I was contacted by a client living in Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, who had a dirty Pamment tiled floor that needed some attention. The sealer had pretty much worn off the surface of the tiles which had allowed dirt to become ingrained in the pores of the stone, making it difficult to clean for the homeowner.
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Pamment tiles are very popular in Suffolk homes; they are made locally from clay and, like Terracotta, are porous and therefore need to be sealed. Pamments are quite versatile, and can be used for internal floors and external surfaces like patios.
Cleaning a Pamment tiled floor
To remove the remaining sealer and clean the tiles I decided to apply Tile Doctor Remove & Go, which was diluted with water to form a medium strength solution. I applied a layer of this solution to the floor, leaving it to soak into the pores of the stone for approximately ten minutes. I then worked the solution into the tiles using a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine. Remove & Go is versatile cleaner, suitable and safe to use on many natural stone floors, ceramic tiles, grout and more.
I rinsed the solution off the floor with water once it had worked its magic, and extracted the resulting soiled residue with a wet-vac machine. In order to tackle the particular stubborn stains, I repeated this process until I was satisfied that the floor had been cleaned to the highest standard possible.
The floor was then left to dry overnight before returning the next day to complete the seal. It is imperative that a tiled floor is given at least 24 hours to dry completely. This is because any excess moisture left on the floor can potentially damage the performance of the sealer. However, in this case I installed a dehumidifier to speed up the drying process.
Sealing a Pamment tiled floor
To seal the Pamment tiles I used a total of six layers of Tile Doctor Seal & Go, which provided a robust, durable surface seal along with an aesthetically pleasing, low-sheen finish (as you can see from the photos). Seal & Go is the go-to sealer for internal, unsealed porous surfaces such as Terracotta, Sandstone, Slate, and more.
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Always read the label – Most supermarket tile cleaning products are acidic which will erode and reduce the life of the sealer, we recommend using a neutral or weak alkaline cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner for regular cleaning of sealed floors.