Ceramic Tile Cleaning Archives - Northamptonshire Tile Doctor

Ceramic Tiled Floor Before After Tile Grout Cleaning Burton Latimer

Ceramic Tile and Grout Deep Cleaned in a Burton Latimer Kitchen

This customer from Burton Latimer near Kettering was having a new kitchen fitted which would have a different layout to the original. The Ceramic tiled floor was wall to wall and they wanted to see if the tiles could be renovated rather than having to replace them.

Ceramic Tile and Grout During Cleaning in Burton Latimer Kitchen Floor

I attended the customers property to inspect the floor and carry out a test clean on one of the dirtiest ceramic tiles and adjacent grout. The tiles were in a fairly grubby condition and the grout was black with dirt which happens a lot with Ceramic tiled floors. This is due to the ceramic tile being impervious and so the dirt from the tile becomes washed into the grout lines during cleaning.

I carried out the test clean which went well and my customer was impressed; keen to proceed and happy with my quotation the work was booked in. The renovation was scheduled for the day after the old kitchen was removed and before the new kitchen was installed the following week.

Deep Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout

To deep clean the tile and grout a strong 1:3 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and warm water was applied to the floor with a pump-up sprayer. The solution was allowed to dwell for several minutes before being worked into the grout using a stiff brush. This was followed up by agitating the solution into the rest of the floor with a rotary floor scrubbing machine fitted with a stiff brush attachment.

Working in sections and removing slurry with a wet pick-up machine. The next process was to apply Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up to all grout lines for a second clean to remove as much stubborn staining as possible. Again, this was worked into the grout with stiff grout brushes. Following this I went over the floor again with a black scrubbing pad attached to the rotary machine. The machines solution tank was filled with water to help lubricate the process and neutralise the floor.

Finally, all the excess water was removed with a wet pick-up machine and the floor was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing Grout on a Ceramic Tiled Floor

I returned the following day to seal the grout, Ceramic tiles won’t take a sealer and as mentioned earlier its best to seal the grout so the dirt remains on the surface and doesn’t get trapped in the rough grout.

After confirmed the floor was dry, I carefully applied Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal to the grout lines using a pipette and then wiping off any excess afterwards.

Ceramic Tile and Grout After Cleaning in Burton Latimer Kitchen Floor

Once done the floor looked new and my client was happy with result, it was a good decision and even more so when you consider the money saved in comparison to replacing the floor.

Deep Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout in Northamptonshire

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Ceramic Tile Grout Before and After Cleaning in Rushden

Ceramic Tile and Grout Deep Cleaned is a Rushden Sun Room

1 Comment / Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Rushden Tile Cleaning, Work History / Philip Vissian / Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Deep Cleaning, Dog Soiling, grout cleaning, northamptonshire, Rushden, Sun Room

A customer from Rushden which is a large town in the east side of Northamptonshire, and my home town asked me to take a look at the Ceramic tile and grout in his Sun room. He has a large dog that sleeps on the sofa in this room and over the years the dog has walked in mud which has slowly degraded the grout lines and I suspect had probably never been sealed correctly or sealed at all.

The glazing on Ceramic tile is very resilient so we usually find it’s the grout discolouring that becomes most noticeable first due to the cementitious top layer which can trap dirt. In this case the Ceramic tiles had dulled over the years and as you might expect the white grout lines had become soiled and were almost black in places.

Ceramic Tile and Grout Before Cleaning Rushden Sun Room

Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout Before Cleaning Rushden Sun Room

Deep Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout

To get the tile and grout clean the floor was first soaked in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and this was left to dwell for ten minutes. A rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad was then used to scrub the cleaning solution into the tile and release the dirt. The pad can struggle to reach the recessed grout so to ensure this was also clean it was given a good scrub with a narrow stiff brush.

Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout During Cleaning Rushden Sun Room

We then used a spinning tool which forces hot water under high pressure onto the floor whilst simultaneously extracting the dirty water with a powerful vacuum. The objective of this action is to power wash the floor whilst rinsing and extracting the dirty cleaning solution at the same time.

We inspected the grout lines and stubborn stains were treated with Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up which was scrubbed in with hand brushes, this was then rinsed a second time until we were happy with the results. Grout Clean-Up is an acidic product that is particularly good at removing grout smears which can form a haze over a tile reducing its brilliance.

We then polished the floor with a white buffing pad and allowed the floor to dry overnight before returning the following day to apply Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal to all grout lines.

The furniture was too large and heavy for the customer to move out of the room, which was on a lower level than the rest of the ground floor. As a result, it was necessary to clean the floor in sections moving the furniture around the room on pads as needed.

Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout After Cleaning Rushden Sun Room

The Sun room floor look great afterwards, the grout especially looked clean and the sealer should ensure it stays that way for some time to come.

Deep Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout in Northamptonshire

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Cleaning Grout Ceramic Tiles in Rushden After

Grout Cleaning Difficulty in a Rushden Kitchen

1 Comment / Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Rushden Tile Cleaning, Work History / Philip Vissian / ceramic tile, grout restoration, kitchen, northamptonshire, Rushden, tile cleaning, tile sealing

This customer from Rushden called me in because she was having difficulty keeping the grout in her kitchen clean although the ceramic tiles themselves were fairly easy to maintain.

On speaking to the customer it became evident that the one coat of sealant that was originally applied to the grout five years ago had all but worn off and the cleaning products she was using were too strong reducing the life of the sealer and now dirty water getting into the now porous grout which was causing staining each time she mopped the floor.

Cleaning Grout Ceramic Tiles in Rushden Before

I gave the customer a quote for deep cleaning and extraction of tiles and grout lines, as they were thinking of selling the house they didn’t want to have the expense of re-colouring the grout. We decided the best course of action would be re-sealing the grout with Tile Doctor Grout Seal & Go after cleaning and this should protect it going forward.

Deep Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout

To get the grout clean and lift out the dirt we used Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mopped onto the floor and scrubbed into the grout lines with a stiff grout brush. The second and third pictures below show the equipment we use to deep clean and scrub the grout and to extract the water under pressure to clean the grout as best as possible.

Cleaning Grout Ceramic Tiles in Rushden During

Sealing Grout

The final pictures below show the overall end result after allowing the floor to drying overnight and then sealing the grout with two coats of Tile Doctor Grout Seal & Go.

I also talked the customer through Tile Doctor recommended cleaning procedures and advised her that she was entitled to a free bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which would keep the floor looking at its best for much longer and would not affect the grout sealant.

Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout and Sealing in Northamptonshire

Grout Cleaning Difficulty in a Rushden Kitchen Read More »

Ceramic Bathroom Tiles After Cleaning Kettering

Ceramic Tiled Bathroom Refreshed in Kettering

1 Comment / Bathroom Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Kettering Tile Cleaning, Work History / TileProf / bathroom restoration, ceramic tiles, cleaning ceramic bathroom, cleaning services, kettering, mould removal, northamptonshire, tile cleaning, tile maintenance, tiled bathroom

This was a straight forward request to rejuvenate the ceramic tile and grout around the bath at a house in the town Kettering. The glazed ceramic tiles where in good condition but the grout and seal around the bath had become quite grubby and stained with dyes from shampoos, soaps and had gone dark in some areas where mould had started to get a foothold.

Ceramic Bathroom Tiles Before Cleaning Kettering

Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout

We started by spraying the tiles with Tile Doctor Oxy-Pro which is a strong high-alkaline cleaner especially formulated and packaged for cleaning showers. The spray delivery is important as mixing the cleaning product with air makes it lighter and helps it cling to the tile and grout. The Oxy-Pro was left to soak in for around 15 minutes before being scrubbed into the tile and grout using a stiff grout brush. This action cleaned up the grout and tile nicely removing stains from shampoos and soaps etc.

Removing Mould from Grout

The grout was looking much improved but there was however some evidence of mould remaining which needed dealing with. To tackle this we used Tile Doctor Mould Away which is designed to remove mould off Silicone and Grout. It’s very easy to use, you simply spray the Silicone or Grout to be treated with Mould Away then leave to soak in for twenty minutes and then scrub with a brush and rinse with water repeating the process until the mould has disappeared, in extreme cases you can leave it for a few hours but we didn’t need to do that.