Cleaned and Sealed Milled Slate Tiled Floor

These mixed milled slate floor tiles were installed in the Kitchen, Hall and toilet of a house in Broadwell, Warwickshire. The Slate was staining easily from drink spills and proving hard to clean; on top of that all the tiles were covered in a slight grout haze and had not been sealed or cleaned properly after installation. The customer needed the floor to be easy to clean and manage and was keen to bring out the rich color and texture of the floor but keep a matt finish.

Cleaning black slate floor tiles

Our first job was to give the floor a deep clean using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was worked into the pores of the Slate tile and grout using a slow speed rotary machine fitted with a scrubbing pad. I then used a wet vacuum to remove the resultant dirty solution and rinsed the floor down with water.

Removing Grout Haze from Slate

Next was to tackle the grout haze which was evident across the tiles; for this we used Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up which is an acidic product that you allow to dwell on the tile for a one to two minutes and then agitate with a scrubbing pad and then remove shortly afterwards with a wet vacuum washing the floor down quickly to ensure the acid is removed.

Further cleaning was required to some areas which had proven stubborn to clean earlier and for this we used Pro-Clean again mixed 50/50 with NanoTech UltraClean which adds tiny abrasive particles to make a more effective cleaning product; again this was scrubbed in and then once we were happy with the result the floor was washed down with clean water in order to neutralize it before sealing.

Sealing Slate floor tiles

I left the floor overnight to dry then came back following day and used a damp test meter to verify the floor was dry and ready for sealing. Once satisfied, I proceed to apply four coats of Tile Doctor Color Grow which matched their requirements in a sealer exactly as it provides a matt finish brings out the color in the stone and offers great stain protection.