Stone Oil Archives - South Buckinghamshire Tile Doctor

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

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 »