Porcelain Tile Cleaning Archives - Suffolk Tile Doctor

Textured Porcelain Tiled Kitchen Floor Renovation Great Barton

Deep Cleaning Textured Porcelain Kitchen and Hallway Tiles in Great Barton

This Textured Porcelain tiled floor was installed in a house in the Suffolk village of Great Barton near Bury St Edmunds. As you can see from the photograph the textured nature of the tile and the rough surface of the grout had trapped dirt leaving the floor looking constantly dirty and unhygienic. The client was tired of the dirty looking tiles and grout and called us looking for a solution.

Textured Porcelain Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Great Barton

Ceramic and porcelain tiles are usually very easy to maintain however the textured variety which has then benefit of being anti-slip does have the disadvantage of attracting dirt so will benefit from an occasional deep clean. Unsealed grout has the same problem, and the problem is made worse on smoother floors where dirt is washed into the grout line during cleaning.

Happy to assist I provided a quote for deep cleaning the tiles and grout which was accepted and arranged a date to do the work which would only take a day as there would be no need to apply a sealer.

Deep Cleaning Textured Porcelain Tiles

To get the floor clean, the tile and grout was sprayed with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up and then left for ten minutes. This gives the solution time to loosen and break down the dirt. The floor is then scrubbed with a 240-wire pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. This action brings the dirt out into the solution where it can be extracted with a wet vacuum.

The grout had darkened over time so to get this as clean as possible it was scrubbed by hand using wire brushes. Once complete the floor was rinsed with water and the slurry extracted again with the wet vacuum.

After inspecting the floor, it was clear a lot of the grout had suffered deep staining and was never going to result in a consistent appearance. This was something that had been anticipated and we had agreed earlier that should this be the case we would colour it with a white Tile Doctor Grout Colourant.

Restoring Badly Stained Grout with a Grout Colourant

A light grey grout colourant was painted onto the grout using a small brush and any excess wiped off the adjacent tile before it could set. Two coats were needed to achieve a consistent appearance that worked well with the light-coloured tiles. The colourant sits on top of the grout providing a barrier that seals it in and is much easier to keep clean.

Textured Porcelain Tiled Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Great Barton

There is no need to apply a sealer to these tiles so once the grout colourant had dried the job was complete. The floor was transformed by the work and the client was thrilled that we had managed to get the floor looking like new again.

A complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner was provided for the client to use to maintain their floor.

Professional Restoration of a Porcelain Tiled Kitchen and Entrance Hall in Suffolk

Deep Cleaning Textured Porcelain Kitchen and Hallway Tiles in Great Barton Read More »

Deep Cleaning Textured Porcelain Floor Tile and Grout in Eyke

This Textured Porcelain tiled floor was installed in a house in the small village of Eyke. The customer was tired of the tile and grout looking dirty and so decided to have the floor professionally cleaned. Although textured porcelain is less likely to result in a slippery surface, it does trap dirt easily and this will build-up over time.

Porcelain Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Eyke

I visited the property to survey the floor and quote for its renovation. After taking measurements I carried out a cleaning demonstration on a small area of the floor to show how well the floor would come up. They were very happy with the result and agreed to go ahead with the work, so a date was booked in the diary for the following month.

Cleaning a Textured Porcelain Tiled Kitchen Floor

To get the Porcelain tile and grout clean it was initially sprayed with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, which is our go to tile and grout cleaner. The solution was left to soak in for roughly ten minutes before being worked in with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. These pads can struggle to reach into the recesses of the grout lines, so this was followed up by scrubbing the grout by hand with more Pro-Clean and wire brushes.

The floor was then rinsed with water and the resultant slurry removed with a wet vacuum. The work was done in sections and once a section had dried it was inspected and the cleaning process repeated until I was satisfied the floor was as clean as it could be. In total I spent a whole day at the property and used two litres of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to get the tile and grout clean. The customer was thrilled that we had managed to get the floor looking like new again.

Porcelain Tiled Kitchen Floor During Cleaning Eyke

Normally at this stage my next step would be to seal the floor, however these Porcelain tiles were not the micro-porous type and therefore won’t accept a sealer and so no further treatment was required. Not being porous will ensure the dirt can’t get into the pores of the tile and will remain on the surface where it can be removed with regular cleaning. Had they been the porous variety we would have returned the following day when the tiles had dried to apply a sealer.

Porcelain Tiled Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Eyke

Although not porous the textured nature of the surface will trap dirt so they will need more regular cleaning. With this in mind, I left a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner for the customer to use to maintain their floor.

Porcelain Tile Cleaning