Kitchen Floor Cleaning Archives - Suffolk Tile Doctor

Dirty Limestone Kitchen Floor Deep Cleaned, Polished and Sealed in Ipswich

This limestone tiled floor was installed in the kitchen of a house on the outskirts of Ipswich in Suffolk. The protective sealer had broken down over the years with use, and the limestone was now unprotected and had lost its lustre, it was now absorbing dirt giving it a permanently dirty and dull appearance. Natural stone is porous and without the protection of a sealer its appearance will degrade as more dirt becomes ingrained in its pores.

Limestone Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Ipswich

I visited site to have a look at the job, I carried out a test on a small sample area, which came up well; the client was happy to proceed with my quote so we arranged a date to complete the work later in the month.

Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

To remove the ingrained dirt and improve the limestone I spent a day applying different grades of diamond encrusted floor pads, worked into the tiles with only water to help lubricate the scrubbing action. These pads are called burnishing pads and to up the pores of the stone so the dirt can be released you need to start with a coarse 400-grit pad.

Once the pad has been run over each tile at least three times the floor is rinsed with water and the soil is extracted with a wet vacuum. Before starting with the next pad in the series a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean was run into the grout lines and scrubbed in by hand with a stiff brush before another round of rinsing and extracting.

The burnishing process was then repeated with a finer 800-grit pad and then a 1500-grit pad. The pads remove any remaining sealer and dirt and start building up the polish on the tile. At the end of the first day the floor was given a final rinse and dried with a wet vacuum. The floor was then left to dry off completely overnight.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

Returning on the 2nd day I began by applying a very fine 3000 grit pad to close the pores up and add a nice subtle shine to the limestone. The floor was checked with the damp meter just to check it was dry enough to seal. The client wanted a slightly matt finish but wanted to ensure the natural colours of the floor came through with just a slight sheen. We selected to use Tile Doctor Colour Grow. It was then sealed with 3 coats, applying each coat after the previous one had soaked in and dried. It took 3 litres of sealer to fill up the stone with sealer which will now prevent dirt from becoming ingrained there.

Limestone Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Ipswich

The floor now has a nice, easy to maintain shine and the Colour Grow sealer provided a very durable finish. I recommended to the client to use Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, this is pH neutral cleaner so nice and gentle on the floor, it will ensure the integrity of the newly applied sealer is not compromised.

Professional Restoration of a Limestone Tiled Kitchen in Suffolk

Brick Tiled Kitchen Floor Renovated in Edwardstone

Brick Tiled Kitchen Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Edwardstone

1 Comment / Sudbury Tile Cleaning / Bruce Copping

I was recently asked to renovate this Brick tiled floor installed in the kitchen of an older property in the small hamlet of Edwardstone near Sudbury. It had been some time since the floor was professionally cleaned and the brick tiles were deeply ingrained with dirt and looking very dirty and dull. The owner of the property was finding it difficult to keep the floor clean and had decided it was time to call in some help.

Brick Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Edwardstone

I visited the property to survey the floor and it was clear to me that any sealer that once protected the floor was no longer working and dirt was being trapped in the pores of the brick. Whilst there, I also noticed there was no evidence of a damp proof course being installed and given the age of the property it was unlikely the floor had a damp proof membrane either and had probably been laid directly onto the soil.

Without a barrier between the bricks and the soil, efflorescence issues would be a distinct possibility. This is where alkaline salts from the soil rise through the floor and as the moisture evaporates the floor is left with white deposits on the tile, it would also mean I would need to use a fully breathable sealer to allow this to happen, anything else would results in moisture being trapped under the floor where it would reach out to the walls resulting in rising damp.

Cleaning a Brick Tiled Kitchen Floor

I didn’t want to increase the moisture levels in the floor by using lots of water during the cleaning process, so I opted to use a low moisture method that involved Tile Doctor Acid Gel. Being a gel cleaner, it is easier to manage the acid in the product and will also neutralise any alkaline salt issues.

The gel was worked into the tiles and grout using a special carborundum pad, fitted to our new Hyper Grinder rotary machine. This process removed any remnants of the original sealer and the dirt from the floor, four litres of Tile Doctor Acid Gel was used during the process. The floor was given a minimal rinse with fresh water to assist in the removal of the now soiled Tile Doctor Acid Gel and a wet vacuum was used to extract the soiling and dry the floor.

Sealing a Brick Tiled Kitchen Floor

The now clean floor was then left to dry overnight and on the 2nd day we tested it was dry using a damp meter. All was well so the Brick floor was sealed with five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra, 2 litres were used in total. It is worth pointing out that Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra is a breathable sealer that will allow moisture to rise through the brick.

Brick Kitchen Floor After Renovation Edwardstone

The process went very well, and the floor is now cleaner and has a nice, easy to maintain sheen. For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a mild, neutral ph cleaner. We recommend this as many of the products you find in supermarkets are simply too strong and bleach based which will slowly strip off the sealer and allow dirt back into the floor.

Professional Restoration of a Brick Tiled Kitchen Floor in Suffolk

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