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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.

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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 »

Flagstone Kitchen Floor Restoration Fareham

Neglected Flagstone Kitchen Floor Restored in Fareham

This client was restoring a period property in Fareham which had an original Flagstone floor in the Kitchen. They hoped to restore the stone and then install a lovely kitchen that would really do the house justice. Always happy to help I went over to the property to discuss the floor and quote for its restoration.

I could see the flagstones were heavily stained and almost unrecognisable, however believe it or not I have worked on worse and didn’t see any reason why the floor couldn’t be restored to a reasonable condition. It was clear the floor had previously been covered at some point by what I suspect was Linoleum, this had probably been glued down as you could see an imprint of some pattern or other.

Flagstone Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Fareham

I recommended that the best course of action would be to use a set of very coarse diamond pads to resurface the stone and remove the staining and contaminates in the process. The pads would also make the rough Sandstone smoother and easier to clean.

Keen to go ahead with my recommendation I measured up and put together a quotation that included all the products and labour needed to restore the floor. With the quotation accepted we agreed a date to start the work.

Resurfacing a Flagstone Tiled Kitchen Floor in Fareham

The work started with the application of very coarse 50-grit Diamond Flexi-Pad fitted to a heavy-duty floor buffer with added weight to ensure maximum traction with the stone. Using only water for lubrication these pads do the bulk of the work and remove a fine and often contaminated layer from the surface of the stone to reveal new stone underneath.

Flagstone Kitchen Floor During Renovation Fareham

A lot of water was used in this process which mixes with the dirt and cut stone to form a slurry which is then vacuumed away. This process was then repeated with a 100-grit flexi pad, followed by 200-grit flexi pad rinsing and extracted afterwards as before.

With the contaminates removed the next step was to further refine the flagstone using a 400-grit and then finally an 800-grit burnishing pads. Less and less slurry was produced as I worked through each of the finer grit pads. Again, using water for lubrication and removing the slurry with a wet vacuum as work progressed.

The floor was then rinsed and allowed to dry thoroughly.

Sealing a Flagstone Tiled Kitchen Floor in Fareham

We came back the following day to seal the stone and started by testing different parts of the floor for moisture using a damp meter. This is important as applying a sealer to damp stone car result in a patchy appearance.

The Flagstone’s were dry so work continued to seal the floor with a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that occupies the pores in the stone preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. This product contains a colour enhancer which brings out the colour in the stone and it certainly worked well on this floor and brought out the brown shades of the flagstone and added a nice subtle sheen.

Flagstone Kitchen Floor After Renovation Fareham

Happy with the transformation I spent some time before leaving to discuss the maintenance of the floor using a sealer friendly product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. There was also more work to do in the kitchen by various trades so I recommended coving up the floor whilst further work was going on.

Flagstone Kitchen Floor After Renovation Fareham

 

Professional Renovation of a Flagstone Kitchen Floor in Hampshire

Neglected Flagstone Kitchen Floor Restored in Fareham Read More »

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