Limestone Tile Stain Removal

This was a Limestone tiled hallway at a house in Notting Hill, London W2 where extensive renovations had just been completed. The floor had been badly affected by being left uncovered during the building works as well as having a build-up of many years of dirt and stains on its surface. The Read more...

Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Balcony

This balcony in St John's Wood, London, NW8, which had been clad in Limestone floor tiles, had not been professionally cleaned for 15 years and was now covered in mould which the customer was unable to remove. Stripping the Limestone Tiled Floor To get the Limestone clean I used a neat solution Read more...

Removing Coatings From Victorian Tiles

Victorian black and white tiles in the hallway of a house in Wanstead (E11), laid in what is often referred to as the York Pattern with a Kingsley Border, however sadly neglected for many years after being covered with a heavy underlay and carpet. Restoring a Victorian Floor First we cleaned the Read more...

Removing Limescale from Tumbled Marble

This Tumbled Marble mosaic wet room floor was installed in a house in London, SE1 four years before prior and was now looking a little tired. This was mostly caused by a build-up of Limescale which had then become grimy. Stripping a Tumbled Marble Floor To treat the Limescale I used Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up which managed to remove most of the scale and to remove the remainder I steamed the tiles using an Earlex Steamer and carefully scraped any remaining Limescale residue away with a Stanley window scraper. To restore the marble itself I used Tile Doctor burnishing pads to re-polish the tiles using 17' pads on the main area and 8' pads on a hand-held Clarke polishing machine in the corners. These diamond encrusted pads come in a number of different colours and are applied one after another with each pad being a finer grade than the last. After thoroughly rinsing the stone again and removing the waste water with a wet vacuum. As the marble was naturally fast drying I used an Earlex heat gun to speed dry the floor and repeated this after lunch to ensure the floor was entirely dry before sealing. Sealing Tumbled-Marble Tiles Once the Marble tiles were dry I started to seal them using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer which is a great choice for natural stone as it Read more...

Putting the Polish Back on Limestone Floor Tiles

I was recently engaged to refresh the Limestone tiled floor at a house in St. John's Wood, which is a very affluent area and apparently has the 5th most expensive postcode in London so as you can imagine this was a very expensive floor. The client had requested an improvement condition of the Read more...

Removing Grout Haze in a Shower Cubicle, London NW1

These ceramic mosaic tiles were fitted in square sheets in a shower cubicle at house in London NW1. You can clearly see from the first photograph that the tiler did not remove the grout from the tile before it set leaving grout haze on most of the tile and a nice white band of grout between the mosaic sheets. Removing Grout Haze To clean up the ceramic tiles and remove the grout we sprayed on Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which is a specialist acid based product that penetrates below the Read more...

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Polishing hard Magnesium Limestone floor tiles in London SW18

The owner of this house in Wandsworth had imported these hard magnesium Limestone tiles direct from Italy and fitted them into a conservatory three years prior; over they years however they had lost their shine and started to go dull and look uninviting. This is fairly normal for polished stone which does need to be re-polished for it to keep its appearance however the owner was unhappy with the finish and wanted it re-polished. There were also a number of naturally formed holes in the Read more...

Terracotta Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Tooting

We were asked to take a look at this Terracotta Tiled floor in Tooting, South London which were becoming difficult to clean and in need of a good clean and seal. Cleaning Terracotta Tile We started the task by applying a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, which is a heavy duty alkaline product designed for cleaning tiles; this was scrubbed in with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine. I had to repeat this process a couple of times and also use a stiff brush along the grout lines Read more...

Polishing a Granite & Limestone floor tile in Westminster

This interesting unusual Granite and Limestone tile combination was installed in the kitchen of a house in Westminster, London. The black Granite was looking Dull and the Limestone had a dirty appearance of the tile surface which had lost its shine and was looking dull. Stripping the Granite and Limestone Tiled Floor To resolve we had to strip back the Granite and Limestone surfaces using a set of burnishing pads, these diamond encrusted pads come in a number of different colours each one Read more...

Varnished Quarry Tiled Hallway Restored in London SW11

This Quarry tiled hallway installed in a house in South West London had been varnished many years previously and was worn through leaving a dark and uneven appearance and difficult to clean. Cleaning the Quarry Tiled Floor We started cleaning the Quarry Tiles by applying a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked into the floor using a buffing machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. Although this had an effect on the Varnish it was proving difficult to shift so using a scraper tool Read more...

Removing Soap Scum from Marble Worktops

My client asked me to take a look at a very dirty Marble Onyx countertop in her home in Hampstead which is located within the London Borough of Camden. Interestingly, Hampstead is home to more millionaires than any other area of the UK so if you're going to find bathrooms of this standard this is the place. This particular worktop had been heavily soiled by roughly fifteen years of soap scum and old sealer. It would take a thorough clean as well as a fresh seal to get this countertop back to looking its best. Marble is a fantastic type of stone which has, throughout history, been used to forge beautiful, yet resilient surfaces. Cleaning a dirty Marble Onyx countertop I immediately set to work cleaning the countertop using a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. Pro-Clean is an alkaline product and therefore suitable for use on natural stone, meaning that, along with Marble, it is also suitable for use on Limestone, Granite, Slate, Travertine, and others. After leaving it to dwell on the surface for a short period of time, I began scrubbing the solution of cleaner into the Marble, and gradually the years of soap scum, old sealer and ingrained dirt began to come off. It was amazing just how quickly I was able to remove many years of muck with a bit of elbow grease. Read more...

Cleaning an Edwardian Quarry Tiled Porch

These photographs are from an Edwardian Quarry tiled porch at a house in central London. The tiles had previously been sealed with several layers of varnish which was now beginning to wear off in places and was making the entrance to the house look very untidy. Cleaning Edwardian Quarry Tiles I used a mixture of Tile Doctor Remove and Go and Nanotech Ultra Clean and left it to soak into the floor for an hour to break down the old varnish. The floor was then rinsed with clean water and Read more...

Slate Tiled Wet Room floor in Ealing

This was a slate floor in a wet room in a house in Ealing W5. The black semi-riven slate had originally been sealed by the tiler on installation but had never looked how the customer wanted it to. Cleaning Semi-Riven Slate Tiles To strip off what was left of the old sealer we used Tile Doctor Remove and Go leaving it to soak into the floor for a while before working it in with a rotary machine fitted with a black buffing pad. The solution was then removed using a wet and dry Vacuum and the Read more...

Emery and Cie Cement Encaustic tiles Restored in Ealing

This unusual Emery and Cie Cement Encaustic tiled floor in Ealing W5 had been poorly installed by the tiler with grout haze on the tiles and the wrong sealer used. Cement encaustic tiles are quite delicate and difficult to restore. Cleaning Semi-Riven Slate Tiles I used a red burnishing pad fitted to a buffing machine to cut into the tile surface and remove the grout haze and old sealer. The next step was to apply a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean letting it soak into the tile before Read more...

Terracotta Floor Tile Restoration in Clapham SW9

We had our work cut out for us restoring this Terracotta floor installed in the kitchen of a house in Clapham, south west London. Over the years it had been covered with many layers of metallised emulsion polish, this had been put on without a primer and Terracotta being porous it had soaked into the tile. Various efforts to remove it in the past had not been successful and had resulted in some damage to the floor. This had been covered by yet more layers of metallised emulsion which had Read more...

Limestone tiles hallway cleaned and polished in Notting Hill

This was a Limestone tiled hallway at a house in Notting Hill, London W2 where extensive renovations had just been completed. The floor had been badly affected by being left uncovered during the building works as well as having a build-up of many years of dirt and stains on its surface. The tiles had been laid more than twenty years ago and had not been cleaned or sealed since. The customer was considering replacing the floor as she believed that it was beyond restoring. As well as ingrained Read more...

Cleaning a Limestone Balcony in St John's Wood

This balcony in St John's Wood, London, NW8, which had been clad in Limestone floor tiles, had not been professionally cleaned for 15 years and was now covered in mould which the customer was unable to remove. Stripping the Limestone Tiled Floor To get the Limestone clean I used a neat solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean with was left to soak into the stone before being worked in with rotary machine fitted with a black buffing pad. This process removed most of the mould but there were still Read more...

Cleaning a Tumbled Marble mosaic wet room floor in London SE1

This Tumbled Marble mosaic wet room floor was installed in a house in London, SE1 four years before prior and was now looking a little tired. This was mostly caused by a build-up of Limescale which had then become grimy. Stripping a Tumbled Marble Floor To treat the Limescale I used Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up which managed to remove most of the scale and to remove the remainder I steamed the tiles using an Earlex Steamer and carefully scraped any remaining Limescale residue away with a Read more...

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Victorian Hallway Tile Restoration in London W2

This large entrance hall tiled in Victorian black and white floor tiles in London W2 had been quite badly damaged in the past by having a carpet glued and nailed on to it. Many tiles were broken or missing and those missing had been replaced by cement. Cleaning a Victorian Floor On the first day of this three day job I removed the cement filling and extracted the nails that remained in the floor. I then stabilised the exposed area with a PVA solution before replacing the missing tiles with Read more...

Refurbishing a Marble Onyx Countertop in Hampstead

My client asked me to take a look at a very dirty Marble Onyx countertop in her home in Hampstead which is located within the London Borough of Camden. Interestingly, Hampstead is home to more millionaires than any other area of the UK so if you're going to find bathrooms of this standard this is the place. This particular worktop had been heavily soiled by roughly fifteen years of soap scum and old sealer. It would take a thorough clean as well as a fresh seal to get this countertop back Read more...

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