tile cleaning

Polished Marble Floor–Elmswell Before After Cleaning

Cleaning, Polishing and Sealing a Marble floor and Wall Tiles in Elmswell

Not too long ago I was called down to a house in the small village of Elmswell, Suffolk. I was asked to take a look at a Marble floor and wall tiles which had become dull and lifeless over time, especially in high traffic areas and now need to be burnished to bring the polish back. In addition, my client was unhappy with the beige colour of the grout lines, requesting that I change the colour to white following the clean and polish.

Polished Marble Floor Elmswell Before Cleaning Polished Marble Floor Elmswell Before Cleaning

Cleaning and Polishing a Marble tiles

To get the floor clean and bring back the polish I used a set of four diamond encrusted burnishing pads which have different levels of grit, applied to the Marble tiles with a small amount of water. I started with a Coarse pad, before moving on to a Medium pad, a Fine pad, and finally a Very Fine pad to achieve the desired polished look. The floor was given a thorough rinse between each pad in order to remove any excess residue that had resulted from the burnishing process.

Once I had finished the floors I moved onto the Marble wall tiles in the bathroom where the same process was repeated, for wall tiles however you need to use the smaller six inch burnishing pads fitted to a hand held buffer.

Sealing Marble Floor Tiles

I left the floor to dry for a few days before returning to seal it for which I used Tile Doctor Shine Powder. This is a crystallising powder that offers a very high shine and tough durable finish. It it ground directly into the tiles, and can be used to seal all natural stone, including Marble, Granite, Limestone, Slate and Travertine, for both interior and exterior floors.

Changing the Grout Colour

My final task was to change the colour of the grout, as per my client’s request. I did this using a couple of tubes of Tile Doctor Grout Colourant in white. The colourant is painted onto the grout with any excess wiped off the tile before it gets chance to harden. It’s an epoxy product that looks completely natural and additionally provides excellent stain protection for the future.

Polished Marble Floor Elmswell After Cleaning Polished Marble Floor Elmswell After Cleaning

My client was very pleased with the results of my work and took the time to leave the following comment on the Tile Doctor feedback system.

“I cannot praise the standard of Bruce Copping’s work enough. He completely transformed the marble floors and shower room walls in my home and made them look brand new. His attention to detail was excellent, plus no mess, just a perfect finish and valuable advice on maintaining the walls and floors. I’m so relieved I was able to find Tile Doctor online; I’d almost given up hope of finding someone to sort out the problems with my marble, but Bruce Copping was superb. I’m absolutely delighted with the results and have no hesitation in recommending him.”

Marble Tiles Refurbished in Suffolk

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Pamment Tiled floor Ipswitch Before After Cleaning

Cleaning and Sealing a Pamment Tiled Floor in Ipswich

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.

Pamment Tiled floor Ipswich Before Cleaning Pamment Tiled floor Ipswich Before Cleaning

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.

Pamment Tiled floor Ipswich During Cleaning

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.

Pamment Tiled floor Ipswich After Cleaning Pamment Tiled floor Ipswich After Cleaning

 
 

Refreshing Pamment floor tiles floor in Suffolk

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Limestone patio before after renovation in Ipswich

Restoring a Poorly Sealed Limestone Patio in Ipswich, Suffolk

This Limestone patio had been poorly sealed, resulting in a lack of protection from weather and the general wear and tear of nature. As such, the patio was in need of a thorough clean, and any remaining sealer stripped off and replaced. In addition, the pointing between the Limestone tiles was crumbling, and in places the stone was marked by oil spots. The patio was installed at a house in Ipswich, Suffolk which incidentally is considered to be one of, if not the oldest town in England. I knew the Limestone tiles would be difficult to clean, especially after being exposed to dirt and wear for so long so I figured this would take some time to resolve.

Limestone patio before renovation in Ipswich Limestone patio before renovation in Ipswich

Removing tough stains and dirt from a Limestone patio

My first step was to give the patio an initial rinse with clean water in order to remove any loose debris. Following this, I mixed up an equal cleaning solution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and NanoTech HBU. Pro-Clean is a versatile, high alkaline cleaner which can be used on a variety of natural stone floors, whilst NanoTech HBU (formerly known as Ultra Clean) is specifically designed to tackle the heavy build-up of dirt and stains. It does this by using nano-sized particles to penetrate beneath tough stains to dissolve and lift them out.

As you can see from the photographs, the combination of the two cleaning products was highly effective. After completing the cleaning, I left the house for two days to allow plentiful time for the patio to dry completely, and therefore ready to be sealed.

Sealing a Limestone Patio with Stone Oil

Fortunately the weather held and I was able to call in as planned and applied Tile Doctor Stone Oil, an easy-to-apply product that adds colour to the stone. I left the floor for a further two days and then returned again to protect the Limestone using a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal.

After cleaning and sealing the patio, my final task was to deal with the pointing issue. I replaced any missing pointing and fixed the loose pieces, before colouring the grout using a dark colourant to provide uniformity. This was difficult, but highly rewarding work, as the patio now looks bold and inviting.

Limestone patio after renovation in Ipswich

My customer was certainly pleased with my work, and left the following comment on the Tile Doctor feedback system:

“I couldn’t have been more pleased with the service I received from Bruce Copping. He communicated well, was reliable and managed to breathe life back into my very unattractive limestone garden patio that had been excruciating badly sealed by my original contractors…The whole area, which is around 30ft square, now looks fantastic.”

Limestone patio after renovation in Ipswich

 
 

New life breathed into Limestone Patio in Suffolk

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Sandstone Flags before after cleaning

Sandstone flagstone floor cleaned in Boxford, Suffolk

This sandstone flagstone floor measured around 15m2 and was installed in a house in the village of Boxford, Suffolk, you can see how dark the stone had become from the build-up of dirt and soil over time, clearly they were in need of a deep clean and seal.

Sandstone Flags before cleaning Sandstone Flags before cleaning

Cleaning Sandstone

We cleaned the floor using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted with 10 parts warm water and worked in using a Black Scrubbing pad. This action certainly gave the floor a good clean but there were some staining that was proving stubborn to shift so we tried a stronger product called Remove and Go combined 50/50 with NanoTech UltraClean which add nano sized abrasive particles into the mix. We left the resulting formula to soak into the sandstone for about a while and then used a steam to penetrate deep into the pores of the stone and lift out the dirt, this did the trick and so we then removed the cleaning products with a wet vacuum and washed down the floor with clean water to neutralise the floor before sealing and left for the evening so the floor could dry overnight.

Sealing a Sandstone Tiled Floor

We came back the next day, the floor had dried overnight so we proceeded to seal the Sandstone with Tile Doctor Seal and Go which gives a nice low sheen finish; Sandstone is fairly porous so it took five coats of sealer in the end. Seal and Go is a topical sealer which works well on Sandstone to really bring out the veins and natural colour in the stone, it also leaves them a lot easier to clean as flagstones invariably have a rough riven surface.

Sandstone Flags after cleaning Sandstone Flags after cleaning

 

Sandstone Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Suffolk

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Pamment tiles before after cleaning

Pamment Tiled Hallway Maintained in Creeting St Peter, Suffolk

This Pamment tiled hall was in a Grade II listed former Manor House in the village of Creeting St Peter, there were three areas of floor requiring attention two having being recently laid and the other the original floor. Similar to Terracotta, Pamment tiles are made from Clay and have been traditionally used throughout Norfork and Suffollk.

pamment tiles before cleaning pamment tiles before cleaning

Cleaning Pamment Tiles

I started the job using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, which is a heavy duty cleaner ideal for stone, tile and grout. The cleaner was diluted with water and left to soak into the Pamment tile and grout for about 10 minutes before being scrubbed in with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine. The soiled solution was then removed with a wet vacuum and washed down with clean water to neutralise the floor of any chemical; we repeated this process a couple of times and we also used a stiff hand brushes to clean up the grout lines. Once happy the floor was given a final rinse and left to dry overnight, A dehumidifier was left running to ensure that the floor would be dry enough to seal the next day.

Sealing Pamment Tiles

The next day came back to do the sealing and after checking the floor had dried sufficiently proceeded to seal it . Tile Doctor Seal and Go was used to seal the floor, it’s a water based sealer so it doesn’t give off an odour when it’s drying and also offers durable stain protection together with a low sheen finish which enhances the look of the tile. Like Terracotta Pamment tiles are very porous and took seven coats of sealer r before it was fully sealed.

pamment tiles after cleaning pamment tiles after cleaning

The work took two days in all and now the floor is much easier to maintain.

Pamment Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Suffolk

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Terracotta Tile in Cringleford before after

Terracotta Tiled Floor Maintained in Cringleford, Norwich

This terracotta floor was in a 1950’s style property in the village of Cringleford near Norwich. In total there was 13m2 of tile laid in the kitchen and conservatory around fifteen years ago. The floor had been given very little treatment since then resulting in the tiles looking faded and dull.

Cleaning Terracotta Tile

I started the job using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, which is a heavy duty alkaline product ideal for cleaning natural products such as Terracotta, this was scrubbed in with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine. We used 3 litres of Pro-Clean in total having had to repeat the cleaning a couple of times, we also used stiff hand brushes along the grout lines where the pads can often struggle to reach. Once happy the floor was clean it was given a thorough rinse to remove any remaining chemical and left it to dry overnight. A dehumidifier was left running to ensure that the floor was dry enough to seal the next day.

Terracotta Tile in Cringleford before

Sealing Terracotta Tile

The next day came back to do the sealing and checked the floor first for any spots we might had missed and also to ensure it had dried sufficiently. Tile Doctor Seal and Go was used to seal the floor, it’s a water based sealer so it doesn’t give off an odour when it’s drying and also offers durable stain protection together with a low sheen finish. Terracotta is very porous and in the end the floor actually took seven coats of sealer requiring three litres of Seal and Go before it was fully sealed. Applying a sealer does takes a long time to apply as you have to wait for it to dry before applying the next coat.

Terracotta Tile in Cringleford after
The work took two days in all and you can see the difference for yourself, the floor now looks wonderful and will be a lot easier to maintain going forward.

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Newmarket Limestone Floor Before After

Cleaning and Sealing a Limestone Tiled Floor in Newmarket

This Limestone tiled floor was around 50m2 and installed in Kitchen and Hallway in a new build style property in Newmarket, ‘The Home of Horse Racing’. The property was only 3 years old and the owner was having difficulty keeping the floor clean.

Newmarket Limestone Floor Before

Cleaning Limestone Floor Tiles

The first step was to scrub the Limestone tiles with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong multi-purpose alkaline cleaning product designed for use on natural stone. This process ended up taking all day and requiring a full five litre bottle of Pro-Clean to get the floor how we wanted it, It was after a reasonably large area and we had to repeat the process in some areas.

The floor was then rinsed thoroughly with clean water to remove any cleaning products and we then we switched on the under floor heating and left for the day so the floor could dry overnight.

Sealing Limestone Floor Tiles

When we came back the next day the floor was nice and dry and we set about sealing the Limestone tile with Tile Doctor Colour Grow which provides stain resistance and enhances the natural colour within stone, three coats were sufficient but again due to the size of floor we did use a full five litre bottle.

Newmarket Limestone Floor After
The floor now looks splendid and the sealer has made it a lot easier to maintain, certainly the customer was pleased and left the following comment on our feedback system.

“Great job, very friendly, tiles look excellent. Mrs Fothergill, Newmarket, Suffolk”

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