Refurbishing Limestone Floor Tiles

I was recently contacted by a client who lives in the small coastal town of Bridlington, East Yorkshire. Bridlington has a small sea fishing port known for its great shellfish. My client had a Limestone floor that was really in need of a fresh up: over the years the tiles had become dull and Read more...

Restoring a Victorian Hallway Floor in Bridlington

It's fairly common for owners of older properties - especially houses those that are over 100 years old or more - to find original Victorian tiled flooring hidden underneath carpet. It can wait years for the tiles to be discovered, by which time they have amassed huge amounts of dirt and dust. Read more...

Refinishing Travertine Tiles Post Installation

For this job, I was asked to work on my client's newly installed bathroom in their house in Hull, the largest city in East Yorkshire. The new bathroom consisted of natural Travertine stone, and my task was to give the tiles a thorough clean, polish and seal. Travertine is a form of limestone Read more...

Polishing and Sealing Grey Limestone Floor Tiles

This beautiful Grey Limestone tiled floor in the small village of Barton had been installed by a tile company but had not been treated in any way. The customer had been told by the tile shop that the stone in question would have to be sealed. After doing her own research and finding us at Tile Read more...

Cleaning and Sealing Indian Fossil Sandstone Floor Tiles

The pictures below are of an Indian Fossil Sandstone tiled floor at a house in the small town of Hessle which as you can see was in a need of a deep clean and seal. The tiles themselves where in good physical condition with no cracks, just a lack of sealer and a heavy build up of dirt. Cleaning dirty Flagstone floor tiles I started the job by dealing with some unsightly cement splashes that had been left around the grout lines, breaking them down manually using a good old fashioned hammer Read more...

Tiling a Fireplace in Oyster Slate

The owner of this property in Wawne Village was keen to have their electric fireplace - which was built into the wall - spruced up with some patterned tiles. While at Tile Doctor we most often focus on cleaning and sealing tiles many of the team such as myself are fully trained tilers we are Read more...

Maintaining Sandstone Floor Tiles

These Indian Fossil Sandstone tiles (sometimes known as 'Yorkstone' tiles) at a property in the small town of Swanland near Hull were, on initial inspection, in great condition, with no cracks or damaged tiles. However, thanks to a lack of sealer, the tiles had become ingrained with dirt, resulting in a heavy soil buildup that dulled the appearance of the stone. Also noticeable were some unsightly cement splashes around the grout lines. The property owner contacted me with the problem and I Read more...

Sealing Newly Installed Sandstone Tiles in Yorkshire

Yorkstone is a variety of Sandstone unique to Yorkshire, and is known for its hard wearing and durable qualities. It was first manufactured during medieval times, but is still used for a range of building and construction purposes including, of course, tiled floors in houses. Yorkstone comes in a variety of natural colours, depending on the mineral makeup of the stone, and means that the tiled floors often have a unique look to them. This customer, living in the small Yorkshire town of Read more...

Tiling a new Fireplace in Oyster Slate

While at Tile Doctor we are more often than not asked to carry out professional maintenance for existing tiling installation we have also been known to do the installation as well. This was the case with this customer, living at a property in Hull, who contacted me about a full tile installation on their fireplace, situated in a living room which itself was undergoing some redecoration. I recommended an Oyster Slate tile, a natural stone which contains a nice range of black, brown and white Read more...

Polishing Marble Tiles following Installation

These Marble tiles were installed at a lovely property in North Ferriby by another tile company who although has done a great job laying the floor had neglected to provide the owner with any kind of post-installation maintenance. Thus the tiles, which covered a large kitchen and hallway area, appeared dull and certainly not up to the standard that could be achieved with the right methods. Funnily enough, the tile company had told the property owner that the stone would need to be sealed, but did not offer to carry out the process themselves. After conducting their own research, the property owner contacted her local Tile Doctor to see what could be done. I came round to inspect the floor and recommended the floor was polished through a process known as burnishing, followed by the application of a sealer to provide durable protection for the stone. Burnishing a Marble Tiled Floor Burnishing involves the application of diamond encrusted pads with different levels of grit. At Tile Doctor we work with a four pad system that allows us to gradually refine the polish on suitable tiled floors, including Marble and Limestone. I started the process by applying a Coarse grit burnishing pad across the entire floor lubricated with a little water, the 17 inch pads fit a rotary floor Read more...

Tiling, Cleaning and Sealing a Fireplace in Oyster Slate

The owner of this property in Wawne Village was keen to have their electric fireplace - which was built into the wall - spruced up with some patterned tiles. While at Tile Doctor we most often focus on cleaning and sealing tiles many of the team such as myself are fully trained tilers we are also carry out full installations where requested. I suggested that the fireplace would look fantastic if tiled with the Oyster Slate and you may recall I did a similar fireplace in Hull which worked Read more...

Refreshing a Procelain Tiled Utility Room Used by Dogs

This Porcelain tiled utility room at a property in Hull had been primarily used as an area for the household dogs, and so had suffered over the years from plenty of wear and tear. Originating in China, Porcelain is a type of ceramic that is known to be quite hard-wearing and durable, however, dogs are known to bring all manner of muck into the house from outside, and it was certainly beginning to show here. The property owner was keen to have the tiles professionally cleaned and sealed, Read more...

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Restoring a Victorian Hallway Floor in Bridlington

It's fairly common for owners of older properties - especially houses those that are over 100 years old or more - to find original Victorian tiled flooring hidden underneath carpet. It can wait years for the tiles to be discovered, by which time they have amassed huge amounts of dirt and dust. Read more...

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration in Bridlington

It's fairly common for owners of older properties - especially houses those that are over 100 years old or more - to find original Victorian tiled flooring hidden underneath carpet. It can wait years for the tiles to be discovered, by which time they have amassed huge amounts of dirt and dust. Such was the case at this property in Bridlington, a Yorkshire town through which a stream known as the 'Gypsey Race' runs, before emptying in the North Sea at the Bridlington Harbour. Interestingly Read more...

Restoring the Appearance of a Dirty Victorian Hallway

It's fairly common for owners of older properties - especially houses those that are over 100 years old or more - to find original Victorian tiled flooring hidden underneath carpet. It can wait years for the tiles to be discovered, by which time they have amassed huge amounts of dirt and dust. Such was the case at this property in Bridlington, a Yorkshire town through which a stream known as the 'Gypsey Race' runs, before emptying in the North Sea at the Bridlington Harbour. Interestingly enough, folklore says that when the stream is flowing, bad fortune is at hand. The stream must not have been running on the day that we restored this Victorian hallway, as we managed to achieve some truly fantastic results!!


The hallway had been severely dulled after going years without professional care. We set about giving it the thorough clean and fresh seal that I'd des partly needed. Here's how we did it.

Cleaning a Dirty Victorian Tiled Hallway

Our first task was to remove any old, no longer effectual sealer. We did this by liberally applying a strong dilution of our alkaline-based Tile a Doctor Pro Clean, which doubles as a reliable cleaner and a stripper capable of stripping away old sealer. The product was worked into the tiles using a black stripping pad fitted to a 17" rotary machine, and the process was repeated three times.


I noticed that there was still some stubborn dirt and old sealer around the edges of the hallway, so I used some of our handheld diamond encrusted burnishing blocks to grind it away. To finish the cleaning process, we washed the floor with Tile Doctor pH Neutral Tile Cleaner, leaving it fresh and ready to be sealed once left to dry overnight.

Sealing a Dirty Victorian Tiled Hallway

Upon our return to the property the next day, we ran some quick tests to check for any excess moisture (even a small amount could have damaged the performance of the new sealer). Once satisfied with the the condition of the floor, we proceeded to see it with an impregnating sealer, meaning a sealer that penetrates into the pores of the tile to fill them and therefore prevent trapped dirt and ingrained stains.


Our impregnating sealer, Tile Doctor Colour Grow, has the added benefit of being colour intensifying, which really highlights the unique colourful patterns of the tiles. To give the floor a durable sheen finish, as requested by the customer, we also added a coat of Tile Doctor Seal and Go sealer.


The result was a complete transformation of the condition and appearance of this great Victorian tiled hallway. Our customer is very pleased - the floor is now a complete asset to any property, and will now be easier to keep looking great in future.


Source: Victorian Tile and Grout Mainteanance Service in East Yorkshire

Fireplace Tiled in Oyster Slate in Wawne

The owner of this property in Wawne Village was keen to have their electric fireplace - which was built into the wall - spruced up with some patterned tiles. While at Tile Doctor we most often focus on cleaning and sealing tiles many of the team such as myself are fully trained tilers we are also carry out full installations where requested. I suggested that the fireplace would look fantastic if tiled with the Oyster Slate and you may recall I did a similar fireplace in Hull which worked Read more...

Tiling a Fireplace in Oyster Slate

The owner of this property in Wawne Village was keen to have their electric fireplace - which was built into the wall - spruced up with some patterned tiles. While at Tile Doctor we most often focus on cleaning and sealing tiles many of the team such as myself are fully trained tilers we are Read more...

Tiling, Cleaning and Sealing a Fireplace in Oyster Slate

The owner of this property in Wawne Village was keen to have their electric fireplace - which was built into the wall - spruced up with some patterned tiles. While at Tile Doctor we most often focus on cleaning and sealing tiles many of the team such as myself are fully trained tilers we are also carry out full installations where requested. I suggested that the fireplace would look fantastic if tiled with the Oyster Slate and you may recall I did a similar fireplace in Hull which worked Read more...

Flood Damaged Quarry Tiles Restored in Hessle

Flooding in the UK seems to have become more frequent and devastating in recent years, with areas such as Cumbria and Yorkshire being among those that have been particularly badly affected. Of course, flooding hits many homes directly, causing often irreparable damage and problems that can last for years following the incident. This property in Hessle had been damaged by the terrible flood that hit Hull in 2007. Nearly a decade on from the incident, the property's Quarry tiled conservatory Read more...

Restoring the Appearance of Flood Damaged Tiles in Yorkshire

Flooding in the UK seems to have become more frequent and devastating in recent years, with areas such as Cumbria and Yorkshire being among those that have been particularly badly affected. Of course, flooding hits many homes directly, causing often irreparable damage and problems that can last Read more...