Pro-Clean Archives - South Buckinghamshire Tile Doctor

Limescale Stained Slate Shower Floor Renovated Penn

Removing Limescale from Slate Wet Room Tiles in Penn

This is a great example of what we can achieve with very stained Slate Tiles so well worth sharing. The customer was from Penn in Buckinghamshire and as you can see from the photo below the Slate tiled floor in their wet room was heavily stained with thick limescale mainly around the shower trap where the water collects.

Limescale Stained Slate Shower Floor Before Cleaning Penn

Buckinghamshire is known for its hard water problems which basically means the water contains high levels of calcium carbonate. These deposits are carried in the water and left on the tiles after each shower resulting in Limescale. You can reduce the problem by installing a water softener and it can be dissolved using some of the strong products you find in supermarkets however these are acidic and can etch natural stone if you are not careful. Always read the label!

In this case my customer had just moved into the house and wanted to improve the look of the bathroom and then eventually they planned to change the whole bathroom itself, but in the meantime wanted it cleaned and restored.

Cleaning a Slate Tiled Shower Floor

To renovate the Slate tiles, I started with the application of a strong dilution of an alkaline product made by Tile Doctor called Pro-Clean. This is a great grout cleaner and when used as a strong dilution it will also strip off any sealer remaining on the Slate.

I used the usual method of spraying the Pro-Clean onto the tile and grout and leaving it to soak in for at least ten minutes so it can get to work. It was then scrubbed in with hand tools and an 80-grit silicon carbide brush which is a very effective combination. This gave the stone a deep clean and removed some of the thick limescale on the tiles which was rinsed off with water.

Once the floor had been cleaned and stripped back, I used another Tile Doctor product called Grout Clean-up which is an acidic cleaner and is applied in the same way. Because the build-up of Limescale was so thing I found that a lot of pressure was needed when scrubbing the tiles and, in some areas, I needed to use a scrapper to take off the top layer.

Sealing a Slate Tiled Shower Floor

After cleaning off all the limescale and giving the stone a good rinse, I dried the floor using a white rag and left it to dry off so it would dry enough for sealing. After giving the floor time to dry I used tile doctors oil-based sealer called X-Tra seal putting down a thick coat and allowing the tiles to soak up the sealer. After some time, the floor was then buffed with a cloth to remove the excess and then a second coat was applied.

Limescale Stained Slate Shower Floor After Cleaning Penn

X-Tra Seal adds the oil back into the stone which restores the dark tones and bring out the natural colour in the Slate, its also rated for external use so will cope well with the damp conditions of the wet room. After that coat had dried a 6-inch 1500-grit buffing pad was used to remove excess sealer and add a slight sheen to the floor.

The fresh sealer should make the Slate less prone to limescale deposits however its not going to prevent the problem indefinitely. Also, for the aftercare of sealed shower tiles, I recommend Aqua-Pro which is a mild cleaning product designed for regular use and won’t harm the sealer like many of the stronger products you find in supermarkets.

Professional Restoration of a Slate Tiled Shower in South Buckinghamshire

Removing Limescale from Slate Wet Room Tiles in Penn Read More »

Porcelain Tile and Grout Renovation Chalfont St Peter

End of Tenancy Renovation of Porcelain Tile and Grout in Chalfont St Peter

1 Comment / Chalfont St. Giles Tile Cleaning, Gerrards Cross Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning / Jack Day

I recently paid a visit to a rental property in Chalfont St Peter which had Porcelain tiled floor which needed an End of Tenancy Clean. Porcelain tiling is a great choice for a rental property as its very to maintain however in this case it was the grout that was letting the floor down.

Porcelain Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Chalfont St Peter

It seems the previous tenant had tried using a white grout pen to colour the grout lines when they first moved in and since then the colourant has started flaking off resulting in a very patchy appearance and the exposed grout becoming darker.

The client wanted me to come in and clean the floor and to make the grout lines unison. The property wasn’t going to be rented out again as the owner was planning to move back in after living abroad for several years.

Deep Cleaning Porcelain Tile and Grout

On the first day I started giving the Porcelain tile and grout a much needed deep clean using a Rocky floor machine fitted with a Silicon Carbide brush and lubricated with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. Carbide brushes are perfect for hard floor cleaning and in this case had the additional advantage of cleaning away the flaky grout pen.

This cleaning process was applied section by section vacuuming up the slurry with a wet vacuum along the way. I then hand scrubbed the grout lines with Grout Colourant Pre-Treat Cleaner which is an effective ready-to-use cleaner designed to lightly etch the surface of the grout to ensure a better adhesion with the colourant. It also removes dirt, soil, soap scum and hard water deposits from grout joints. Once everywhere had been treated I mopped the floor with Neutral Tile Cleaner, rinsed with water, extracted with the wet vacuum again before finally leaving the floor to dry off overnight.

Applying White Grout Colourant to a Porcelain Tiled Floor

On day two I knew my main problem would be making sure that the White grout colourant was able to adhere to those areas of grout that had been coloured with the pen. I didn’t have to worry though as it worked perfectly. The application basically involves using a small brush to push the colourant into the grout lines and gently cleaning up the edge of the tiles to remove the excess colourant before it can dry.

After the first coat dried it brighten the floor massively however in some of areas you could still make out the old from the new so I needed to give the grout lines a second coat using the same technique as before. Once the second coat had been applied, I allowed it to settle and go off before giving the floor a check over to make sure I was happy with the result.

Porcelain Tiled Floor After Cleaning Chalfont St Peter

My customer was over the moon with the difference and was much relieved that the floor had been restored after the condition the previous tenants had left it in.

Professional Grout Restoration Services in Buckinghamshire

End of Tenancy Renovation of Porcelain Tile and Grout in Chalfont St Peter Read More »

Black Limestone Patio Renovation Gerrards Cross

Dull Black Limestone Patio Renovated in Gerrards Cross

1 Comment / Gerrards Cross Tile Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing / Jack Day

This customer from Gerrards Cross contacted me about their Black Limestone patio which had not been laid that long ago but was already in need of attention. Having spoken to the owner on the phone I arranged to visit the property so I could assess the issues in full and prepare a quote.

Black Limestone Patio Before Renovation Gerrards Cross

I visited the property to survey the patio and could immediately see that the Black Limestone flags looked washed out and grey, nothing like the beautiful dark stone he was expecting. It was clear that the installers hadn’t done anything to the stone after laying the patio, excess grout (grout haze) needed removing and no protective sealer had been applied resulting in staining from plant pots and spillages.

I recommended a restorative treatment involving deep cleaning, removing the grout smears, oiling to restore texture and the application of a colour enhancing sealer. This process would restore its original appearance and get the patio looking as it should.

Happy to hear the situation could be resolved my quote was accepted and a date scheduled for the work to begin.

Cleaning and Restoring a Black Limestone Tiled Patio

I arrived on the first day and started by helping the customer move furniture off the patio so I had a clear work area. Then work started off by scrubbing the stone with a Rocky floor machine fitted with a silicon carbide brush. This action gets into the stone giving them a deep clean, with the brush I also applied Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong alkaline cleaner and left that down for fifteen minutes to soak in first. With the dirt released from the stone onto the surface a wet vacuum is used to hoover up the resultant slurry.

Once cleaned the patio was inspected and I could see there was still evidence of grout haze on the Limestone so I used a 400-grit burnishing pad with water to take if off and then left the patio to dry out overnight ready for sealing. This work as actually carried out in the summer of 2022 so the weather wasn’t a problem.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Patio

On the second day work started by checking the moisture readings of the Limestone tiles using a damp meter. The readings were within tolerance so I was able to apply an initial coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer which is a colour enhancing impregnator that soaks into the pores of the stone. A very thick first coat was applied and allowed to soak in which it did very quickly.

This was then followed by a thick coat of Tile Doctor Stone Oil and allowed to soak in for roughly an hour before buffing it with a cloth to collect any excess residue. The Stone Oil gave the tiles a very deep black colour which seeped into the stone and this is exactly the appearance my customer wanted. It was quite the transformation from the dull washed-out looking patio that was here before.

Black Limestone Patio After Renovation Gerrards Cross

Finally, I applied a third and final coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal resulting in a resilient sandwich of coatings that should keep the stones appearance for some time to come. This last coat was applied using a microfibre cloth allowing it to seep into the stone. Once I felt the Black Limestone had dried sufficiently, I used a white buffing pad to buff over the patio and remove any residue.

The customer was very happy with his new patio and recommended me to a neighbour who had a similar problem with their patio.

Professional Restoration of a Black Limestone Patio in Buckinghamshire

Dull Black Limestone Patio Renovated in Gerrards Cross Read More »

Victorian Porch Tiles Renovated in Chesham

Cracked Victorian Hallway and Porch floor tiles Restored in Chesham

1 Comment / Amersham Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / Jack Day

This client from Chesham got in touch due to cracked and chipped Victorian tiles in their hallway. The Victorian floor tiles in both the hall and the outside porch were over 150 years old and many of them needed replacing and relaying, they also wanted the floor to be cleaned and sealed.

Victorian Tiled Porch Floor Before Restoration Chesham

They were keen to spruce up the entrance area to the property and ensure it retained its original appearance in keeping with the age of the property. I visited site to check what needed to be done and gave them a quote for the work which they were happy to accept.

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway and Porch Floor

Arriving on day one of a four-day job I marked out which tiles would need replacing as the client wanted to only do this kind of job once so any tiles with a chip or crack in had to be replaced. Fortunately, we were able to source a good range of reclamation and reproduction tiles so finding replacements to match is not too difficult. In total 90 tiles need replacing and work began by cutting out the grout lines around the broken tiles then drilling through the middle to stop any other tiles breaking around it and carefully removing them.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor During Restoration Chesham

We were able to remove all the damaged tiles on day one so the morning of day two began with measuring, cutting, and placing in the replacement tiles to be fixed in later that day using a flexible Mapie adhesive. With the repairs out of the way and the replacements now firmly fixed in place we would be able to start the cleaning on day three.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway and Porch Floor

To deep clean the Victorian tiles a high alkaline cleaner called Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was sprayed onto the floor, left to soak in for ten minutes and then scrubbed in with a rotary floor buffer fitted with a Black pad. A wet vacuum was then used to hoover up the slurry.

Next step was to treat the tiles to an acid rinse to neutralise any latent alkaline salts in the floor that might lead to efflorescence later and further clean up the tiles by removing grout hazing. I used Tile Doctors Acid Gel for this and worked it in this time with a coarse 200-grit diamond pad. After another rinse and extraction using the wet vacuum.

To further improve the appearance of the tiles and blend the replacement tiles in with the original I continued the cleaning with finer grades of diamond burnishing pads until satisfied the floor was as good as it could be. Afterwards the floor was given a light mop with Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to remove any dust etc and left it to dry off for a couple of hours. At the end of day 3 it was dry enough to accept a single base coat of Tile Doctors Colour Grow, this is a colour enhancing sealer that will help blend the new and old tiles and give a uniformed look.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway and Porch Floor

Day 4 the final day of the job I arrived and buffed over the floor with a White pad to get rid of any wet patches from putting the sealer down the day before. Then I applied two coats of using Tile Doctors X-Tra Seal onto the floor leaving a good hour in between each coat for the seal to soak into the pores of the tile and create a nice hard layer to protect them. Once both coats had dried, I went over the floor with a 3000-grit pad to give the floor a slight shine.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Restoration Chesham

The client was very happy with the finished result and before leaving I took time to recommend the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner for on-going cleaning. It’s a neutral pH cleaner that’s ideal for the regular cleaning of sealed tiles, supermarket cleaning products are generally too strong for this job and will erode the sealer.

Victorian Tiled Porch Floor After Restoration Chesham

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway and Porch in Buckinghamshire

Cracked Victorian Hallway and Porch floor tiles Restored in Chesham Read More »

Smooth Indian Sandstone Kitchen Floor Renovation Gerard's Cross

Smooth Indian Sandstone Kitchen Floor Transformed in Gerrards Cross

1 Comment / Gerrards Cross Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning / Jack Day

This client in Gerrard’s Cross wanted to be able to see the different colours and features in their Sandstone Kitchen floor and to remove the ring marks which you can see in the photograph. They had just moved into the house in and loved the Stone floor but soon realised the previous owners hadn’t taken much care of it. They tried a selection of supermarket products to clean the floor but none of them made much of difference.

Smooth Indian Sandstone Floor Before Cleaning Gerrards Cross

I carried out a site visit and it was clear to me that what was once a light Sandstone have literally darkened with all the dirt it had absorbed. I was confident that the dark stone could be deep cleaned and lightened to give them what they wanted, and then protected with a fresh sealer to ensure it remained that way. I worked out a quotation which they agreed to, and we arranged a date for the work to start.

Deep Cleaning a Sandstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

Day one of the work started by deep cleaning the Indian Sandstone tiles and removing as much of the dirt that become stuck in the pores of the stone as possible. To do this the floor was wetted with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is our go to tile and grout cleaning product.

After leaving it to soak in for ten minutes the solution was scrubbed int the stone and grout using a rotary floor buffer which was setup with a black scrubbing pad. This action drew the dirt and any remaining old sealer out to the surface where the soiling could be extracted with a wet vacuum.

The next step was to refinish the surface of the stone using a set of Tile Doctor’s Diamond Burnishing Pads. Starting with a 400-grit pad to remove the ring marks in the floor created from plant pots and then continuing through the different grits from 800 to 1500 grit which gave the floor a natural sheen and then a 3000-grit pad to finish. The floor is rinsed with water between pads and the slurry generated extracted with the wet vacuum as before.

The lower grit pads are applied with water to help lubricate the process however the last pad is applied almost dry with only a little water sprayed onto the floor so by the time the process in completed its well on its way to being dry.

Sealing a Sandstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

I left the floor to fully dry off overnight and came back the next day to apply the sealer. Before starting thought I gave the floor another run over with the 3,000-grit pad just to tighten the pores before sealing.

To seal two coats of Tile Doctors Ultra-Seal were applied, this is an almost invisible product recommended for use in food preparation areas that leaves the stone in a natural finish which was the effect my client had requested. They had long French patio doors leading onto the garden and wanted to allow as much light in as possible because before the floor was cleaned the room was quite dark.

After allowing the seal to soak into the Indian sandstone I gave the floor one last buff with a fresh 3000 grit pad to burnish more of a natural sheen onto the floor and to bring out the colour definition.

Smooth Indian Sandstone Floor After Cleaning Gerrards Cross

Once complete the floor was transformed from dark to light and looked so much cleaner. My client was very impressed by the work and surprised at how different the floor looked with the colours coming through and said she would recommend me to her friends and family in the area.

For after care I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is a gentle cleaner that won’t degrade the sealer and will help keep the patina on the stone. Most supermarket tile cleaning products are simply too strong for a sealed floor so it’s always worth checking the label in detail before buying.

Professional Renovation of an Indian Sandstone Tiled Sandstone floor in South Buckinghamshire

Smooth Indian Sandstone Kitchen Floor Transformed in Gerrards Cross Read More »

Dirty Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Amersham

20-Year-Old Travertine Kitchen Floor Give Deep Clean and Seal in Amersham

1 Comment / Amersham Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Jack Day

This client from Amersham contacted us regarding their Travertine Kitchen floor which they were simply not able to keep clean. Frustratingly any spillage went straight into the floor and stained the tiles. I called them to discuss the problem and offered to come round and survey the floor which is a free service we offer.

I can provide a quote over the phone, but my preference is to visit and test different cleaning products and techniques on the floor before quoting. Doing it this way allows me to work out an accurate quote and gives the customer the confidence I can resolve their problems.

After agreeing a suitable time to call I visited the property and could instantly see that their main problem was the sealer protecting their Kitchen tiles had failed and as described dirt was becoming stuck in the pores of the stone. Natural stone like Travertine is porous and without a sealer in place dirt becomes lodged in its pores where is becomes very difficult to shift.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Deep Cleaning Amersham

The kitchen was stunning but let down by the dirty floor which had been installed around twenty years ago when a new extension has been added to the property. Typically, a sealer should last between three and five years depending on use and what cleaning products are used to maintain it, so it wasn’t surprising that the original sealer had worn off.

I quoted for deep cleaning the floor including the removal of the old sealer and then applying a robust impregnating sealer which is recommended for Travertine. Happy with the price we scheduled a date for the work to be done.

Deep Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

On the first day the floor was given a thorough deep clean using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, this product is our go to Tile and Grout Cleaner and when used in a strong dilution is strong enough to remove sealers. You find with sealers that they wear down first in the busiest sections of the floor so its important to remove all the sealer from across the floor or you end up with layering.

Pro-Clean is a strong alkaline cleaning product and it’s sprayed onto the tile and grout and then left for ten minutes before working it in, this allows it time to soak into the pores and start breaking down the dirt.

The floor is then scrubbed using a Rocky floor machine fitted with a series of diamond burnishing pads of increasing grits. This process generates a lot of soiling, and this is hoovered up with a wet vacuum after each pad.

The work begins with a coarse 400-grit burnishing pad which strips the Travertine and I work up to a 3000-grit pad which really brings up the finish of the stone to a slight sheen as the client requested. The floor was then left overnight to dry.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

On day two I started on the sealing process first checking that the floor had dried sufficiently to accept the sealer. After discussing sealer options with the client earlier they had expressed a preference for a natural look, so I chose to apply a sealer called Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which doesn’t colour the stone in any way and is almost undetectable.

Ultra-Seal is an impregnating sealer that works by soaking into the pores of the stone occupying the space and thereby preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. Two coats were applied with a microfibre cloth allowing it to soak into the tile for a few hours before walking on it.

Once the seal had dried, I went over the tiles again with the 3000-grit pad which buffs of any excess sealant and brings up the sheen. Now with the floor being completely protected with Tile Doctor Ultra Seal the client shouldn’t have any problem with spillages which can be simply wiped away.

Travertine Kitchen Floor After Deep Cleaning Sealing Amersham

Once finished the deep pitted dirt was gone and the floor looked much lighter and cleaner. My client was very impressed with the transformation and has recommended us to her friend who also lives in Amersham and has a similar stone floor.

I mentioned earlier that a sealer’s life can be impacted by the product you use for regular cleaning, it’s a fact that most supermarket tile cleaners are simply too strong and can damage the sealer so before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning and for Travertine, I recommend the use of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which as well as gently cleaning the stone also helps maintain the patina.

Professional Restoration of a Travertine Tiled Kitchen in South Buckinghamshire

20-Year-Old Travertine Kitchen Floor Give Deep Clean and Seal in Amersham Read More »