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Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Renovated Margate Kent

Badly Maintained Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Margate

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Margate Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / abzdominise

These photos are of a Travertine tiled floor installed in the kitchen of a property in Margate. The floor had sadly not been maintained correctly over the years and was now looking very dirty which is quite common with travertine due to the porous nature of its surface. Any sealer that may have been present on the floor had long since worn off with wear and now dirt had heavily penetrated the pores making it difficult to keep clean and giving it a flat, lifeless appearance.

Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Margate

The client was looking to revive the floor and was specifically unhappy with what appeared dull looking marks all over the floor and the grout lines which were heavily ingrained with dirt and had now become black.

Travertine is a natural stone material that has unique colours and features that no other stone can offer. The distinctive designs and natural patterns found within travertine make it very popular as a flooring material and if treated properly it can look beautiful. I discussed with the client what Tile Doctor could do to improve the appearance of the floor, we agreed the cost and organised a date to get started.

Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

Before starting the first process of cleaning I some some time protected the wooden skirting and kitchen units with decorator’s plastic sheeting to ensure they did not get damaged. The floor was then burnished using a set of Tile Doctor diamond encrusted burnishing pads of different grits.

Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor During Cleaning Margate

I started with a coarse 200-grit pad which was applied to the tiles with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to add lubrication and extra cleaning power, then after running the pad over each tile at least three times the floor was rinsed with fresh water and the resultant slurry extracted. This process was repeated through the different pads using only water for lubrication, grits included 400-grit, 800-grit and finished on the 1500-grit.

Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor During Polishing Margate

The grout lines were then hand scrubbed using more Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a multi-purpose alkaline cleaner which is very effective in lifting dirt from tile and grout. I then rinsed the now soiled cleaning solution off the floor with water which was then extracted using the wet vacuum. Once I was satisfied with the tile and grout it was left dry off fully overnight.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor in Margate

On my return the next day I applied the last of the burnishing pads which is an extra fine 3000-grit pad which really brings up the polish on the stone. This pad is applied dry with only a little water sprayed onto the stone using a method we call a Spray Burnish. An additional advantage of this is it leaves the dry and ready for sealing.

I had discussed sealing with the customer previously to understand what finish they wanted after cleaning. For this floor they wanted the stone to have a natural appearance, so I recommend Tile Doctor Ultra Seal. It’s an invisible impregnating sealer that doesn’t darken the stone and therefore ticks the box to provide the desired natural look whilst adding protection. Two coats of Ultra-Seal were applied leaving each coat to dry before applying the next, when the last coat was dry the floor was buffed with a soft white buffing pad to bring up the polish further.

Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor After Polishing Margate

My client was very impressed with the result and left the following feedback on the Tile Doctor feedback system; you know you have done a good job when your client leaves feedback for you.

“Lovely guy that came out, arrived in time and kept me informed of progress of the job. Do not hesitate to use tile doctor”

Travertine Tiled Floor Professionally Cleaned in North Kent

Badly Maintained Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Margate Read More »

Slate Tiled Wet Room Treated for Grout Haze and Restored in Sevenoaks

Grout Cleaning, Sevenoaks Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Graham Davis

A builder had made a real mess of this customer’s new Slate tiled wet room. When installing any new natural stone tiles, it is always recommended to apply the sealer before grouting, since – as was the case here – the porosity of the stone can cause the grout to stick with to the stone, leaving a terrible blotchy and uneven appearance.

Slate Tiled Floor Before Restoration Sevenoaks

What’s more, once stuck to the stone, the grout is essentially impossible for the tiler to remove. In this wet room, light grey grout had been left smeared all over the Slate tiled walls, causing haze in some places.

Understandably, she was very upset with the situation and was eager to secure some professional help, courtesy of the Kent Tile Doctor. I travelled down to the property, situated in Sevenoaks, Kent, to set the problems right.

Restoring the appearance of a Slate Tiled Wet Room

To begin, I had to tape up all the chrome and metal fittings found around the bathroom to stop them coming into contact with the cleaning products. I them started the restoration by applying Tile Doctor Acid Gel, which is a PH1 blend of Phosphoric and Hydrochloric acids for the removal of grout haze.

As it comes in a gel form, this product is especially effective on vertical or sloped surfaces, where more dwell time is required. A liquid product would, of course, simply run off the tiles. So, working on small areas at a time, I allowed the gel to dwell for around five minutes, before agitating the solution with a pan scrubber, and rinsing the gel off with water. Once I had completed this process on the whole of the wet room, I allowed the tiles to dry out before repeating the process on some of the areas suffering from thicker smears of grout.

Sealing Slate Wet Room Tiles

When I was happy that I had removed all of the grout smears, I ensured that all the tiles were dry before applying Tile Doctor Stone Oil. This product is an easy-to-apply, pre-polish impregnating sealer which is ideal for low porosity stone and also suitable for more porous stone, such as Terracotta. It is also specially designed to enhance the natural colours and textures of tiles, and improve mechanical strength once cured. The oil is particularly effective when used on dark stone, like this Slate, as it really helps to deepen the colour.

I returned the next day to seal the tiles completely using one coat of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal to lock in the Stone Oil applied the previous day. Ultra Seal is a premium, no-sheen, natural-look, solvent-based penetrating sealer formulated to provide maximum stain protection. It allows moisture vapour transmission and is an excellent grout sealer.

Slate Tiled Floor After Restoration Sevenoaks

The customer was very happy with the results, which set this difficult problem right. In particular, she was worried that all of the tiles would have to be removed and the entire wet room would have to be redone. Thankfully that is no longer the case, and she can enjoy this fantastic Slate feature. All she needs to be concerned with now is ensuring the tiles are regularly maintained with professional care, including having the sealer topped up as and when necessary.

Professional Slate Tile Restoration in a Kent Wet Room

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Cleaning and Removing Grout Haze from a Quarry Tiled floor in Kemsing, Kent

Grout Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Sevenoaks Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Graham Davis

The attached pictures are of a Quarry Tiled floor in a kitchen and family room of a cottage in Kemsing, Kent. The cottage was undergoing a full renovation and extension, and the quarry tiled floor was recently installed, however it was not sealed prior to grouting, and a grey grout haze was now sitting across the whole floor. Quarry tiles are highly porous and if not sealed before grouting the grout sitting on the tile soaks in leaving the colour of the grout as a haze over the tile.

Cleaning Quarry Tiles

There had been a number of tradesmen working constantly on the premises so it was difficult to tell what was grout haze and what was builders mess so I the first job was to give the floor a good clean. For this I used a strong mixture of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted with water in a 3:1 ratio. I also added a squirt of Tile Doctor NanoTech Ultra-Clean which is an abrasive clean cleaner and processed to apply the solution to the floor. I left the solution to dwell on the floor for a short while and then scrubbed the floor using my weighted floor scrubbing machine fitted with a black 17inch scrubbing pad. The cleaning residue was removed using a wet vacuum and we could now see all the grout haze quite clearly.

Removing Grout Haze from Quarry Tiles

To remove the grout haze one part Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up was mixed with three parts water and poured into a spray bottle; Grout Clean-up is a product specifically designed for removing grout haze. This was then sprayed onto the floor, covering an area of around 1m2 and spread so it covered the grout haze evenly. This was allowed to dwell on the tile for three to four minutes before I agitated the solution by hand with a pan scrubber and water. This was then vacuumed up before I took a scrubbing brush and clean water from another bucket and scrubbed the area, before again vacuuming up. This ensured that all the formula had been cleansed from the floor; this process was repeated across the whole floor, working on 1m2 at a time and then left to dry ready for sealing.

Sealing Quarry Tiles

The floor was now ready for sealing; Quarry tile floors can accept two types of sealer, a topical sealer or an impregnated sealer. I usually recommend Tile Doctor Seal & Go for Quarry tiled floors which is a Topical sealer as it is easier to maintain. On this occasion however the customer wanted to wait until they had completed decorating and was happy to seal the floor themselves, so I gave them advice on what sealers to use and how best to use them and left them to it.