Cardiff Tile Doctor Details the Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Floor in Penarth

This client from Penarth contacted Tile Doctor to see if their 100-year-old Quarry tiled floor which had broken and missing tiles could be salvaged. The property dated back to 1890 and had experienced many years of wear and tear and it certainly showed. One of the biggest problems however would be to renovate the area in front of the old fireplace where a hearth was once situated.

It was clear the area in front of the fireplace would need to be rebuilt using matching replacement quarry tiles more of which would be needed for the other repairs that needed doing. Once that was done the floor would then need a deep clean and a fresh sealer applied to give the whole floor a consistent appearance.

I worked out a comprehensive quote which included the repairs and renovation work. This was accepted by the client and a date set for the work to start.

   

Cleaning and Repairing a Quarry Tiled Room

Work started with the tile repairs which involved breaking out the damaged tiles and those in front of the old fireplace and then cleaning up the floor ready for the replacement tiles to be installed.

 

Quarry tiles are still very popular, so it wasn't a problem finding matching replacements which I had manage to source before work commenced. The replacements were then laid in-line with the existing tiles using rapid set adhesive and grouted in.

Once the tiles had set, I was able to start the cleaning process which started with scraping off as much cement, paint, and plaster residue off the floor as possible. This was then followed up with a deep clean of the tile and grout using a mixture of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean combined 50:50 with with Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU Cleaner.

After leaving these products to soak in for ten minutes I worked by hand scrubbing in 1m2 sections at a time, cleaning and rinsing with water and vacuuming up the waste with a wet vacuum as I progressed. Doing it this way ensures maximum attention to detail and ensures the floor is as clean as possible. 

Once done, the floor was given an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which was brushed onto the floor and extracted with the wet vacuum as before. Old floors like this don't have a damp proof membrane and are susceptible to efflorescence, giving the floor an acid rinse like this counters salts and helps further clean the tiles.

After another rinse and extraction with the wet vacuum the floor was left overnight to dry.

   

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Floor in Penarth

The next morning the floor was tested for moisture with a damp meter and the readings confirmed it had dried sufficiently to accept a sealer. I don’t recommend sealing a damp floor as it impacts the sealers’ ability to cure and leads to a patchy finish.

Sealing started with the application of a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a very durable and breathable sealer which being an impregnator provides an excellent base. The customer wanted a shiny finish so this was followed up with a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go. This product further protects the floor and adds a subtle shine which together with the Colour Grow really brought out the colours in the Quarry tiles. As you can see the red colour of the floor looks vibrant and stunning after the two different sealers were applied.

My client was delighted with the result and offered to recommended Tile Doctor to their family and friends which was nice. For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a gentle but effective tile cleaner that's ideal for cleaning sealed floors.

Source: Quarry Tile Restoration Products and Services in Penarth South Wales

Achieving a High Shine on a Travertine Tiled Floor

This customer from Swansea was unhappy with the look of her Travertine floor tiles and so decided to call in tile doctor after she had seen pictures of other travertine floor tiles on one of our websites and wanted hers to look the same. The natural brown shades of her own Travertine tiles had become very dark and were looking dull and lifeless in comparison. It was clear to me that the Sealer was wearing thin with use and dirt had now penetrated the pores of the stone making it difficult to clean effectively. This is a common problem with stone floors and this is why Tile Doctor offer a maintenance service where we pop round once a year to top-up the sealer on your floor.

Stripping and Re-Polishing Travertine

To restore the polished appearance of the floor the stone would need to be stripped of any remaining sealer and dirt, re-polished and then sealed; we find the best way to achieve that is through the application of a set of Diamond encrusted burnishing pads. I started the burnishing process by fitting a coarse 400 grit no.1 burnishing pad to a floor buffer and running at a slow speed ran the pad across the whole floor. This coarse pad is designed to strip off old sealers and dirt from the tile. You use a little water to help lubricate and once complete it’s necessary to rinse the area with water to remove the soil that is generated. The next step is to start building back the polish with the 800 and then 1500 grit pads which are applied in the same manner. The floor was then rinsed again with water and I turned my attention to the grout which was scrubbed by hand using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a stiff brush. The floor was given another rinse and then inspected to ensure I hadn’t missed anything. Before leaving for the day I used the wet vacuum to extract as much moisture from the floor as possible.

Sealing Travertine Floor Tiles

On the second day I finished the banishing process with the application of the final of the four pads which is a very fine 3000 grit pad which adds a final polish to the surface leaving it looking shiny. This last pad is applied with a small amount of water spayed onto the tile in a process we call a spray burnish. The use of water is so small the floor remains dry enabling us to apply a sealer shortly afterwards. There are some beautiful brown shades in Travertine and so to really make them standout I sealed the floor using a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores of the stone protecting it from within. The sealer will also make ongoing cleaning and maintenance easier for the customer.


The customer was very pleased with the result and commented on how clean and deep the shine had come out using the Diamond pad system.


Before leaving I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Stone Soap as an aftercare cleaner, this produce is specially designed for cleaning polished stone, not only does it helps build patina, but it won’t prematurely erode the sealer like many acidic cleaners you find in the supermarket which should really only be used on ceramics and Vinyl tiles.


Source: Travertine Cleaning and Polishing Service in Swansea

Terrazzo Tiled Hallway Polished in South Wales

Terrazzo is a quite a bit different from the natural stone floors we most commonly work with. It's a type of flooring material that was made popular by Venetian builders in Italy in the 1920s, but is ultimately descended from styles of design that date back hundreds of years. A typical Terrazzo floor consists of chips of marble or granite set in concrete and polished to result in a smooth surface. This Terrazzo floor, installed in the hallway of a property in Bridgend, South Wales, was in Read more...

Dirty Terrazzo Floor Deep Cleaned, Burnished and Sealed in Bridgend

Terrazzo is a quite a bit different from the natural stone floors we most commonly work with. It's a type of flooring material that was made popular by Venetian builders in Italy in the 1920s, but is ultimately descended from styles of design that date back hundreds of years. A typical Terrazzo floor consists of chips of marble or granite set in concrete and polished to result in a smooth surface. This Terrazzo floor, installed in the hallway of a property in Bridgend, South Wales, was in Read more...

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Removing Vinyl Glue From Terrazzo Tiles

Terrazzo is a quite a bit different from the natural stone floors we most commonly work with. It’s a type of flooring material that was made popular by Venetian builders in Italy in the 1920s, but is ultimately descended from styles of design that date back hundreds of years. A typical Terrazzo floor consists of chips of marble or granite set in concrete and polished to result in a smooth surface. This Terrazzo floor, installed in the hallway of a property in Bridgend, South Wales, was in relatively good physical condition, but it had clearly lost its shine due to the build-up of dirt and muck over the years. In fact, it was first installed in around 1940! The owner was keen to have it rejuvenated to its best possible condition, so they asked me to come in to see what I could do.

Cleaning and Burnishing a Dirty Terrazzo Tiled Floor

My first course of action was to apply Tile Doctor Pro Clean liberally across the floor and leave it to dwell for a short period. This is a high alkaline cleaner that is designed to deal with light to moderate soil build-up, and to strip away any old sealer remaining on the floor. I scrubbed the product in using a black pad fitted to a rotary machine and vacuumed up the resulting cleaning with a wet-vac machine. Next, to restore the shine to the floor, I undertook a process known as burnishing, which involves the application of diamond encrusted polishing pads. We will typically start with a Coarse grit pad to level off any uneven areas of the floor and grind down any particularly stubborn marks and stains. Then, we gradually refine the polish on the floor using Medium and Fine grit pads. A small amount of water is used as lubrication with each pad. After I had finished applying the first three pads in our four-pad system, I gave the floor a thorough rinse and left it to dry overnight.

Sealing a Terrazzo Tiled Floor

I returned to the property the next day and immediately ran some damp tests to check for excess moisture issues, which one might expect with an old floor like this one. Thankfully, the floor proved dry – and I could finish the burnishing process with the fourth and final Very Fine diamond encrusted burnishing pad, which achieved a beautiful shine finish. Finally, I sealed the floor with three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow, an impregnating sealer which provides robust protection and enhances the coloured patterns in the Terrazzo.


As you can see from the photos above, the floor is looking so much more colourful and bright after a deep clean, polish and a fresh seal. The customer was over the moon!


Source: Terrazzo Tile Cleaning and Restoration in South Wales

Restoring Old Victorian Lobby Tiles and Hallway

The owner of this property in Swansea contacted me recently about a two-part job that would involve the restoration of both a Quarry tiled hallway and a Victorian tiled lobby. The property itself dates back to 1918 - making it nearly a century old - and its safe to assume that both sets of tiles Read more...

Badly Stained Quarry Tiles Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Splott

These Quarry tiles at a house in Splott, a small town not too far from the city of Cardiff, had certainly endured a hammering after what appeared to be recent decoration in the room. The tiles were heavily soiled, with sand and cement mixed up and splattered across the floor, along with deep paint and plaster stains. Quarry Tiles Before Restoration in Splott Cardiff The customer had already scraped off as much of the cement and other stubborn stains off - as much as they could, at least. Read more...

Quarry and Victorian Tiles Repaired, Cleaned and Sealed in Swansea

The owner of this property in Swansea contacted me recently about a two-part job that would involve the restoration of both a Quarry tiled hallway and a Victorian tiled lobby. The property itself dates back to 1918 - making it nearly a century old - and its safe to assume that both sets of tiles are of a similar age. As you can see from the photographs, they had certainly had absorbed a lot of wear and tear over the years, and as these tiles get older it becomes in increasingly difficult to Read more...

To read more on this topic click here

Quarry and Victorian Tiles Repaired, Cleaned and Sealed in Swansea

The owner of this property in Swansea contacted me recently about a two-part job that would involve the restoration of both a Quarry tiled hallway and a Victorian tiled lobby. The property itself dates back to 1918 - making it nearly a century old - and its safe to assume that both sets of tiles are of a similar age. As you can see from the photographs, they had certainly had absorbed a lot of wear and tear over the years, and as these tiles get older it becomes in increasingly difficult to Read more...

Restoring Old Victorian Lobby Tiles and Hallway

The owner of this property in Swansea contacted me recently about a two-part job that would involve the restoration of both a Quarry tiled hallway and a Victorian tiled lobby. The property itself dates back to 1918 - making it nearly a century old - and its safe to assume that both sets of tiles Read more...

To read more on this topic click here

Badly Stained Quarry Tiles Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Splott

These Quarry tiles at a house in Splott, a small town not too far from the city of Cardiff, had certainly endured a hammering after what appeared to be recent decoration in the room. The tiles were heavily soiled, with sand and cement mixed up and splattered across the floor, along with deep paint and plaster stains. Quarry Tiles Before Restoration in Splott Cardiff The customer had already scraped off as much of the cement and other stubborn stains off - as much as they could, at least. Read more...