Wokingham Tile Cleaning

Wokingham Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find examples of the cleaning and renovation of tiles carried out in Wokingham.

Polishing Marble Floors Wokingham Berkshire

Marble Floor Repolished in Wokingham Show Home

I had a call out late last year to a property in the market town of Wokingham to survey a dull Marble floor which was installed throughout most of the ground floor. It turns out that the house was only built two years prior and had been the show home for a new development. The owner explained to me that to show off the potential of the new homes the developer had installed quality materials throughout, particularly the marble flooring, however the property had seen more than its fair share of foot traffic because of it.

Marble Floor Before Polishing Wokingham Marble Floor Before Polishing Wokingham

Two years of wear later and the owner was concerned with how dull the Marble floor was and the appearance of small circular stains which had appeared throughout. I explained that Marble which is made from calcium is easily etched by the use of acidic cleaning products and that most tile cleaners you purchase in supermarkets are really only for use on Ceramic or Vinyl floor tiles. I suspect any sealer used on the floor to protect the stone had also been worn away for the same reason resulting in the now dull appearance.

Marble Floor Before Polishing Wokingham Marble Floor Before Polishing Wokingham

After explaining the process, I would use for burnishing the Marble to deep clean and restore the shine I measured up and worked out a quotation. I received a message later that evening comforting they would like to go ahead, and a date was booked in.

Cleaning and Polishing a Marble Tiled Floor

I should mention that this job was carried out in compliance with the Covid-19 restrictions to ensure it was a safe working environment for both myself and the customer. This includes the wearing of full PPE equipment, increasing air circulation, and ensuring we kept our distance.

My first task was to protect the skirting and the fitted kitchen units from splashing by applying protective sheeting. Once this was done, I turned my attention to the grout which had become dark in places in accumulated dirt. To do this I used a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong alkaline cleaner specifically designed to break down soils, grease and oils on Tile and Stone. The cleaner was sprayed onto the grout lines and left to soak in for a few minutes before being scrubbed in by hand. Some of the grout needed more attention than others and once done the soil was rinsed off the floor with water and extracted using a wet vacuum.

Now the grout was cleaned I moved onto polishing the Marble floor tiles. I did this using the Tile Doctor four stage diamond burnishing system. This consists of applying a sequence of four refinishing pads fitted to a weighed buffing machine. You start with a coarse 400-grit pad and working through to a fine 1500-grit pad, each time removing the stone slurry with a wet vacuum. This process removed the acidic etching and repolished the surface of the Marble to a nice shine. I worked in sections room by room and then left the floors to fully dry off overnight.

Sealing Marble Tiled Flooring

I returned the next day and using a damp meter took a few readings from the floor to check the moisture levels to ensure it was dry and ready to be sealed. Before sealing though I went over the floor with a very fine 3000-grit pad which is applied dry with a little water sprayed onto to the floor, this final pad further builds up the polish and achieve the appearance desired by the customer.

Marble Floor After Polishing Wokingham Marble Floor After Polishing Wokingham

Last step was to seal the floor with Tile Doctor Colour Grow, a colour enhancing seal designed to bring out the natural colours in the stone whilst adding protection from liquid and oil spills. Impregnating sealers like Colour Grow work by occupying the tiny pores in the stone thus preventing contaminates from becoming ingrained in them.

Marble Floor After Polishing Wokingham Marble Floor After Polishing Wokingham

The customer could not believe with how well the floor had come up and were pleased they finally had the floor they had been promised prior to moving in. For aftercare I left them with a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is designed for the regular cleaning of tiled floors.

 

Professional Renovation of a Polished Marble Flooring in Berkshire

Marble Floor Repolished in Wokingham Show Home Read More »

Acid Damaged Polished Limestone Floor before and after Restoration Wokingham

Limestone tiled floor Damaged by Citric Acid Restored in a Wokingham

The photographs on this page show the spot restoration of an acid damaged newly installed Limestone tiled floor at a medieval cottage in the historic town on Wokingham, Berkshire. It seems the customer accidentally spilled lime cordial on honed surface leaving dull stain spots on about six to eight tiles.

Acid Damaged Polished Limestone Floor Wokingham Before Restoration
After attempting to remove the damage themselves using a variation of different sealers the customer accepted defeat and contacted Tile Doctor to see if the issue could be resolved. If not, they were considering replacing the floor.

Acid Damaged Polished Limestone Floor Before Restoration Wokingham
Being the local Tile Doctor for the area I was asked to take a look and advise the customer. I explained that the dull spots had appeared because the surface tension of the limestone had been damaged from the citric acidic in the cordial. The affected tiles would essentially need to be re-polished; the customer was eager to see if I could resolve the issue and get all the tiles to be as uniform as possible.

Spot Polishing a Limestone tiled floor

My first task was to identify which tiles needed re-polishing with burnishing pads as once I got going it would be tricky to spot them; I did this by simply leaving post it notes on the affected areas.

Acid Damaged Polished Limestone Floor Wokingham Before Restoration
To restore the appearance of the Limestone tiles I started with a 400 grit 3-inch pad fitted to a handheld flex machine. You can’t actually buy these 3 inch pads, they are found in the centre of the large 17 inch floor pads. The 400-grit pad is quite abrasive and needs to be applied with water to lubricate. I then followed the 4-stage burnishing process increasing the surface tension with each pad used this to leave the tile with a good sheen and most importantly a uniform appearance with the surrounding tiles.

Acid Damaged Polished Limestone Floor Wokingham During Restoration
The Burnishing pads are actually loaded with industrial diamonds and you apply them in sequence starting with the coarse 400 grit pad before moving onto the medium 800 grit pad, fine 1,500 grit pad and then finally the super fine 3,000 grit pad which really brings up the shine. You have to rinse with water between each pad to remove the slurry that is generated. The final 3,000 grit pad is applied with very little water and so the floor is dry when completed.

Spot Sealing a Limestone Tiled Floor

The last step was to carefully re-seal the tiles that had been burnished so they would blend in with the rest of the floor. I decided on Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal for this, it’s an impregnating sealer that doesn’t alter the colour of the stone leaving them with a natural look.

The process went well and was completed in around four hours, my customer was very happy with the result and left the following testimonial on the Tile Doctor feedback system

“We felt very comfortable with the recommended course of action and Mr Buckland inspired confidence so we were happy to let him get on with the remedy.”

Acid Damaged Polished Limestone Floor During Restoration Wokingham
 

Spot Treating Acid Damaged Limestone Floor Tiles in Berkshire

Limestone tiled floor Damaged by Citric Acid Restored in a Wokingham Read More »

Travertine Floor before and after Repolishing

Travertine Floor Re-polish in Hook

Photographs below of a Travertine tiled floor we were asked to re-polish in the kitchen of a house in the village of Hook in Hampshire. The main problem was the floor had been sealed very badly and made worse when the tiler tried to rectify the problem leaving a dull and stained floor.

Travertine Floor Before Repolishing

Stripping and Re-Polishing Travertine

To strip the sealer from the floor and get it back to the original condition we used a set of diamond encrusted Burnishing Pads fitted to a rotary machine. You start with a Red stripper pad with water to remove the sealer, moving onto the White, Yellow and Green pads which polish the floor. Once the surface was restored we applied two coats of Tile Doctor Pro-Seal which is a premium, no-sheen, natural look, water based, penetrating sealer formulated to provide maximum stain protection to the Travertine and the Grout.

The customer was over the moon at the finish and I’m sure the tiler breathed a big sigh of relief as well.

Travertine Floor After Repolishing
 

Re-Polishing a Travertine tiled kitchen floor in Hook, Hampshire

Travertine Floor Re-polish in Hook Read More »

=================================

Berkshire Tile Doctor

================================= Read More »

Scroll to Top