restoration

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before After Renovation Crowthorne

Twenty Year Old Terracotta Floor Renovated in Crowthorne

I was asked to visit a property in Crowthorne near Sandhurst to take a look at a Terracotta tiled floor that was installed twenty years prior and had now become dull and dirty. The client had recently had the house redecorated and attempted to clean the terracotta tiles themselves, however they quickly discover the process was difficult and rather time consuming and thus got in touch with Tile Doctor.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Crowthorne
As part of my visit I carried out a cleaning test on a small patch of Terracotta flooring which they could clearly see made a huge improvement. It was also an opportunity for me to see which products would work best on the tiles which is useful as it means I can create a more accurate quote for renovating the floor. This is specially useful when quoting for Terracotta floors as many are protected with wax coatings which can be a struggle to remove.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Crowthorne
They were more than happy to go ahead with my quote, and a date was arranged to carry out the work. This was just before the COVID-19 epidemic broke out and I manged to get the work done before the lockdown started. Its worth knowing that we have now changed our working practices since then including risk assessments, new PPE and social distancing measures.

Deep Cleaning a Terracotta Tiled Kitchen Floor

To clean the floor and remove old coatings such as sealers etc a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go was sprayed onto the tiles and allowed to dwell for ten minutes. The grout lines were then given a good manual scrub with a stiff grout brush before turning my attention to the Terracotta tiles which were scrubbed mechanically. For this we use a black pad fitted to a rotary buffing machine adding more water as needed to help lubricate the process.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Cleaning Crowthorne
The scrubbing released the dirt from the tiles and the soil was extracted with a low-pressure extraction machine. The client was amazed how much dirt was coming out of the floor. Some of the grout lines and textured inserts needed double treatment due to heavy build-up of sealer. I continued this process until the floor was completely stripped back and clean.

Sealing a Terracotta Tiled Kitchen Floor

Stripped back terracotta is very porous so I allowed the floor to dry out over the weekend to make sure it would be bone dry before sealing. Returning on the Monday I conducted a moisture test with a damp meter to check the floor was dry before starting to apply the sealer. Tile Doctor Seal and Go was used to seal the terracotta, a total of eight coats was applied leaving roughly twenty minutes between coats. Having air movers placed around the room helped with the drying time. Seal and Go is a water-based sealer so it doesn’t leave a smell as it dries, it works very well on Terracotta leaving a subtle sheen to the tile which puts new life in the floor.

Terracotta Tiled Floor After Cleaning Crowthorne
The client was delighted with their new floor and left a lovely testimonial which I have copied below:

“Dennis was punctual, professional and proficient. He was a pleasure to have around. We are delighted with the result of his work and we would have no hesitation in recommending him to friends and family “
Before leaving we discussed recommendations to keep the floor clean and what products to use. To this end a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Floor Cleaner was left for their use. This as its name implies is pH neutral so will ensure the newly applied seals stay in place unlike many acidic household cleaners that can strip the sealer from the floor. It is mild enough to use daily and has a nice fresh smell, so should ensure the integrity of the newly restored floor for some time to come.

Terracotta Tiled Floor After Cleaning Crowthorne
 

Professional Restoration of a Terracotta Tiled Kitchen in Berkshire

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Red Marble Patio Before After Renovation Newbury

Restoring a Large Red Marble Patio at a Newbury Villa

I recently had a call out to an unusual property in Newbury to renovate a large Red Marble Patio. The design of the house was clearly inspired by the Mediterranean and resembled a Spanish Villa. The UK winter had not been very kind to the large Red Marble patio and now looked faded and lifeless.

Marble Tiled Patio Before Renovation Newbury

I inspected the patio and could see that it had been previously sealed with a topical product that had deteriorated in parts over time leaving the stone looking patchy and dull. After having the same stone installed throughout the interior of the property she wanted to know if the exterior stone could be renovated to match.

To get a better idea of what it would take to complete the work and produce an accurate quote I ran some cleaning tests on a spare tile. The demonstration went very well, and it gave the client a good idea of the outcome they could expect. Happy with the potential result and my quote I was booked to return and complete the renovation.

Marble Tiled Patio Before Renovation Newbury

Cleaning a Red Marble Tiled Patio in Newbury

This was a large Patio to clean so I worked in sections and starting with brushing and vacuuming to remove all the surface dirt and debris that could impact the stone burnishing process. Then using water for lubrication, I started refinishing the Marble with a very coarse 100-grit diamond pad fitted to a weighted rotary machine. This pad cut through the layers of remaining topical sealant that had built up on the surface of the stone. After a rinse with more water I followed this with a less coarse 200-grit pad. I found that in some areas, such as along the edges of the tile, a thick build-up of old sealer needed to be weakened first using Tile Doctor Remove and Go before the pads could cut through.

Marble Tiled Patio During Renovation Newbury

Once the old seal had been removed, I could focus on burnishing the stone which is a polishing process that hones the stone and brings back its polished appearance. I did this using a set of diamond burnishing pads starting with a 400-grit pad and working my way through the sequence of pads with 800 and 1500-grit. The pads are applied using a rotary floor buffer and again lubricated with water, the stone is rinsed with water afterwards and the slurry picked up with a wet vacuum. The last pad to be applied is an extra fine 3000-grit pad which leaves the stone with a good sheen, the pad is applied dry with only a little water sprayed onto the tile.

Marble Tiled Patio Before Renovation Newbury

Sealing a Red Marble Tiled Patio

I returned the following morning to check the stone had thoroughly dried and could be sealed. Fortunately, the warm weather had persisted, and I was able to finish the stone with three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This sealer is known for bringing out the natural colours in stone and it didn’t disappoint making the deep red colours in the Marble really stand out against the white veins. Colour grow is also an impregnating sealer that seeps into the pores of the stone protecting it from within and will fare much better protecting the stone in the UK elements.

Marble Tiled Patio After Renovation Newbury

This burnishing and sealing process was repeated in the numerous areas that made up the entire patio except for the stairs which had to be done using the same method but with a handheld polisher as the rotary machine was simply too large. Being external the work was weather dependant and so had to be done in stages as it rained between visits and the stone had to be left to dry out again before continuing. This slowed up the process, but we got there once the weather had improved.

Marble Tiled Patio Before Renovation Newbury Marble Tiled Patio During Renovation Newbury

Overall the client was very pleased with the work and was happy that both the newly installed interior and the rejuvenated old stone looked uniform.

For aftercare I recommended the use the Tile Doctor Stone Soap Cleaner which will clean and help maintain the patina on the stone, also it won’t prematurely erode the sealer like more aggressive cleaning products you find in supermarkets.

Marble Tiled Patio After Renovation Newbury

 

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Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor before and after Restoration Caversham Reading

Screed and Bitumen Covered Victorian Tiled Floor Caversham

Details below of a floor I recently worked on where my client had removed the linoleum that covered the hallway floor and discovered an original Victorian Tiled floor buried underneath bitumen which had been used an adhesive, there was also some leveling screed that would need removing. The house was situated in Caversham Reading, Berkshire which lies on the north bank of the River Thames, opposite the rest of Reading.

Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor Before Restoration Caversham Reading
She had been renovating the whole house when she came across it and realising the value an original feature like this could add to the property was keen to restore it. Having tried several methods to remove the bitumen herself she realised it was too difficult and messy to do and decided to call in some help.

Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor Before Restoration Caversham Reading
Tile Doctor have successfully restored bitumen covered Victorian floors before and being their local agent, I was asked to look at the floor. I went round to take a look and ran a number of tests primarily to demonstrate it could be done and also, so I could work out the best method to clean the floor and therefore provide the customer with an accurate quote.

Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor Before Restoration Caversham Reading
Victorian tiles are very durable and having worked on similar floors before I was confident the tiles could be restored to a satisfactory state and be returned to its former glory. We discussed the process and a price and then scheduled the work to be done.

Removing Screed and Bitumen from Victorian Hallway Tiles

The first job was to apply protective tape around surrounding area to protect the wooden skirting etc. from splashing. Then I took a scraper and mallet to carefully chip away at the screed parts of the floor and remove it to expose the tiles underneath. Once this was done I could start with the more difficult task of dealing with the thick build-up of bitumen.

Bitumen is a horrible sticky black substance that required a fair bit of time and different methods to remove. My first method was to apply a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go, leaving it to dwell and work on breaking down the bitumen before scrubbing it in. This product is particularly good at breaking down old sealers and paint and although it made an impact I could see that I would need something with a bit more punch to finish the job, so I decided to try Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU remover.

The Nanotech HBU (Heavy Build Up) Remover was generously applied in small sections adding more as the product began to dry. After about twenty minutes I could see the HBU had weakened the bitumen making it soft enough that it could be worked off the tile using a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine running at slow speed. With the bitumen now turned to a messy slurry I removed the substance with a wet vacuum. I then gave the floor a thorough rinse using a hot water extraction machine operating at low pressure that runs from a compressor in my van. This machine was an expensive investment however it makes light work of rinsing floors.

The tiles looked great after the initial rinse, but I could see the black dye from the bitumen had bled into the surface of the tile. However, us Tile Doctors are well trained and have a solution for every problem and I was able to remove these spots using a 100-grit followed by a 200-grit milling pad fitted to the rotary machine. After yet another rinse the tiles were looking fantastic and I left the floor to dry out.

Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor After Cleaning Caversham Reading

Sealing a Restored Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Originally the plan was to return five days later to seal but with other works going on in the house and the hallway being in constant use I decided to wait until that had completed requesting that the floor was covered up in order to protect it.

Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor After Restoration Caversham Reading
Two weeks later I returned to the house and gave the floor a quick inspection to make sure all was well before sealing. All was well, the floor just need a quick vacuum to remove dust and was able to proceed with the sealing. The customer wanted a matt finish, so I opted to use Tile Doctor Colour Grow, a colour intensive impregnating sealer that works by occupying the pores in the tile preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. Three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow left the tiles looking rich and vibrant. Both the porch and the hallway now look inviting.

Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor After Restoration Caversham Reading
Overall the customer was over the moon with the final result and was glad she decided to have it restored rather than replaced.

Bitumen Covered Victorian Floor After Restoration Caversham Reading
 

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Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles before and after Cleaning Reading

Soiled Yellow and Black Victorian Quarry Tile Restoration

These Yellow and Black Quarry tiles are though to be original feature of this Victorian house in Reading and the owner was keen to get them renovated. The tiles were in basement of the house and over the years the tiles had suffered from water damage due to various small floods, they were now heavily soiled and the most challenging task would be to remove a large build up of mortar and cement.

Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles Before Cleaning Reading Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles Before Cleaning Reading

I ran a test clean in a corner of the smallest room to demonstrate the cleaning process and although confident I could significantly improve the appearance of the Quarry tiles. I had to explain to my customer that due to the years of neglect the outcome would not be perfect, however the test clean went well and the customer was happy with the outcome so booked me in to do the work.

Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles Before Cleaning Reading

Soiled Quarry Tile Cleaning

The first issue to tackle was to remove the dirt and ingrain soil which I did by scrubbing in a strong mix of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong tile and grout cleaner. The solution was left to soak in before ten minutes before being agitated with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine. I then rinsed off the now soiled cleaning solution off using a hot water truck mounted extraction system.

Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles During Cleaning Reading
Now the ingrained dirt was taken care of, the most difficult task was to remove the cement/mortar built up that was covering a high percentage of the tiles. I did this using a combination of Tile Doctor products including Grout Clean-Up, Acid Gel and 50,100 grit diamond pads. I started with Grout Clean-up but found that Acid Gel worked better on this occasion. To deal with stubborn areas I left the Acid Gel to dwell overnight covered with plastic sheeting so it wouldn’t dry out.

The Acid Gel worked wonders and I was able to complete the cleaning process when I came back the next day giving the floor another rinse with the hot water extraction system. With the quarry tiles now clear I able to do a final spot check and used hand held burnishing blocks and very coarse 50 grit milling pad followed by a 100 grit diamond pad and another rinse to finish it off.

Quarry Tile Sealing

After leaving the floor to dry out over the weekend it was ready to be sealed. We had agreed on giving the Quarry Tiles a matt finish so I used three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a fully breathable colour enhancing sealer that works well on old clay tiles.

Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles After Cleaning Reading Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles After Cleaning Reading

I’m happy to say the floor turned out very well considering its condition, certainly my customer was very happy with the outcome and left the following feed back on the Tile Doctor Feedback system.

“Fantastic job – completely revived our Victorian cellar tiles, the before and after photos accurately show the difference the work has made! Also impressed by Dennis’s communication and responsiveness to our needs with the work”.

Yellow and Black Quarry Tiles After Cleaning Reading
 

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Antalya Limestone After Cleaning

Cleaning Antalya Limestone Tiles in Reading

I don’t mind a few stairs but these Antalya Limestone tiles were installed in a flat at the top of a three storey residential block in Reading with no lift. The sealer had worn down over time which was making the floor hard to clean and always looking dirty.

Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Floor

To clean the floor we applied a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a heavy duty alkaline cleaning product specially designed for cleaning stone floors. This was left to dwell for a while and then agitated using a rotary machine fitted with a Black Scrubbing pad. The soiled solution was then removed using a wet vacuum and the floor was then rinsed down with fresh clean water.

Antalya Limestone During Cleaning

Limestone Tiled Floor Polishing

We used a set of diamond encrusted Twister Burnishing Pads fitted to a rotary buffing machine to polish the Limestone floor. These pads are ideal for restoring the shine on hard stone surfaces such as Limestone and Marble, the come in a set of four and you start with the Red pad together with plain water and this cuts through and removes surface grime and any surface seal. You then progress through one by one until you get to the final Green pad which provides a high polish.

Sealing Limestone Tiles

Once the floor was dry I sealed it using two coats of Tile Doctor Pro-Seal which is a penetrating sealer that provides a natural look and will help protect the floor going forward.

Antalya Limestone After Cleaning
 

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