Cleaned Terracotta Tile and Grout Following a Freezer Leak

This small Terracotta tiled floor with tumbled travertine inserts at a house in Middlemarsh, Dorset was around 25M² and had been in place for over ten years, way before the owner moved in. After a recent freezer leak caused the tiles and grout to become stained in the utility area; the client was looking to either clean them or replace them as she wasn't that keen on them anyway.

After a demonstration of what could be achieved she was happy to go ahead and have them stripped and resealed as opposed to the more expensive replacement option.

Cleaning Terracotta Tiles

The entire floor was covered in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and this was left to dwell on the floor to allow it to soak into the tile and get to work on the dirt and breakdown any remaining sealer. The solution was then worked into the tile and grout using a heavy 17″ rotary scrubbing machine and then rinsed down using a high pressure wash to remove the soiled solution and neutralize the floor of any remaining cleaning solution before sealing. The grout proved to be stubborn to clean so we had to do the process a second time around and used a stiff hand brushes along the grout lines to get them clean.

You should be able to appreciate from the photographs below how we have managed to get the floor back to its original state and the difference in the grout particularly which was looking very dark prior to cleaning.

Sealing Terracotta Floor Tiles

The client had decided to seal the floor themselves with Tile Doctor Seal and Go naturally I was keen to see how it came out so I asked them to send me some photographs a couple of which are shown below. The final result is a practically new floor and the customer is more than happy with it.