Renovation

Terracotta Tiled Floor Renovation Towcester

Dirty Terracotta Floor Renovated in Towcester

This Terracotta tiled floor was installed throughout the kitchen, diner, and hallway of a cottage in the village of Towcester. You can see from the photographs on this page that the floor had not been properly maintained, the grout lines had turned dark with ingrained dirt and the whole floor was now well overdue a renovation.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Towcester

My client liked the floor and its character but as he was going to the expense of fitting a new kitchen he wanted to know if the floor could be restored to its former glory as his wife wanted a high shine finish and an easy to maintain floor.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Towcester

Renovating the Terracotta and Grout would involve completely striping the floor of any previous sealants, deep cleaning the tiles and then applying a fresh seal. They were happy for me to do the work and it was agreed that the best time for this to be carried out would be after the old kitchen had been removed and before the new kitchen units were fitted. This would allow for a uniform wall to wall finish, and it would also make my work easier as I wouldn’t have to navigate around the kitchen units.

Cleaning a Terracotta Tiled Kitchen Floor

To get the floor clean and remove previous sealers and coatings I applied a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. I had tried a few products on the tiles and had discovered after conducting a few tests that this had the right impact when it came to removing the many layers of old sealant. Tile Doctor Pro-Clean has an alkaline formula which makes it ideal for cleaning natural products such as Terracotta.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Cleaning Towcester

The Pro-Clean was left to soak into the tiles for ten minutes and then scrubbed into the floor using a 17” rotary floor buffer fitted with a black scrubbing pad and running at slow speed to reduce splashing. This activity soon brought the dirt out of the tiles and the now soiled cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum. The floor was then rinsed down with water and the process repeated a couple of times until I was happy with the results.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Cleaning Towcester

To clean up the grout a stiff grout brush was run along the grout lines in combination with more Pro-Clean. There were a few stubborn stains on the floor, and these were removed by spot cleaning the affected area with another product called Tile Doctor Remove and Go employed with a steamer to lift the stain out of the clay tile.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Cleaning Towcester

Once happy the floor was clean, the floor was given an acid wash using a using a 10:1 dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up. This final step in the cleaning produce removes old grout smears, alkaline salts that can lead to efflorescence and will neutralise the use of alkaline cleaning products used earlier.

Sealing Terracotta Tiles in Towcester

After more rinsing with water and extraction with the wet vacuum the floor was left to dry for four days before returning to seal the Terracotta. To achieve the desired glossy finish the Terracotta was sealed using Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is an ideal sealer for Terracotta and provides durable stain protection together with a silk finish. The more coats you apply the higher shine finish you are able to achieve depending on the porosity of the tile and in this case seven coats were applied.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Sealing Towcester

The client was extremely impressed with the results achieved in the kitchen, diner and hallway and left the following 5-star feedback.

“Phil has done an absolutely outstanding job on our terracotta floor tiles. Made them look like new. Wonderful outcome. His attention to detail and professionalism are of an excellent standard. It was a pleasure to do business with Phil and we will definitely be calling on his services again in the future. He is a really nice bloke too. Thanks again Phil.”

Terracotta Tiled Floor After Sealing Towcester

 

Professional Restoration of a Terracotta Tiled Kitchen in Northamptonshire

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Limestone Flagstones Before and After Renovation Clipston

Limestone Tiled Floor with Grout Haze Cleaned in Clipston

These photos are of a Limestone tiled floor which was installed in the Kitchen of a property in the small parish of Clipston, which is close to the towns of Market Harborough and Daventry, approximately three years ago. The customer was never very happy with it since it was laid as it never seemed to look clean asked me to cover over and work out what could be done.

On my initial visit I soon realised that the installer had not cleaned off all the grout from the tiles before applying the sealer. This effectively trapped the grout under the sealer and gave the whole floor a dirty appearance, this explained the problem the customer was frustrated with as she could never ever seem to get the floor looking clean.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze Before Cleaning Clipston
This issue is known as Grout Haze or Grout Smears and is a problem we often come across where the floor has been laid without the excess grout residue being completely polished off the tiles after the grouting. Some manufacturers recommend the tiles are sealed before grouting to make it easier to polish the grout off later. After discussing how we could remedy this I issued a quote which the customer accepted, and we scheduled the work to be done.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze Before Cleaning Clipston

Removing Grout Haze from Limestone Kitchen Tiles

I arrived on site on the arranged date, as it was a painted kitchen it was not possible to mask up the units, so I used a small hand-held polishing machine fitted with a six inch 400-grit burnishing pad to carefully clean around the edges and break through the sealant. This process was then repeated with a larger seventeen inch 400-grit burnishing pad fitted to a floor polishing machine throughout the rest of the area.

Once the original sealant had been removed using the burnishing pad the next step was to remove the Grout Haze by given the floor an acid wash with Tile Doctor Acid Gel. Being a gel, this product is easier to control than a liquid and sits on the surface where it’s needed to break down the unsightly Grout Haze. It’s left to dwell for a short period before being worked in with a special brush that is designed for this purpose. The resulting slurry is then removed with a professional wet pick up machine and the floor given a rinse with water to remove any trace of the product.

After treating the Grout Haze my next step was to refine the surface of the Limestone using a medium 800-grit and fine 1500-grit diamond encrusted burnishing pad which are applied with water and restore the polished appearance of the stone. The floor is rinsed with more water between the application of each pad to remove the slurry that is generated and then dried with the wet pickup machine.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

I returned the following day to buff the tiles with a white polishing pad as the customer didn’t want a high shine finish which is normally achieved with the 3000-grit diamond burnishing pad, this gave a low sheen honed look as the customer had requested. The floor was then sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is a natural look sealer that and will protect the newly restored and polished tiles going forward.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze After Cleaning Clipston
The customer was very happy with the results and has left the following positive feedback on our website.

‘Professional, floor looks much better’ – Vicki S, Clipston

I gave the customer some tips on maintenance and a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap to enable her to keep the floor looking its best, this product is designed for the regular cleaning of polished stone floors and is pH neutral, so it won’t prematurely degrade the sealer.

Limestone Floor With Grout Haze After Cleaning Clipston
 

Professional Restoration of a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor in Northamptonshire

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