Floor Tile Cleaning

A builder got in touch with me about aLimestone tiled floor he had installed for a client in Codsall near Wolverhampton. He was doing some renovation work on the property and clearly stone floors were not his speciality. The tiles had been sealed incorrectly and then covered up which had left marks in the stone. To his credit he did attempt to make good the issues, but ultimately got into a mess with it and decided to call us in to rectify.

I went along to survey the floor and work out a plan to rectify the issues and as part of this conducted a few tests. The testing went well and it confirmed to me which products and methods would work best on the floor, it also demonstrated that the Limestone floor could be renovated to a good standard. Luckily, I had a spare couple of days so I could do the job quickly, so the builder was very relieved, and the client pleased it was going to be resolved.

Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Hallway Floor

The firstly job was to strip the floor of the sealer and give it a deep clean. To do this I applied a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go to the floor, left it to dwell and then went over the floor with a Black pad fitted to a rotary machine. The soiling generated was then rinsed off the floor with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

After this I started burnishing the stone tiles with a 400-grit diamond pad covering each tile at least three times; the floor was then rinsed and the soiling extracted with the wet vacuum as before. I purposely worked on the floor in two sections so it didn’t dry out and leave a chalky finish, especially in the grout as this can be difficult to remove when dry. I then moved on to the 800-grit pad and then a 1500-grit pad using the same method. I also used smaller 6-inch pads around the edges and corners where the rotary machine could not reach using a hand polisher.

After rinsing and drying off with three air movers, I asked the client to have a think overnight if they wanted to leave it at the 1500-grit finish or go up to a 3000-grit very fine finish. My concern was that an adjoining room which wasn’t being cleaned wasn’t that high a finish and the two floors would look different.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Hallway Floor

I returned the next day and checked the moisture readings of the floor using a damp meter, the readings were good confirming the floor was dry and ready to be sealed. Having thought about it overnight the client agreed with my concern and was happy to leave it at a 1500 grit finish.

To seal the Limestone floor, I applied two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is a penetrating sealer that soaks into the pores of the stone to provide maximum protection and leaves a natural finish. Additionally, this sealer is particularly good in a high traffic area such as the hallway.

My client was delighted with the transformed floor and was now happy which was a relief to the builder who was keen to get the job signed off. For aftercare cleaning I left the client a bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which will allow them to keep the tiles clean and help to keep the polished patina finish.

 

Professional Renovation of a Limestone Tiled Hallway in Birmingham