and how the floor is cleaned and maintained.

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor After Restoration Redhill

Two coats of sealer were applied and after each coat dried, I polished the floor using a very fine 3000-grit diamond pad. The pad is run across the Travertine dry with only a little water sprayed onto the tile using a process we call a ‘Spray Burnish’. I asked the client to keep off the travertine until it’s cured, usually for a couple of hours which is always a good excuse to go out for the evening!

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor After Restoration Redhill

The client was very happy the floor and relieved that the cracked tiles were gone and their kitchen floor looked amazing again. For aftercare I recommended using Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is ideal for the regular cleaning of sealed natural stone floors, many supermarket products are simply too harsh and will reduce the life of the sealer.

 

Professional Restoration of a Travertine Tiled Kitchen in Surrey

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Travertine Kitchen Floor Before and After Renovation in Sanderstead

Renovating Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles in Sanderstead

This customer, who lives in Sanderstead located between Croydon and Purley in Surrey had been experiencing difficulties in keeping her beautiful Travertine tiled kitchen floor in good condition. Over the years it had suffered from a heavy build up of dirt and oily stains, not to mentioned a number of cracks and small holes. Needless to say, the customer was keen to have the Travertine tiles and grout renovated and made easier to keep clean.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Sanderstead Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Sanderstead

Restoring Travertine Flooring

To begin the renovation, I applied Tile Doctor Remove and Go across the entirety of the large tiled area. This heavy duty remover breaks down any old sealers and other coatings, leaving the area ready to cleaned or, in this case, burnished.

Burnishing is a method for cleaning and polishing certain types of high-end stone, including Travertine, Marble, and Limestone. Our burnishing system involves the application of four diamond encrusted pads of varying grits. Firstly, I applied the Coarse grit pad, which helps to break down any dirt and stains on the surface of the tiles. Then, I worked my way through the Medium, Fine, and Very Fine pads, using a little water which acts to lubricate the process gradually building the polish on the Travertine. The floor is rinsed with water between the application of each pad to remove the soil that is generated and also give a final rinse at the end before leaving to dry.

To round off the first day of work, I filled any cracks and holes in the Travertine using a colour matching resin which greatly improved the look of the tile.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Cracked Tile Before Repair Sanderstead Travertine Kitchen Floor Cracked Tile After Repair Sanderstead

Sealing Travertine Tiles

The following day I returned to the property to seal the tiles checking first that the floor had dried. I use a moisture meter to do this and it confirmed the floor was dry so I proceeded to seal the floor using our colour intensifying impregnating sealer Tile Doctor Colour Grow. Once that was dry, I added the finishing touches by buffing the floor with a soft white buffing pad. As you can see from the photographs, the combination of a fresh seal and polish worked wonders.

Travertine Kitchen Floor After Sealing Sanderstead
We did such a good job with the floor that the customer asked if we could also improve the appearance of their natural stone fireplace which was suffering from bad rust and oil stains however I do a separate write up on that.

Travertine Kitchen Floor After Sealing Sanderstead
 

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Fully Restored in Surrey

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Limestone Tiled Floor Before and After

Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned and Polished in Fulham

Beautiful Limestone tiled floor installed in the kitchen of a house in Fulham, the owner was keen to have the floor cleaned and re-polished; Limestone is a very hardwearing material but does need an occasional professional polish to keep it looking its best.

Limestone Tiled Floor Before Limestone Tiled Floor 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 colours and you work your way through them starting off with the red 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. Next step was to use Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines with a stiff brush to get the grout clean as well. To bring up the polish on the Limestone tiles I used a green polishing pad which is the last in the set of the four burnishing pads.

Limestone Tiled Floor During Limestone Tiled Floor During

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 Tiled Floor After Limestone Tiled Floor After

This job took me two days, and the owner was extremely happy with the results and said it looked better than when it had first been laid eight years ago.

Limestone Tiled Floor Before and After
 

Limestone Floor Cleaned, Polished and Sealed in Fulham

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Quarry Tile Cleaning After

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned in Leatherhead

Details below of a Quarry Tiled kitchen floor that were cleaned and sealed for a lady in Leatherhead. As you can see it was quite a large area and the quarry tiles were looking dull and tired, there was some staining to the grout.

Quarry Tile Cleaning Before

Cleaning Kitchen Quarry Tiles

A solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied to the floor and left to soak for a short while before being scrubbed in with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. The grout also need attention, unfortunately we don’t have a machine that will get into the grout lines so this had to be manually scrubbed by hand using a grout brush, which as you can imagine took some time to do. The soiled cleaning solution was then removed using a wet vacuum and the floor thoroughly rinsed with water and then left to dry overnight.

Quarry Tile Cleaning Before Zoom Quarry Tile Cleaning After Zoom

Sealing Kitchen Quarry Tiles

When we returned the next day we could see there were some grout lines that we had missed the day before so we set about cleaning those up. Once we were happy with the floor it and it had managed to dry off we sealed the floor using six coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which provides surface stain protection to the quarry tile and grout and also leaves a nice deep low sheen on the tile surface. The lady was over the moon with the results and her husband was even happier because it meant he didn’t have to pay out for a new kitchen.

Quarry Tile Cleaning After
 

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Leatherhead

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