Floor

Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor Before and After Cleaning Knotty Green

Limestone Kitchen Floor Tiles Transformed in Knotty Green

Below are photographs of a Limestone tiled kitchen floor at a house in Knotty Green near Beaconsfield. The stone floor had lost its polish with use and now appeared flat and unattractive additionally the grout had darkened severely with dirt and was overdue a good scrub to get it clean.

Natural stone is actually a porous material that needs to be sealed in order to prevent dirt from becoming ingrained however unless its maintained constant foot traffic on floor tiles wears down the sealer leaving the stone vulnerable and difficult to clean effectively.

Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Knotty Green

Burnishing and Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

If you have read other posts on my website, you will know that we find the best way to restore the appearance of polished stone is through the application of a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads of varying grits to grind away dirt and slowly build the polish on the stone.

You start with the application of the coarse 400-grit pad which is fitted to a rotary buffer machine and applied to the floor with water to lubricate the process, the resultant slurry is then rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum. Next is the Medium 800-grit pad and then the Fine 1500-grit pad, both applied in exactly the same way.

Once I had completed the whole floor with three of the four pads I got to work cleaning the grout. For this, I used a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean, our reliable alkaline cleaner, in combination with a handheld scrubbing brush. Once the grout was clean I gave the floor another rinse with water and then removed as much liquids and moisture as possible using the wet vacuum leaving it to dry off fully overnight.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

The following day I returned to complete the floor starting with the application of the fourth diamond encrusted pad in the set of four which is a Very fine 3000-grit using a method we call a spray burnish which essentially involves applying the pad dry to the floor with a small amount of water sprayed on the stone. This process closes the pores in the floor and adds a good quality sheen to the tile.

Finally, I applied two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is an impregnating sealer that penetrates into the pores of the stone to provide maximum stain protection from within. This sealer is also completely transparent, so it does not affect the natural look of the stone.

Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Knotty Green
The Limestone responded really well to the treatment and the floor now looks like new.

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Slate Kitchen Floor After Cleaning in Milton Keynes

Restoring a Poorly Sealed Slate Kitchen Tiled Floor in Milton Keynes

Sealing is a fundamental part of any stone floor installation. If your builder or tiler hasn’t sealed your floor, he’s done something wrong – and it can cause significant problems. To the untrained eye, it may be difficult to tell whether a floor has been sealed, but you will quickly see that an unsealed floor attracts a lot of ingrained dirt and loses its lustre easily over time.

This was a problem for one of my recent customers, who lives in Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire. They have a Slate tiled Kitchen floor which had been laid approximately 5 years prior, but had not been sealed properly on installation – and had not received any professional treatment since.

Consequently, the floor had become difficult for the customer to keep clean and it had lost its lustre and coloration due to ingrained dirt. Additionally, recent building works had left thick deposits of plaster on the tiles.

Slate Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning in Milton Keynes

Cleaning a Dirty Slate Tiled Kitchen

To begin restoring the Slate tiles, I applied Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, which is a powerful alkaline-based cleaner for natural stone. I mixed a strong dilution of the product, spread it liberally across the area and left it to dwell for 20 minutes to seep into the pores of the stone.

Next, I scrubbed it into the stone using a brush fitted to a heavy weight rotary machine, before rinsing the floor with a high-pressure water and wet extraction unit.

The next stage of the cleaning process was to get rid of the plaster deposits and some of the heavier stains. To deal with these I needed to apply an even stronger cleaner, known as NanoTech HBU (Heavy Build-Up Remover).

As its name suggests, the product uses nano-sized cleaning particles to penetrate beneath difficult stains to dissolve them and lift them out. I did this in combination with a steamer to help loosen up some of the plaster.

Sealing a Slate Tiled Kitchen

After allowing the floor to dry overnight, I returned to the property the next day to seal the tiles. I did this using five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go, which is a double-action sealer: not only does it provide a robust, topical seal, it also provides a durable low-sheen finish which is aesthetically pleasing.

Slate Kitchen Floor After Cleaning in Milton Keynes

The sealer has done a fantastic job of emphasising all the natural colours in the Slate and the appearance of the entire floor has been lifted. The customer was really pleased with the restoration which certainly had been a long time coming.

Restoration of a Dirty and Stained Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor in Buckinghamshire

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Travertine Tiled Floor After Cleaning Aylesbury

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles Transformed in Aylesbury

Travertine is a type of Limestone which unique and distinctive features, making it a highly sought after and expensive type of natural stone tile. Not only is it a very attractive stone, it’s also a very useful building material. In fact, it’s been used since Ancient Roman times when it was the main component of temples, aqueducts, monuments, bath complexes, and amphitheatres.

In the modern era it remains popular, but to keep Travertine in fantastic condition it is necessary to ensure regular and professional maintenance. In this case seven years after this customer in Aylesbury had a Travertine tiled kitchen floor installed, the stone had significantly declined in appearance. Over time the sealant had worn away, allowing the dirt from everyday life to sink deep into the pores of the floor resulting in dirt becoming ingrained in the pores of the stone that the customer was unable to remove by themselves. Having tried hard to clean the floor to no avail – and keen to see the sheen restored to the tiles – the customer called me in for some expert assistance.

Travertine Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Aylesbury

Burnishing and Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

As with all of our customers, I conducted an initial free on-site survey and demonstration clean for the customer. During the survey, I determined that the sealer had completely broken down and that the best option was to use our Tile Doctor burnishing system to restore the tiles to a like-new appearance. We demonstrated this process, which involves the application of different diamond encrusted pads of varying grit to grind away dirt and refine the polish on the stone, on one of the most badly soiled tiles. The results were very impressive and the customer remarked on how much it transformed the tile.

After provision of a detailed written quote, the customer requested that I complete the service and two weeks later I was back to restore the whole floor.

The process took two days. On day one, I used the Coarse, Medium and Fine diamond burnishing pads to resurface the tile. This process uses water in conjunction with the burnishing pads to gently remove the top layer of the tile, along with any ingrained dirt, old sealer and scratches. Once I had completed the whole floor, I got to work cleaning the grout. For this, I used a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean, our reliable alkaline cleaner, in combination with a handheld scrubbing brush.

I then rinsed the floor, removed any excess water, and allowed it to dry overnight.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

The following day, I returned to the property to seal the floor. Before I could seal it I needed to perform a dry buffing process using the fourth diamond encrusted pad with a Very fine grit. This process closes up the pores in the floor and provide a good quality sheen to the tiles.

Finally, I applied two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal. This is an impregnating sealer that penetrates the tiles to provide maximum stain protection, especially in food preparation and serving areas. This sealer is completely transparent, so it does not affect the natural look of the stone.

Travertine Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Aylesbury

Once the second coat of sealer had dried, I buffed the floor one more time to remove any excess sealer. The customer was absolutely delighted with the result, leaving the following feedback:
“Andrew did an excellent job on our kitchen floor. The tiles are much cleaner than before and I’ve never seen them so shiny! Andrew was professional, knowledgeable, and very polite and friendly. Would not hesitate to recommend him!”

Polishing Travertine Kitchen Tiles back to Health in Buckinghamshire

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