grout cleaning Archives - Tile Doctor Hampshire

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Restoration Bordon

Restoring a Carpet Glue Stained from a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Bordon

This report comes from the small town of Bordon when we were contacted by a homeowner with a Quarry tiled kitchen floor that was in quite a state. The Quarry tiles had previously been covered with square carpet tiles which had been stuck to the quarry tiles with adhesive. The carpet tiles were starting to look worse for wear, so they decided to remove them.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Bordon

The newly revealed quarry tiles were very dirty and badly stained, especially along the edges where the carpet tiles had been glued to the floor. Realising they had bitten off a little too much they contacted Tile Doctor to see what could be done to remove the glue and restore their appearance.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Bordon

Happy to assist I popped over to Bordon to take a look and came up with a plan and quotation for the floor’s restoration. It was clear a lot of scrubbing would be needed to remove the glue, and I worked out a quote accordingly. Happy with the quote and the prospect of having the old quarry tiled floor restored as an original feature I was given the go ahead.

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Kitchen

The first job was to cover the tiles in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and then leave it to soak in for ten minutes. The tiles were then power scrubbed with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine running on slow speed. Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was also scrubbed into the grout lines to get them as clean as possible. Once the whole floor had been treated in this manner it was rinsed off with water and the soiling extracted with a wet vacuum.

This first step got the tiles cleaner but struggled to remove all the glue staining, so for step 2 the process was repeated this time using Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a powerful coatings remover that can shift most issues. Again, this was scrubbed in with a black pad and then rinsed and extracted afterwards.

After another inspection, stubborn stains were spot treated with more product and hand scrubbing until we were satisfied the floor was clear of all dirt and contaminates.

After rinsing and extracting thoroughly the floor was allowed to dry for several days.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Kitchen

We returned later to seal the floor, testing first for damp to ensure the tiles were dry. All was well and we were able to move on to sealing the Quarry tiles with three coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go. This is a water-based sealer (so no smell as it dries) that adds a lovely satin sheen to the Quarry tile.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Cleaning Bordon

The client was very pleased and so glad that he had managed to save the original quarry tiled floor and put it back into use. For aftercare cleaning and maintenance, Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner was recommended, this is an effective but mild tile cleaner that won’t impact the sealer.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Hampshire

Restoring a Carpet Glue Stained from a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Bordon 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 »

Cleaning and Sealing Black Chinese Slate Tiles in Basingstoke

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

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 »