Removing Paint

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Renovation Wollaston

Dirty Quarry Tiled Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Wollaston

This client from the village of Wollaston contacted Tile Doctor about cleaning and sealing their Quarry tiled floor. They were refurbishing the house and wanted to keep the original floor tiles as part of the renovation.

The tiles were installed throughout the ground floor, including the kitchen, lounge and hallway. However, as I was to discover myself, they were covered in years of grime, and they were not sure if they could be restored.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Wollaston

I went over to survey the floor and could see that any sealer that may have protected the tiles from ingrained dirt had long since worn off and as a result dirt had become ingrained into the pores of the quarry tiles. Once this happens its very difficult to keep clean.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Wollaston

I had to agree the floor was overdue a deep clean and re-seal and so took some measurements in order to work out a quote for doing the work. The quote was accepted, and a date set for starting the work which would take two days, one to clean and one to seal.

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Ground Floor

To deep clean the quarry tiles, a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go was applied to the floor and left to dwell for a short while. The solution was then scrubbed into the tile using a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine.

The solution soon turned black with the dirt that was pulled out of the tiles and was rinsed away with water and extracted using a wet vacuum. I inspected the tiles afterwards and could see some paint splashes from years of decorating were still evident, so I re-applied the product and repeated the process to get rid of them.

The grout was then cleaned by hand using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a scrubbing brush, again extracting the waste once complete. I find this is the most effective way to clean grout as the pads struggle to reach into the recess of the grout line.

To complete the cleaning process, I then gave the floor an acid rinse with Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up, this was applied to remove old grout smears and further clean up the tiles. All soiling was rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum. The floor was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Ground Floor

Returning the following day, the first job was to test the floor with the damp meter to check it was dry. The tiles needed to be dry enough to accept the seal and applying sealer to damp tiles can result in a patchy appearance. This is always worthy checking when cleaning Quarry tiles as that are naturally quite porous so can take some time to dry.

Once satisfied the readings were within the correct range, I was ready to seal. I selected to use Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra for this, it’s a breathable sealer which is useful for older floors such as this where there is no evidence of a damp proof membrane being installed. Breathable sealers allow for moisture to rise through the tile and evaporate at the surface, without this moisture can build-up under the floor causing it to reach out to the walls where it could cause rising damp.

I applied two coats of Seal and Go Extra waiting for the first to dry before applying the next. The sealer lifts the deep red colours in the Quarry tiles and adds a nice appealing shine. The sealer works by ensuring dirt remains on the surface where it can easily be cleaned away.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor After Renovation Wollaston

My client was very happy with their now clean quarry tiled floor and left the following feedback for me:

“I was looking forward to the results before it was even booked in, and I was not disappointed. A professional approach and very helpful throughout.”

Before leaving I took time to explain how to maintain the floor using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. Its important to use a product like this on a sealed floor as many tile cleaning products are simply too strong and will strip the sealer off the floor with regular use.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor After Renovation Wollaston

 

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Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before After Restoration Kettering

Victorian Tiles Discovered Under Lino Renovated in Kettering

The customer called me after she had removed the lino in her hallway to discover a traditional Victorian tiled floor hidden underneath. Unfortunately, at some time in the past this floor hadn’t been protected whilst decoration was carried out and had been heavily stained with splashes of paint. Although the customer had tried her best to clean the paint off the floor, she had found it was impossible to remove. She was really keen to restore the floor back to its’ former glory and see the back of the nasty looking lino!

I visited the property in Kettering which is a lovely town in Northamptonshire, approx. 15 miles from Northampton itself. The area is now very popular with commuters with regular trains heading to London St Pancras taking just one hour. As the pictures she had sent me showed the floor needed professional cleaning as no amount of household products would be able to remove the problem areas. I discussed with the customer what we could do to get the floor restored and we agreed a price for the work, scheduling it in for a few weeks later.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Cleaning Kettering Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Cleaning Kettering

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

To clean the floor, it was first sprayed with a solution of Tile Doctor Remove & Go which was left to dwell for fifteen minutes to help soften the paint. We then used our heavy-duty scrubbing machine with the appropriate attachments to scrub the floor. A little warm water was added to the solution on the floor to help remove the paint as the scrubbing was underway. Once done a wet vacuum was used to remove the slurry generated by the scrubbing process.

This process was repeated several times in the most stubborn areas to ensure the floor was as clean as possible. This action removed around 90% of the paint which was a huge improvement, but more work was required before it would meet my standards.

To further improve the condition of the tiles my next course of action was to apply Tile Doctors 100 and 200-grit burnishing pads to the floor with water to help lubricate. After each pad the find slurry that was generated was extracted off the floor using the wet vacuum. This process reconditions the surface of the Victorian tile and removed the remainder of the paint, it also cleaned the remaining areas that needed further attention leaving the floor spotless. I left the floor to dry overnight and arranged to return the following morning to complete the restoration with the application of a sealer.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The customer wanted the floor to look natural so requested a matt finish sealer, also being an old floor without a damp proof membrane I specified the sealer should be fully breathable so moisture can pass up from the sub floor and not become trapped under the tile where it could cause problems. With these factors in mind we agreed on Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which ticks all these boxes.

As you can see from the after pictures, the restorative cleaning process really did the trick. The colours in the floor were now nice and clear and the floor looked as it should.
The customer was over the moon with the outcome, she had not expected the finish achieved to be as good.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Cleaning Kettering Victorian Tiled Hallway After Cleaning Kettering

No matter how bad you think the floor is with the use of professional machinery and Tile Doctor products we can restore most floors to a high standard, which certainly in this case exceeded the customers’ expectations.

 

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