Victorian Tile Restoration in Wiltshire

This customer had just brought a house in Chippenham which they were renovating and it had come to their attention that Victorian tiles had been laid under the hallway carpet. Keen to restore them the customer called us in to see if we could enhance the appearance of their floor. Cleaning Read more...

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Removing Adhesive and Paint from Vistorian Hallway Tiles

The owner of this house located in the village of Holt had discovered a beautiful Victorian Tiled floor hidden underneath their hallway carpet and made contact with us to get it restored and brought back to life. Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Floor We started by making a strong dilution of Tile Read more...

Polishing Limestone Shower Tiles

This was an unusual problem; a customer contacted us regarding their Marble shower room at a house in Marlborough where the customer had sprayed Viakal Limescale remover onto the Marble tiles to clean them which unfortunately etched the surface. I've downloaded the MSDS sheet from the Inernet for this product and can verify it contains a combination of Etidronic, Formic and Phosphoric acids so not a very safe product to use on Marble or any sealed stone surface. Cleaning Marble Wall Tiles To Read more...

Deep Cleaning Old Victorian Tiles

The owner of this pre 1900s period house in the town of Melksham contacted us to clean & seal their Victorian tiled hallway which had been laid in a geometric pattern and was the original floor from when the house was built. Given its age it was in excellent conditions and a real testament to Read more...

Restoring a Victorian tiled hallway hidden under carpet

We were contacted by a home owner in Swindon who had discovered a black and white Victorian tiled floor underneath carpet in their hallway and wanted to make it a feature. I took a look at the floor and can see it was in good condition considering the carpet glue and arranged an appointment to Read more...

Putting the shine back on Limestone Floor Tiles

We recently worked on a Limestone tiled floor in the kitchen of a house in the picturesque village of Pewsey. The Limestone floor tiles were in good condition but had lost their shine and lustre and the grout had some staining. Cleaning Limestone Floor Tiles We started by cleaning the grout Read more...

Deep Cleaning a Limestone and Travertine Floor Tiles

The owner of this house in Nunton near Salisbury got in touch to take a look at the grout lines on their Travertine and Limestone tiled floors which were becoming increasingly dirty and the tiles has started to take on dirt also. We offer a free no obligation survey so I went along to take a Read more...

Changing the Sealer on Black Limestone Tiles in Wiltshire

A customer in Fovant, Salisbury got in touch to clean and seal her Black Limestone tiled floor as she wasn't happy with appearance. She informed me that when they were laid they were a grey colour which she loved but when the tiler sealed them they became jet black in appearance. The sealer Read more...

Maintaining Honed Limestone Tiles

The photographs below of a Honed Limestone tiles fitted in the living room of a house in Marlborough. The tiles were proving difficult to keep clean especially around the high traffic areas such as the doorway, I suspect the sealer had worn down and dirt was now becoming ingrained in the pores Read more...

Cleaning Terracotta Tiles in a Kitchen

This customer in Salisbury was having difficulty bringing their Terracotta tiled kitchen floor back to the condition it was in when it was first laid. Upon inspection it was evident that the sealer on the floor had failed and dirt had become ingrained into the pores of the tile making it Read more...

Removing Efflorescence from Terracotta Floor

I was contacted by the owner of a Terracotta floor at a house in the old village of East Tytherley near Salisbury, the floor was in good condition and was just in need of a regular deep clean and seal with extra attention along the grout lines which had darkened, additionally there appeared to Read more...

Deep Cleaning, Sealing a Slate floor

This was a straight forward refresh of a Slate Tiled floor that had been installed in the kitchen of a house the village of Malmesbury. You can see from the photo below how the Slate had become dull with wear and how the grout had become discoloured; it was clear that the previous sealer was Read more...

Restoring a Victorian Tiled Hallway Hidden under Carpet

It's always a great surprise to find old tiled flooring hidden underneath carpet or linoleum which appears especially common with 19th century properties where it's not unusual for the owners to uncover fantastically patterned, original Victorian tiled floors and, naturally, they want to restore Read more...

Putting the shine back on water damaged Yorkstone tiles

The photographs below are from a Yorkstone flagged floor at a house in the market town of Devizes in Wiltshire. The customer had contacted me as the floor was quite dirty and was overdue for a deep clean. Cleaning Yorkstone Paving Flags The floor was quite dirty so I started by making a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-clean mixed 50/50 with NanoTech Ultraclean to add more abrasive power; the solution was spread liberally all over the floor and was left to soak into the stone for a good Read more...

Regular maintenance of Terracotta tiles

Some great photo's below of Terracotta tiled floor in the kitchen of a house in Burbage which as you can see was overdue for a deep clean and seal. Terracotta Tile Cleaning The first job was to get the floor clean so it was covered in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left Read more...

Removing Linseed Oil from a Terracotta floor

This client in the Wiltshire village of Urchfont contacted us because a competitor had attempted to restore their floor but ended up ruining it due to the over application of linseed oil which had left it both brown and sticky. I warned the customer that we may not be able to get rid of the Read more...

Deep Cleaning New Terracotta Tiles

The owner of this Terracotta tiled floor installed in a house in the village of Osbourne St. Georges several years earlier contacted us as the floor had become ingrained with dirt and was now proving impossible to keep clean. We popped round to take a look and ran a small test clean to show what Read more...

Slate Kitchen Floor Rejuvenated

This floor was installed in the house of a client in the town of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, I was asked if I could restore the Slate tiled kitchen floor back to its former glory. The client was having trouble cleaning the floor themselves due to the sealer being worn away and dirt now becoming Read more...

Repolishing Marble tiles in a Hallway

The owner of this polished Marble Tiled hallway at a house in Trowbridge was unhappy with the look of their floor which had become dull and scratched and wanted the floor re-polishing. Apologies in advance for the pictures below on reflection I should have taken some close-up shots so you could see the problem better. Cleaning Marble Tile and Grout The first step first was to give the floor a general clean focusing on the grout lines so I started by mixing a mild dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is an alkaline based product that is safe to use on Marble. The solution was brushed around the floor concentrating on getting the product into the grout lines. I left this to dwell for 5-10 minutes before scrubbing with stiff grout brush. Once the grout lines were cleaned the dirty solution was removed with a wet vacuum and the tiles rinsed thoroughly with clean water. Polishing Marble Tiles The next step was to burnish the floor using a coarse diamond encrusted pad fitted to a rotary machine. This is used with clean water to remove surface scratches and any sealer that may be present. Once the water has turned to slurry after 4 passes of each tile I would remove with a wet vacuum and rinsed thoroughly. One that step was completed the process is repeated using the Medium, Read more...

Repolishing Marble tiles in a Hallway in Marlborough

This was an unusual problem; a customer contacted us regarding their Marble shower room at a house in Marlborough where the customer had sprayed Viakal Limescale remover onto the Marble tiles to clean them which unfortunately etched the surface. I've downloaded the MSDS sheet from the Inernet for this product and can verify it contains a combination of Etidronic, Formic and Phosphoric acids so not a very safe product to use on Marble or any sealed stone surface. Cleaning Marble Wall Tiles To remove the etching the Marble tiles were burnished using a 6inch coarse diamond encrusted burnishing pad fixed to a hand held rotary machine and lubricated with a spray bottle of water to help keep tiles wet. Burnishing pads come in a set of four from Coarse, Medium, Fine and Super Fine so once we had removed the etching using the coarse pad we then applied the next pads in turn which re-polish the area back to its original shine. Between pads we rinsed the tiles down to remove any soiled water away; after the final super fine pad was applied the shower tiles were given a thorough rinse down ready for sealing. Sealing the Marble Wall Tiles The wall was wiped down and left to dry overnight and we returned the next day to seal the Marble tiles using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow Read more...