Andover Tile Cleaning Archives - Tile Doctor Hampshire

Pitted Travertine Floor Tiles Before and After burnishing in Andover

Pitted Travertine Tiled Floor Rejuvenated in Andover

To restore high quality, polished stone such as Travertine, Marble, and Limestone, we find that the most effective method is to use a process known as burnishing.

It involves the application of specialist diamond encrusted pads of different grits in sequence. The pads with coarser grits grind down out soil buildup, while the subsequent application of finer grit pads gradually hones an aesthetic polish on the surface of the tiles. Tile Doctor’s system consists of four burnishing pads: Coarse, Medium, Fine and Very Fine.

We use burnishing in these types of floor because we find that liquid cleaning products alone do not always achieve the best results. In fact, some household cleaning products can be damaging it not used correctly.

One customer of ours, who lives in Andover which is west of Basingstoke, was having a particularly difficult time keeping her pitted Travertine tiled floor clean, leaving them looking exceptionally dirty and dull and we were asked to restore their appearance.

Pitted travertine floor tiles before cleaning in Andover

Burnishing a Dirty Pitted Travertine Tiled Floor

As mentioned, to restore travertine we find the best method to be burnishing which has the added advantage of tightening up the pores in the stone, creating a natural sheen before any sealer is even applied.

To undertake the burnishing, I used our four pad system, polishing the Travertine with each pad in sequence – starting with the Coarse pad and ending with the Very Fine pad. This achieved a nice, even satin finish, which was ideal because the customer did not want a high shine gloss.

With the stone tiles cleaned and polished, I turned my attention to the grout, which was similarly dirty. To clean this, I opted for a liquid product in the form of Tile Doctor’s high alkaline cleaner, Pro Clean. I applied and scrubbed the product into the grout to eliminate ingrained dirt and stains, before rinsing the whole floor, using a wet-vac machine to remove the dirty cleaning residue, and leaving it to dry.

Sealing a Pitted Travertine Tiles Floor

Once the Travertine tiles were dry, I gave them a final polish in preparation for sealing. My choice of sealer was Tile Doctor Colour Grow – our impregnating, colour enhancing sealer for Travertine, Marble and Limestone. As you can see from the photo below, the sealer really lifted the natural shades in the stone. Both myself and the customer were really pleased with the overall result.

Pitted travertine floor tiles after burnishing in Andover

A bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap was left with my very happy customer along with instructions for aftercare. We recommend Stone Soap for the regular cleaning of polished Travertine as it enhances the natural patina in polished stone.

Cleaning and Polishing Travertine Floor Tiles in Hampshire

Pitted Travertine Tiled Floor Rejuvenated in Andover Read More »

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before and After Cleaning in Andover

Terracotta Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Andover, Hampshire

1 Comment / Andover Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Work History / Charles Okwechime

This Terracotta tiled floor was installed in the dining room of a house in Andover and as you can see from the photograph below the floor had not been maintained very consistently and was now well overdue for a complete strip, clean and reseal.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning in Andover

Cleaning Terracotta Tile

To get the floor clean and remove previous sealers and coatings I mixed a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean with NanoTech UltraClean which basically adds tiny abrasive particles to a heavy duty alkaline cleaning agent to produce a very effective stripper/cleaner which being alkaline is ideal for cleaning natural products such as Terracotta.

This formula was scrubbed into the tile using a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine running on a slow speed which helps to reduce splashing; this activity soon brought the dirt off the floor and the soiled cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum and the floor was rinsed down with clean water. The cleaning process was repeated a couple of times until we were happy with the floor, a stiff hand brush was then used along the grout lines with more Pro-Clean to clean up the grout. There were a few stubborn paint splashes on the floor and these were removed by spotting the affected area with Remove and Go and a steamer to lift the stain out of the clay.
Once happy the floor was clean it was given a thorough rinse to neutralise it and remove any remaining chemical and left it to dry overnight.

Sealing Terracotta Tile

The next day we came back to seal the Terracotta using numerous coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is an ideal sealer for Terracotta and provides durable stain protection together with a low sheen finish. Terracotta is by its nature very porous and so it’s not unknown for it to take up to nine coats of sealer, which can take some time to apply as like paint you have to wait until it’s dry before you can apply the next coat.

Terracotta Tiled Floor After Cleaning in Andover

Terracotta Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Hampshire

Terracotta Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Andover, Hampshire Read More »

Kitchen Ceramic Tile and Grout Clean in Stockbridge

1 Comment / Andover Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Work History / Charles Okwechime

The home owner of this house in Stockbridge had become increasingly unhappy with the state of their ceramic tiled floor and we were asked to come in and give the ceramic tile and grout a thorough deep clean.

Cleaning and Preparing the Tile and Grout

To get the tile and grout clean I applied a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and left it to soak in to the surface dirt for a while before scrubbing it with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and also a stiff hand brush along the grout lines. This was then washed down with warm water all of which was removed by a wet Vacuum. This cleaning process was repeated until the tiles were clean and the grout was a good as I could get it. Unfortunately the grout had stained quite badly and we were unable to get a good uniform appearance so it was agreed that we would applying a white Grout Colourant.

Applying Grout Colourant

The grout colourant range sold by Tile Doctor are a huge improvement on those grout pens you will find in DIY stores, they come in a range of colours and form a hard wearing epoxy barrier over the existing grout that looks natural and effectively protects the grout from further staining.

The grout needs to be clean and dry before you apply it so if you’re doing this from scratch make sure you clean the grout first with Pro-Clean or the Pre-Treater product that is available. The grout colourant is then easily applied using a toothbrush, it sounds easy but you have to be very methodical. The colourant dries in about an hour after which it’s worth double checking your work and then removing any excess by applying a little water and running over it with a white pad.

I think you will agree from the photographs the tiles look much cleaner and the change in grout colour makes the floor look that much fresher, it will also be a lot easier to maintain going forward.

Maintaining Ceramic Tile and Grout

Kitchen Ceramic Tile and Grout Clean in Stockbridge Read More »

=================================

Andover Tile Cleaning, Basingstoke Tile Cleaning, Beaulieu Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Eastleigh Tile Cleaning, Encaustic Cement Tile Cleaning, Fareham Tile Cleaning, Farnborough Tile Cleaning, Fireplace Cleaning, Flagstone Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Hamble Tile Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Lymington Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning, Portsmouth Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Southampton Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Vinyl Tile Cleaning, Waterlooville Tile Cleaning, Winchester Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Charles Okwechime

Hampshire Tile Doctor

================================= Read More »