How to Deep Clean Slate Tile and Grout by Berkshire Stone Expert

This customer in Thatcham, near Newbury in Berkshire had inherited a rare semi-riven Slate floor with their kitchen. However, years of dirt and contaminations had built up and left the Slate looking dull and the grout discoloured.

 

Slate is a very popular floor and wall tile due to its low porosity; there are many varieties and textures of slate available, it does need to be sealed though to keep the dirt from becoming ingrained in the stone. Unfortunately, the previous owners had not maintained the sealer and owning four dogs had probably used a strong acid cleaner on the floor which will have shortened its life. Inevitably time took its toll on the tiles and it was now overdue a deep clean and new sealer.

 

Cleaning a Semi-Riven Brazilian Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor

The first job was to apply a strong dilution of an alkaline detergent called Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was applied and left to dwell for several minutes before agitating with a rotary floor buffer fitted with a scrubbing pad. A stiff brush was also run over the grout lines to get them clean.

I worked in sections and then used a hot water encapsulation system that is used a lot by carpet cleaners to remove the slurry and get the floor as clean as possible. After inspecting the floor, I could see a few stubborn areas than needed more work, so the process was repeated until I was satisfied the Slate tile and grout was as clean as it could be. The floor was then left to dry overnight

Sealing a Semi-Riven Brazilian Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor

The following morning, we returned, the floor looked nice and dry but I took several moisture readings with a damp meter just to be sure. All was in order, and I was able to progress onto the next step of applying a fresh sealer to the floor.

For this type of tile and conditions I chose to apply Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is a water-based sealer (no smell as it dries) that works really well on Slate. Multiple coats were required and each coat is left to dry before applying the next. The seal is very hard wearing, perfect for high traffic areas such as the kitchen and it leaves a lovely sheen without making the floor appear too shiny.

 

The customer was very happy with the outcome and left the following feedback on our website:

  “Extremely professional from point of contact till completion of the job, Dennis has done a magnificent job of my tiles. And I would highly recommend his services”
Before leaving made sure to leave a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Floor Cleaner to help maintain the floor going forward. This is a pH neutral product which makes maintenance of the floor easy and ensures that the newly applied sealant will stay in place and not be compromised. As mentioned before most people, including I suspect the previous owner, tend to use supermarket products which are far too harsh and break down the sealer taking them back to square one.

 

Source: Slate Tile and Grout Renovation in Berkshire

How to Remove and Ineffectual Sealer

We were asked to restore a large 70m2 riven Sandstone floor in the historic market town of Boston where the customer had been sealing with an impregnator sealer but the stone just kept absorbing the daily dirt despite repeated cleaning. The Sandstone was now very dull with ingrained dirt and mopping just seemed to make it worse. Unhappy with the appearance they decided to call us in to resolve the issues and add a resilient finish with a slight sheen.

 

Something clearly was not right so after discussing the issue on the phone I arranged to visit the property and survey their problematic stone floor. I concluded that the sealer the client was using was not effective at sealing the floor properly and had let dirt get into the stone. This could be because the floor had not been cleaned well enough prior to sealing, insufficient sealer had been applied or perhaps the sealer wasn’t suited to Sandstone. Either way to resolve the problem the solution would be to deep clean the Sandstone stripping off the old sealer in the process and then use something more suitable for Sandstone such as Tile Doctor Seal & Go which would also give the subtle shine appearance they were after.

I worked out a quote to renovate the floor, which was accepted and a date agreed to do the work which would take two days, one to deep clean the stone and the second to seal.

Deep Cleaning a Riven Sandstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

The first day started preparing the area which in this case was simply a case of removing the kickboards from under the kitchen units. Next, I created a strong cleaning, sealer stripper solution by combining Tile Doctor Pro-Clean with Remove and Go and then working in sections sprayed it on to the Sandstone and left it to soak in for ten minutes.

 

The solution was then scrubbed into the stone using a brush pad fitted to a rotary buffer machine with added weight to improve contact. Using a brush pad is an important factor when cleaning riven stone as a normal flat pad would struggle getting into the grooves of the stone and works well on the grout lines as well.

The scrubbing action generated a lot of slurry which was extracted using a high pressure Rotovac system which is a great time saver. The Rotovac works by applying hot water under high pressure onto the floor to further force out ingrained dirt and muck from the stone whilst simultaneously extracting the soil back to a tank on our van.

 

The results were amazing leaving the stone both clean and free of the old ineffectual sealer. After this the floor was inspected and stubborn stains were spot treated and the floor given a final rinse. Now satisfied the Sandstone was clean I left a couple of air movers in place to assist with drying overnight.

 

Sealing a Riven Sandstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

The following day the moisture levels in the floor were checked with a damp meter, its important the stone is dry before sealing otherwise the results can be patchy. Fortunately, the air movers had done an excellent job and I was able to start applying the sealer.

   

Seal and Go is a water-based sealer (so no smell as it dries) that works by protecting the stone with an impermeable layer. It takes multiple coats to fully protect the stone but does give the Sandstone a lovely appearance and will protect the floor from everyday wear and tear as well as making it easy to clean. 

The customer was over the moon and said it was better than when they first had it installed and mentioned they would definitely recommend our services going forward.

Source: Riven Sandstone Tile Cleaning and Polishing Service in Lincolnshire

Resurfacing a Flagstone Kitchen Floor in Broadbottom, Greater Manchester

The new owners of this lovely terraced house in the village of Broadbottom that was built circa 1900, inherited with it a lovely old flagstone floor in the Kitchen which was now in a rather bad state with ingrained dirt and stains.


I suspected that the White staining was due to alkaline salts, a problem more commonly known as efflorescence. However, I took a moisture reading of the floor with a damp meter and the readings were normal, so it may have been a historic damp problem that cause it. We are always wary of efflorescence issues when it comes to older properties as damp proof membranes which resolve this problem are a relatively modern invention.


After explaining the process, I worked out a quote which was accepted and booked a date in the diary for the work to commence, which would take place over two days.

Cleaning and Grouting a Flagstone Kitchen Floor

First the floor was in a terrible state and needed to be resurfaced if it was going to live up to its potential. To do this I used a 100 followed by a 200-grit coarse Diamond milling pads to grind off the top layer of ground in dirt, resurface the stone and reveal the beautiful stone beneath. These abrasive pads are run over the floor with a weighted floor buffer running on a nice slow speed and lubricated with water. The floor is rinsed with more water after each pad and then the soil extracted using a wet vacuum.

As the floor had quite a few areas where the grout had cracked and crumbled, I decided to rake this out and replaced it with a flexible grout using a colour sympathetic to the original. This and the milling made an immediate improvement to the overall appearance of the floor. The floor was then left to dry off overnight and I came back the next day to apply a sealer.

Sealing a Flagstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

The next day I checked the floors moisture level before sealing, all was well, so I applied a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This is an impregnating sealer that has a matt finish. Tile Doctor Colour Grow is also fully breathable so should cope well with any damp issues and allow moisture to rise through the stone and evaporate. This is important as otherwise moisture could become trapped under the floor where it could eventually cause problems in the walls.


The customers were delighted with the outcome, the colour of the stone had really improved also Milling the surface of the floor makes it smoother so it would now be much easier for them to keep clean in future.


For aftercare I left them with a bottle of concentrated Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which once diluted is a pH neutral product that will not erode the newly applied sealer. Many household cleaners are too strong for sealed floor and will prematurely erode the sealer over time.


Source: Flagstone Floor Cleaning and Sealing Service in Broadbottom, Greater Manchester