burnishing Archives - Northamptonshire Tile Doctor

Limestone Tiled Flooring Before and After Renovating Ecton

Honed Limestone Floor Renovated in Ecton

I was contacted by the owner of a property in the picturesque village of Ecton who was concerned that her Limestone floor spanning the kitchen and open plan breakfast area was starting to lose its natural appeal and was finding it harder to clean and maintain.

Limestone Tiled Dining Room Floor Before Renovation Ecton

I went over to take a closer look at the floor and carry out a survey. In order determine the best cleaning method I conducted a test on a small area of the floor. This gives the clients confidence in my abilities and a good idea of what result we they can expect. The Limestone was honed smooth but was not polished and the customers were keen not to add too much of an unnatural shine to the floor. The grout lines in some of the more heavily used areas, such as by the sink, were also discoloured and would require a decent scrub with an appropriate cleaning product.

I spoke to the clients about options for the finish to be applied after cleaning and they decided that they wanted to keep the tiles as light as possible with a slight shine. With the clients impressed with the test area I prepared I went away and produced a detailed quote which was e mailed to them along with our general T&Cs and the work was booked in to be completed shortly after.

Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Ecton

Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Floor

The floor covered quite a large area, some 38m2, and had some larger items of furniture that needed to be moved before starting. The first task was to scrub the grout lines with a specialist grout brush, designed to work the product into the grout. Limestone is an acid-sensitive stone, so a strong alkaline cleaner was required. I used Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed with warm water at a ratio of 3:1 which was left to dwell for around twenty minutes.

The area was then rinsed with water and the soil extracted before applying a series of diamond impregnated burnishing pads attached to a rotary scrubbing machine, ranging from a coarse 400 grit (200 in some of the more stubborn areas), a medium 800-grit and finishing with a fine 1500 grit to clean the stone. The whole area was then rinsed again and extracted using a wet pick up vacuum. The floor was then left to dry overnight.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Floor

The following day a very fine 3000 grit diamond pad was used to ‘spray burnish’ the floor which uses very little water and ensures that any remaining residues are lifted as well as finishing the floor in the highest level of mechanical polishing possible prior to sealing.

If the clients desired a higher level of shine a powdered high shine sealer would have been worked into the tiles to achieve a highly reflective surface, however the mechanical polish was the highest level of shine wanted.

My client requested a completely natural finish so to seal the stone after cleaning I applied an impregnating sealer called Tile Doctor Ultra Seal. Impregnating sealers soak into the pores of the tile protecting them from within and Ultra-Seal doesn’t alter the appearance of the floor and so maintained the natural appearance of the stone keeping it as light as possible.

Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor After Renovation Ecton

Aftercare instructions along with a bottle of suitable pH Neutral Tile Cleaner were supplied.
The customer was thrilled with the result and was surprised at the transformation of the floor, they even left the following feedback on the Tile Doctor website.

“Thank you so much Phil for a professional service resulting in my floor looking just as I wanted it too. You were attentive to all detail. I would strongly recommend Phil as a trustworthy, honest person to anyone who is considering work done. See you again in the Summer Phil to clean my patio. Natalie W, Northampton”

Limestone Tiled Dining Room Floor After Renovation Ecton

Cleaning and Sealing a Limestone Tiled Floor in Northamptonshire

Honed Limestone Floor Renovated in Ecton Read More »

Marble Tiled Sun Room and Kitchen Transformed in Great Doddington

The following post shows the kind of results we can achieve for a Marble tiled floor which hadn’t been properly cleaned, polished or re-sealed for several years. This floor was also suffering from numerous cracks and other instances of damage tiles.

Polished Marble Great Doddington before restoration

I was contacted by the property owners, who live in the quaint town of Great Doddington, about making the necessary repairs and also providing the complete restoration the floor had been in desperate need of for so long.

As the property owners were due a holiday they trusted me with their keys; this turned out for the best as I was able to focus on clearing the area and carrying out the work without impacting them however it did mean I was under pressure to complete the floor in time for their return.

Cleaning and Repairing a Marble Tiled Floor

As you can see from the photographs (below), the floor appeared dull and ingrained with dirt – a deep clean was long overdue. Before I started I cleared the room was of all furniture, before brushing and vacuuming the surface of the floor to remove any dust and debris.

Then, to commence the first stage of the cleaning process, I used the Tile Doctor Burnishing pad system to polish out any light scratches and surfaces stains. I started by applying the Coarse red pad with a little water for lubrication, followed by the Medium blue pad and then the Fine yellow pad to refine the polish even further.

Next, I paid special attention to the dirty grout lines, cleaning then manually with a combination of hand brushes and Tile Doctor Pro Clean, a high alkaline cleaner that works well for removing soil buildup on a wide range of natural stone floors. The areas I cleaned came out really well, and were then dried with fans before I began the repairs.

As the cracks in the tiles were caused by settlement issues, I opted to use a flexible grout to fill them. The grout used was Jasmine in colour to best match the natural colour of the tiles. I mixed it with water and then applied it to the cracks with a trowel, before allowing it to dry for roughly an hour and then wiping of any excess. There were so many cracks and small holes to deal with that I used bits and pieces of equipment to mark where I had carried out the repairs as some can be hard to see once dry!

Sealing a Marble Tiled Floor

I returned to the property the following day to perfect the polish on the floor and seal the tiles to protect against further damage and dirt. I used the Very Fine green burnishing pad (the final of the four pad burnishing system) along with a small amount of water to finally bring these tiles back to their natural level of shine. This also helped to further blend in the repairs by removing any remaining excess filler.

My choice of sealer was Tile Doctor Colour Grow, an impregnating sealer that is a favourite for high end Marble and Limestone floors since it really enhances the natural shades in the stone. Additionally, by penetrating deep into the pores of the stone Colour Grow will provide the durable protection against ingrained dirt and stains that this floor had been lacking for a long time.

Polished Marble Great Doddington after restoration

The appearance of this Marble floor was completely transformed, ready for the customers to enjoy when they arrived back form their holiday. Quite often people suffer from so-called ‘holiday hangovers’, but no doubt these customers continued to relax, enjoying their newly restored Sun room and kitchen.

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