Renovating an Old Quarry Tiled Floor in Shropshire

This was a property adjacent to Benthall Hall which is a historic building owned by the National Trust near Much Wenlock. Many of the buildings in this town date back hundreds of years including Benthall Hall which is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.


The property hadn’t been lived in for several years and the new tenants wanted to sympathetically improve the look of the Brick Shaped Quarry Tiles on the lounge floor and in the toilet where the floor had been laid with nine-inch square quarry tiles. Both floor areas had been painted over previously and due to dampness issues the paint was flaking off leaving a very unappealing look. No doubt this contributed to the reason the property has been left un-occupied for so long.

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Floor

To give the floor a deep clean I would need to remove all the flaking paint; there were several ways I could go about this so after some consideration I decided to try Tile Doctor Remove and Go.

Remove and Go is a multi-purpose coatings remover that can strip sealers off tiles as well as remove paint and other coatings, it’s also designed for use on Tile, Stone and Grout so safe to use. I applied a strong dilution of the product to the floor and left it to soak in for a good ten minutes. It was then scrubbed into the floor using a black seventeen-inch scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. The floor was then rinsed down with water and the soil extracted using a wet vacuum. With the floor clean I could see I had been successful in removing most of the paint but there were areas where further work was needed and so I repeated the process three or four times and used a steamer on the stubborn areas until I was happy with the condition of the floor. After rinsing for a final time, I inspected the floor and could see the tiles looked a hundred times better.

My next thought was to seal the Quarry tiles to protect them from future staining and enhance their look. The problem however with old floors like these is that they don’t have a damp proof membrane and can have damp problems. The floor needed to be dry before applying a sealer and with all the water used to rinse the floor it may take some time to dry out. I discussed this issue with the customer and we agreed that I will return to monitor the floor and arrange to seal it when it was dry. In-fact I did return after a week and tested the floor with a damp meter which confirmed the floor still was still too damp.

Sealing a Quarry Floor Sealing

They were due to move into the property in a months’ time, so I visited them again to check the floor and unfortunately the damp level was still too high. I concluded that there were several factors preventing the quarry tiles from drying out: the tiles were laid on sand, the property as I mentioned had not been lived in for years also there had been a lot of rain over the last couple of months.


We agreed that once they move in and start to heat the building up, the floor have a much better chance for drying and when it looks dry, they will give me a call and I will check it for them and seal it if possible.

Given the damp issues my thoughts are to seal the floor with a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow and then finish with Seal and Go Extra, both are which breathable sealers and will leave the floor with a nice sheen finish.




Source: Quarry Tile Cleaning and Renovation Service in Shropshire

Putting the Shine Back On Old Victorian Tiles

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Renovating a Victorian Tiled Hallway

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Modern Quarry Tiles Uncovered and Restored in Nesscliffe

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Restoring a Mexican Terracotta Floor in Shrewsbury

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Mexican Terracotta Tiles Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Shrewsbury

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Refreshing a Limestone Tiled Floor

These Limestone tiles, installed in a lovely residence in the ancient market town of Oswestry close to the English/Welsh border, had become dull and dirty over the years and I was asked to get them looking their best again. When I arrived to do the quotation the customer's main concern was that Read more...

Deep Cleaning Old Slate Tiles

A customer in Telford recently bought this barn conversion in the village of Ince, Cheshire. The building had Riven Slate floor tiles installed on the ground floor from hallway and corridor through to the utility room and downstairs WC. The tiles were not looking their best and in fact the old Read more...

Cleaning and Sealing Terracotta Tiles in Shrewsbury

Details below of a Terracotta tiled hallway and kitchen at a house in the historic town of Shrewsbury. The floor had been laid a couple of years previously but the customer had found it difficult to maintain the appearance especially in the kitchen in fact the customer's description on their Read more...

Resolving uneven Limestone Kitchen Floor Tiles

This customer had recently bought a house in Shrewsbury and was in the process of refurbishing it including replacing the kitchen which when I arrived had been removed leaving an area of flooring which was a different shade to the rest. Additionally the floor has been very badly laid resulting Read more...

Deep cleaning Terracotta and Quarry Tiles

These photographs were taken at a recently purchased cottage in Alveley, Bridgenorth and the new owner was keen to refurbish the floors. The quarry tiles in the lounge had grout haze and general dirt on also the grout needed replacing in several places. The remaining areas were covered with Read more...

Deep Cleaning A Dirty Indian Sandstone Floor

This customer had bought a cottage in Cleestanton (Ludlow) six months prior which has a beautiful Indian Sandstone flagstone floor installed across the ground floor. The Sandstone slabs were however in an unfortunate state and had not been deep cleaned for some time, in fact it was very easy to see where the most foot traffic had been due to visible dark lanes in the stone. Cleaning Riven Sandstone Tiles I cleaned the floor with a dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which was left to soak Read more...

Cleaning and Polishing Neglected Travertine Tiles

This property in Telford had been purchased six months earlier with a view to refurbishing it and had recently started to get it back in shape. The history of the Travertine tiled floor was unknown but there was evidence of the wrong kind of maintenance as the legs of the kitchen cabinet was Read more...

Repairing Cracked Travertine Tiles

This customer from the village of Worfield has a Travertine tiled floor in their kitchen/dining room which had a crack across four of the tiles. The dining room forms an extension to the original old building and as you can the crack had occurred along the front of the patio doorway. Potentially Read more...

Refreshing the look of Ceramic Floor Tiles

Moving into a new home is a stressful but rewarding experience. This customer had just recently moved into a property in the neighbouring and historic Flintshire town of Mold, and was keen to make some renovations. High on the agenda was the restoration of a large number of Ceramic floor tiles Read more...

Polishing Marble Wall and Floor Tiles in Shropshire

For this job I travelled to the town of Albrighton, which is actually the most easterly settlement in the whole of Shropshire. My client had an issue with their Marble tiled floor which was installed in the kitchen and hallway. They had dropped and broke a bottle of vinegar in the kitchen, and the substance unfortunately came in contact with the tiles. Since Marble is highly sensitive to acid, the vinegar (an acetic acid) had basically etched the surface of the tiles make it impossible clean chemically. Although the tiles were a nice, expensive Marble, the person who had first installed them had done a poor job, leaving lippage of up to 5mm in some areas, which would make work trickier. Undeterred I could see it would be possible to restore the floor using a combination of burnishing for the tiles and cleaning with a high alkaline product for the grout lines. I demonstrated this to my client on one tile which went well and I was then given the go ahead to restore the entire floor. Cleaning and burnishing acid damaged Marble tiles My first task focused on cleaning the grout lines using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked in with a stiff grout brush. Pro-Clean is a high alkaline cleaner suitable for use on most types of natural stone floor. It helped to alleviate most of Read more...

Neglected Quarry Tiles Restored in Shrewsbury

Details below of a red and black Quarry tiled floor at a house belonging to a customer in the Shropshire market town of Shrewsbury, which dates back to medieval times. The owner had recently moved back to the area and purchased the house with the intention of restoring all its original features Read more...

Victorian and Quarry Tiled Floors Restored in Shrewsbury

Details below of a red and black Quarry tiled floor at a house belonging to a customer in the Shropshire market town of Shrewsbury, which dates back to medieval times. The owner had recently moved back to the area and purchased the house with the intention of restoring all its original features including the Quarry tiles floor which had several coats of red floor paint and had been covered with carpet for several years, I guess the previous owner wasn't sure what else to do with it. I was Read more...

Renovating Dirty Quarry Floor Tiles

This customer had just bought a house in the small Shropshire village of Nesscliffe. Like many new property owners, she was keen to make some changes to the interior decoration, deciding to pull up the carpet they she didn't like that covered almost the entire ground floor of the house. Upon doing so she and her partner discovered a large area of original Quarry tiles.


They decided that instead of replacing the carpet with a new one, they would keep the original floor and attempt to restore its condition. However, their efforts to restore the tiles by themselves proved ineffective - many of the cheaper, supermarket cleaning products were not suited for the job of removing years' worth of dirt and stains.


At that point they decided to call me. I visited the property and ran a test clean to see what could be achieved. The customer was more than happy with the initial results and booked me in to undertake the full restoration.

Cleaning Dirty and Stained Quarry Tiles

The most noticeable problem with the tiles was a series of paint splashes and plaster deposits covering almost the entirety of the floor, the result of previous decoration work and the installation of carpet. I removed these by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and working it into the tiles using a scrubbing brush fitted to a rotary machine, with the alkaline cleaner reliably breaking down the stubborn paint splashes. I then worked the product into the grout lines too using a grout brush. To tackle the plaster and cement-based residue I used Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up, a phosphoric acid cleaner which removes heavy stains. Following the cleaning, I left the floor to dry for a week to allow for any excess moisture to evaporate.

Sealing Quarry Tiles

On my return to the property I immediately checked whether the floor was dry enough to be sealed. We always do this as excess moisture can very easily effect the performance of the sealer. Thankfully the floor was completely dry and I was able to seal the tiles using five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go. Seal & Go is a topical sealer, meaning it builds up a layer of protection again dirt and stains on the surface of the stone. We recommend it for tiles such as Quarry, Victorian and Slate. While offering surface protection it also provides a pleasing low-sheen finish.


The customer was really pleased with the result. Within a week the newly discovered Quarry tiled floor had been transformed from an apparent lost cause to a real asset to the home of the new property owners.



Source: Quarry Tiled Floor Cleaning and Restroation Service in Shropshire

Ceramic Tiled Floor Cleaned and Grout Recoloured in Mold

Moving into a new home is a stressful but rewarding experience. This customer had just recently moved into a property in the neighbouring and historic Flintshire town of Mold, and was keen to make some renovations. High on the agenda was the restoration of a large number of Ceramic floor tiles spread throughout multiple downstairs rooms. Although undecided as to whether to keep the tiles for the long-term or have them removed, the customer did resolve to have them professionally cleaned, Read more...