Slate Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Slate flooring carried out in Hampshire

Cleaning and Renovating Slate Floors

Slate is a very popular floor and wall tile due to its low porosity; there are many varieties and textures of Slate available as such Tile Doctor has spent many years researching the best cleaning and sealing methods and products. The semi-riven tile is particularly easier to maintain compared to the rough textured Slate commonly available due to its cheaper quarrying cost.

Porosity however small, is the main issue when maintaining Stone floors as dirt can easily become trapped in the pores and once that happens it becomes very difficult to clean. The solution is to prevent the ingress of dirt in the stone by applying a sealer such as Tile Doctor Seal and Go which works very well on Slate. However sealers do wear down with use and the application of unsuitable cleaning products, and so unless regularly maintained the floor will need to be stripped, deep cleaned and then resealed again every three to five years.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.

Slate Tile Cleaining Floor Bognor Regis Finish

Cleaning Slate Tiles in Bognor Regis

1 Comment / Portsmouth Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History /

These slate tiles were installed in the back kitchen of a house in the seaside resort town of Bognor Regis, they were in good physical condition but unfortunately any sealer had worn off some time ago causing them to lose their appearance and look faded.

Slate Tile Cleaining Floor Bognor Regis Before

Cleaning Slate Tiled Floors

Dirt had become ingrained into the tile so I went straight for a powerful cleaning combination of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean Tile and Grout cleaner mixed 50:50 with NanoTech UltraClean. The UltraClean adds tiny abrasive particles to the Pro-Clean making it a more effective cleaning product. The solution was left to dwell on the floor for a while before being scrubbed into the tiles with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad; as usual a stiff hand brush was used along the grout lines to get them clean.

Slate Tile Cleaining Floor Bognor Regis During
The soiled solution was removed using a wet vacuum and floor thoroughly rinsed down with clean water. Pro-Clean works as a stripper as well as a cleaner and so any remaining sealer was also removed in the process.

Sealing Slate Floor Tiles

This process took a day so the floor was left to dry overnight and we came back the next day to seal it with five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is the ideal sealer for Slate tiles as it provides good stain protection with leaves a nice sheen finish; Seal and Go is also water based so there’s no smell like you get with other sealers.

Slate Tile Cleaining Floor Bognor Regis Finish
The slate tiles now look 100% improved and the sealer should keep them that way for two to three years depending on floor traffic.

Cleaning and Sealing a Slate Kitchen Tiles in Hampshire

Cleaning Slate Tiles in Bognor Regis Read More »

Southampton Slate Tiled Floor Before and After Cleaning

Cleaning Slate Tiles in a Southampton Kitchen

1 Comment / Slate Tile Cleaning, Southampton Tile Cleaning, Work History /

This beautiful slate floor installed in the Kitchen of a house in Southampton had tons of character but unfortunately years of use had left it looking rather washed out and was overdue for a deep clean and re-seal.

Southampton Slate Tiled Floor before Cleaning

Cleaning Slate Tiled Floors

I set about scrubbing the floor using a hot water dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean Tile and Grout cleaner combined 50:50 with NanoTech UltraClean which adds tiny abrasive particles to the solution to make a more effective cleaning product. The solution was left to dwell on the floor for a while before being scrubbed into the tiles with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad; a stiff hand brush was used along the grout lines. The soiled solution was removed using a wet vacuum and floor thoroughly rinsed down with clean water. Pro-Clean works as a stripper as well as a cleaner and so any remaining sealer was also removed using this process, had that been a problem I would of resorted to Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a much stronger coatings remover.

The soiled cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum and this was followed by washing down the area thoroughly with clean water; any stubborn marks were revisited with a repeat of the same process until we were happy the tiles were clean.

Sealing Black Slate Floor Tiles

This process took most of the day so we left the floor to dry overnight and came back the next day to seal it using Tile Doctor Seal and Go, a highly recommended sealer for Slate which provides good stain protection with a low sheen finish, slate is quite porous and it took five coats before it was fully sealed.

Southampton Slate Tiled Floor after Cleaning
I think you will agree the floor is transformed, the natural colours of the slate have come through and the low sheen has given the floor a nice health appearance.

Cleaning and Sealing a Slate Kitchen Tiles in Hampshire

Cleaning Slate Tiles in a Southampton Kitchen Read More »

Black Slate Floor Portsmouth Finished

Cleaning Black Slate Tiles in Portsmouth

1 Comment / Portsmouth Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History /

This was a straightforward black slate tile clean and seal in a large kitchen of a house in Portsmouth, the tile and grout were in good physical condition and just needed of a deep clean.

Black Slate Floor Portsmouth Before Black Slate Floor Portsmouth Before

Cleaning Slate Tiled Floor

The first step was to give the tiles a really good clean using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left to dwell on the tile for a while before being scrubbed into the floor using a rotary machine fitted with a black pad. It was a large area so we worked in sections and used a stiff brush along the grout lines to get them clean.

The soiled cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum before washing down the area thoroughly with clean water; any stubborn marks were revisited with a repeat of the same process until we were happy the tiles were clean.

Black Slate Floor Portsmouth Cleaning Black Slate Floor Portsmouth Cleaning

Sealing Black Slate Floor Tiles

We left the floor to dry overnight and came back the next day to seal it using Tile Doctor Seal and Go, a highly recommended sealer for Slate which provides good stain protection with a low sheen finish, slate is quite porous and it took five coats before it was fully sealed.

Black Slate Floor Finished Black Slate Floor Finished

The black slate looked amazing when we had finished, the customer was certainly happy with the result.

Cleaning and Sealing a Black Slate Tiled Floor in Hampshire

Cleaning Black Slate Tiles in Portsmouth Read More »

Southampton Slate Floor Before After

Cleaning & Sealing Slate Tiles in Southampton

Slate Tile Cleaning, Southampton Tile Cleaning, Work History /

The owners of this house in Southampton called us in to breathe some life back into their slate floor which had become rather dull and had lost its shine. We took a look and could see the previous sealer had been worn down and it was in need of deep clean and re-seal, sealers will wear off over time and once they are gone dirt will start to get trapped in the pores of the tile.

Southampton Slate Floor Before

Cleaning the Slate Floor

To remove any remaining sealer and give the floor a deep clean we applied a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. This was left to dwell on the floor for a while before using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad to scrub the floor and get the slate floor really clean. The machine can struggle to reach the grout so it was necessary to get in with a stiff hand brush afterwards and scrub along the grout lines. Once I was satisfied with the condition of the stone floor it was given a wash down with clean water which was removed using a wet vacuum to make sure no chemical was left on the floor as this can affect the sealer later.

Sealing the Slate Floor

Sealing the Slate floor was a straight forward process once the floor was clean and free of any debris etc. The sealer chosen for this floor was Tile Doctor Seal and Go which adds a low sheen finish whilst providing stain protection. Five coats were applied using a paint pad applicator before the floor was fully sealed , the number of coats you need depend on the porosity of the stone and each floor is different and you need to let each coat dry before proceeding to the next.

Southampton Slate Floor Finished
 

Cleaning and Sealing a Slate floor in Southampton

Cleaning & Sealing Slate Tiles in Southampton Read More »

Slate Floor Fareham Finished

Cleaning & Sealing Slate Flagstone Tiles in Fareham

Fareham Tile Cleaning, Flagstone Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History /

These Slate flagstone tile were installed in a conservatory in the town of Fareham. The flagstones and grout were reasonably clean and in good condition but the previous sealer had all but worn off and they were looking dull and in need of revamp.

Slate Floor Fareham Before

Slate Flagstone Cleaning

As the previous sealer had all but worn off I decided not to apply a dedicated coatings remover product such as “Remove and Go” but instead use a strong cleaning solution to remove the remaining sealer and clean the floor in one go. For this I choose a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed with 50/50 with Nanotech Ultra-Clean which adds tiny abrasive particles to the mix. The cleaning solution was applied to the floor with a mop and then left to dwell for 20 minutes before being agitated with a buffing machines fitted with a black Scrubbing pad and stiff brushes along the grout lines.

Slate Floor Fareham Cleaning
The soiled solution was then removed using a wet vacuum and the floor rinsed with clean water and left to dry. We could see at this point that the job was a success and we had successfully managed to clean the floor and remove the sealer in one go.

There was no history of what had been used to seal the floor previously so it’s important to ensure all the old sealer had been completely removed as the old sealer could have been incompatible with the sealer we wished to use and resulted in an unexpected finish.

Sealing the Slate Floor

We sealed the slate flagstones with a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which really helps bring out the deep colour from within the slate. To finish and build up the lustre and richness of the colour we then applied seven coats of Seal & Go which add a nice low sheen to the surface of the tile.

Slate Floor Fareham Finished
For general cleaning and to get a long life out of the sealer we recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner, diluted 1:30 with water and applied with a microfibre flat mop, rinse with water and then remove with a clean microfibre flat mop.

Restoring a Slate Flagstone Tiles in Fareham

Cleaning & Sealing Slate Flagstone Tiles in Fareham Read More »

Chinese Black Slate in Basingstoke Cleaned and Sealed

Cleaning and Sealing Black Chinese Slate Tiles in Basingstoke

Basingstoke Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History /

You can see from the photograph below how dirty these Black Chinese Slate tiles and grout had become; the old sealer protecting the tile and grout from stains had virtually vanished because the customer in Basingstoke had been using washing up liquid to clean them. Generally speaking washing up liquid is a degreaser with a slight Acidic PH and over time it can strip the sealer off. This was definitely the root cause of problem in this case in fact the sealer was virtually non existent. In a way this made our job easier as we have to remove any sealer before we can start cleaning.

Chinese Black Slate in Basingstoke Before

Cleaning Chinese Black Slate

The first job we did was to work on the grout lines using a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which we left to dwell on the grout first before working it in with a special stiff brush. Pro-Clean is a strong alkaline cleaner which unlike acidic products is safe to use on all types of stone. To remove the remaining sealer and clean the slate floor we used Pro-Clean again this time worked in with a rotary machine fitted with a scrubbing pad.

Chinese Black Slate in Basingstoke During Cleaning
The soiled liquids were removed and the floor rinsed down with clean water, we find a wet Vacuum machine comes in very handy at this point as there great for removing liquids from floors. We repeated this process a number of times until we were happy the slate tile and grout were thoroughly clean.

Sealing Chinese Black Slate

The slate floor was left to dry overnight and we came back the next day to seal it. The floor has to be dry for this process so we use a damp meter to make sure and we keep an industrial air blower in the van that we can use in case we need to speed things up. To seal the black slate we applied five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is a great stain protector recommended for slate floors that leaves a nice low sheen on the floor.

Chinese Black Slate in Basingstoke Cleaned and Sealed
Last but not least we advised the customer that going forward they should use a PH neutral cleaning product for regular cleaning and recommended the use Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner going forward.

Black Slate and Grout Cleaning in Basingstoke

Cleaning and Sealing Black Chinese Slate Tiles in Basingstoke Read More »

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