Market Harborough Tile Cleaning Archives - Northamptonshire Tile Doctor

Tumbled Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Before After Renovation Braybrooke

Pitted and Dirty Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Braybrooke

1 Comment / Market Harborough Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Philip Vissian / Braybrooke, Filling Travertine, Kitchen Floor Tiles, northamptonshire, Tiled Floor Cleaning, Travertine Cleaning, Travertine Filling, Travertine Polishing, Tumbled Travertine

I was called by the owner of a property in Braybrooke who was keen to have their Tumbled Travertine tiled kitchen floor renovated. The floor hadn’t been cleaned professionally for over eight years and the owner was concerned that dirt was getting trapped in the natural holes and crevices (pits) which are a natural feature of Travertine.

Pitted Tumbled Travertine Before Cleaning Braybrooke

I went over to survey the floor at the property in Braybrooke which is a lovely small village in north west Northamptonshire halfway between Market Harborough and Desborough. We carried out a test clean on two separate tiles in the kitchen, the customer was thrilled at how clean they came up and especially with the grout. She said it reminded her how they used to look when they were first installed.

A quote to restore the floor was sent and was quickly accepted; a date was then agreed for the work to be completed. The job would take just two days to complete, one day to clean and then a return visit to seal the floor.

Cleaning a Tumbled Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

On our return the first thing we did was to protect the kitchen units by removing plinths and covering base units and appliances with a protective film. This ensures nothing is accidentally damaged during the process.

We then commenced work with a rotary scrubbing machine fitted with a tile brush attachment. This was used to scrub in a hot water dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean mixed 3:1. The slurry was then removed with a wet pick up, followed by cleaning the grout with hand brushes using more Pro-Clean. The strong alkaline product makes quick work of removing the ingrained dirt and grime and removing what was left of the original sealer.

The next step was to burnish the stone with a set of Tile Doctor Diamond Encrusted Burnishing pads which polish the floor to achieve an as new look. The pads are run over the Travertine tiles with water in sequence from coarse to very smooth. After each pad is applied the floor is rinsed with water and the slurry removed with the wet pickup machine.

Fans were left in place to assist drying the floor whilst I spent time filling the larger holes with filler in a colour chosen to match the existing floor as closely as possible.

Sealing a Tumbled Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

The floors were left to dry off fully overnight and I returned the next day to carry out the final polish with a very fine 3000 grit burnishing pad and to apply two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which will protect the stone going forward. Ultra-Seal is a no-sheen, natural-look, penetrating sealer which is formulated to provide maximum stain protection and is especially recommended for food preparation areas like a kitchen.

Pitted Tumbled Travertine After Cleaning Braybrooke

The floor looked so much better and the customer was very happy that it had been restored to its’ former glory as requested. She really thought the floor was beyond saving. We suggested that she used the Tile Doctor Stone Soap for ongoing cleaning. Most floor cleaning products sold in the supermarket are not recommended for the cleaning of natural stone as they can erode the sealer prematurely so always read the label.

Renovation of a Tumbled Travertine Tiled Floor in Northamptonshire

Pitted and Dirty Tumbled Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Braybrooke Read More »

Limestone Flagstones Before and After Renovation Clipston

Limestone Tiled Floor with Grout Haze Cleaned in Clipston

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Market Harborough Tile Cleaning, Work History / Philip Vissian / cleaning, Clipston, Daventry, Grout Haze Removal, Grout Smears, kitchen, Limestone Sealing, Limestone Tiled Floor, Market Harborough, northamptonshire, Renovation

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.

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.

Professional Restoration of a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor in Northamptonshire

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Removing Rust Stains from Anti-Slip Swimming Pool tiles in Naseby

1 Comment / Driveway and Patio Cleaning, Market Harborough Tile Cleaning, Work History / TileProf / cleaning services, cleaning tiles, deep cleaning tiles, floor restoration, Naseby, northamptonshire, rust stains removal, swimming pool tiles, tile cleaning, tile maintenance

The photographs below were taken at a privately owned swimming pool in the historic village of Naseby an area famous for the civil war battle that tool place there in 1645. The pool was surrounded by Anti-Slip safety tiles which have a roughened texture to improve traction around the water’s edge, this does have the side effect however that they trap dirt more easily. The tiles were overdue a deep clean and had become very dirty and additionally there were rust marks from metal furniture and blackish grout lines.

Rust Stains on Swimming Pool Tile Cleaning Naseby

Cleaning Pool Tiles and Removing Rust Stains

Working one area at a time and taking care not to contaminate the swimming pool a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied to the tiles and then worked into the tile, especially the rust stains before being washed off using a Rotovac machine which applies hot water at high pressure and then removes it to a remove tank using suction. It’s an ideal machine for this sort of job as it’s very self-contained.

Stubborn areas were treated with Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a powerful product designed to deal with sealers and other surface coatings. Once done another rinse with the Rotovac ensured the soiled cleaning solution and any trace of cleaning product is removed from the surface.

Sealing Ant-Slip Porcelain tiles

Once the tile and grout was clean it was left to dry so it could be sealed which will prevent the tile and grout becoming dirty so quickly. For this we used Tile Doctor Pro-Seal which is a no-sheen, natural look, water based penetrating sealer.

It makes a significant difference if you have the right tools for the job and this resulted in the tiles looking as good as new in no time.