Altrincham Tile Cleaning Archives - East Cheshire Tile Doctor

Victorian Quarry Tiled Floor Before After Renovation Hale Barns

Renovating a Victorian Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Hale Barns

1 Comment / Altrincham Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

The pictures below are of an old Quarry Tiled Floor in the Kitchen of a property in Hale Barns that date back to the Victorian era. The clients had tried to clean the tiles themselves but struggled to achieve a satisfactory result and thus decided to call Tile Doctor to have the floor professionally restored.

Old Victorian Quarry Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Hale Barns

Close to the Trafford market town of Altrincham, Hale Barns village has a long history with many older properties with classic floors that need a lot of care and attention to keep them looking good.

I went over to survey the floor and could see that as well as the usual build-up of ingrained dirt they had also some marks from decorating and plastering which can be hard to remove.
I demonstrated the cleaning method I had planned to use on a small are of the floor which responded well to the treatment. They were happy to proceed with my quote and we booked the job in.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

My process was to give the floor a good scrub with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is designed to remove old sealers and other coatings. This was initially scrubbed in with a stiff brush and then I followed this with the application of a coarse 200-Grit milling pad. These pads are made from industrial diamonds and being very coarse they really cut through the dirt.

The paint and plaster was a real struggle to remove, I spent a lot of time dealing with these by hand using small hand-held burnishing blocks working through the 100, 200 and 400-grit in sequence until I got the desired result. A lot of water was added to aid the process of lubrication and rinsing, all liquids were then extracted off the floor with an industrial wet vacuum. The amount of dirt removed was remarkable, but the floor looked great.

I was planning to seal the Quarry tiles the very next day so I left three floor industrial fans in situ overnight to ensure the floor would dry out. These also came in handy the next day to help speed up drying times during the sealing process.

Old Victorian Quarry Tiled Floor During Cleaning Drying Hale Barns

Sealing a Victorian Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

It’s not a good idea to apply sealer to a damp floor, for best results it needs to be dry. With that in mind when I returned the next day, I started by taking moisture readings from the floor with a damp meter. I am pleased to say the fans had done their job and the floor was dry so I was able to press on with sealing the floor with the application of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This is an impregnating colour intensifying sealer which provides durable protection as well as allowing the tile to breath which is an important consideration when working in older properties. Several coats were applied and true to its name the deep orange/red colours in the Quarry tiles really stood out.

Old Victorian Quarry Tiled Floor After Renovation Hale Barns

By the time I had finished the floor looked great and my client was over the moon with their newly restored Quarry tiled floor. For aftercare cleaning I recommended they use the Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. It is pH neutral tile cleaner that will not degrade the new sealer which is important as many supermarket cleaning products are simply too strong for use on sealed tiles. (Always check the label!)

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Kitchen in East Cheshire

Renovating a Victorian Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Hale Barns Read More »

Travertine Tiled Shower Cubicle Before After Renovation Hale Barns

Bleach Disaster Resolved in Hale Barns Travertine Tiled Shower Cubicle

1 Comment / Altrincham Tile Cleaning, Grout-Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

The pictures shown are from a Travertine tiled shower cubicle that was installed at a property in Hale Barns twenty years prior. The Travertine tiles were in desperate need of renovation and being stone they needed a specialist to sort it out.

20 Year Old Travertine Shower Cubicle Before Renovation Hale Barns

In an attempt to clean the stone a cleaner ended up making it worse when she used a strong bleach cleaner all over the tiles which actually etched the stone due to the acidic nature of the product. We find this is quite a common problem, especially in areas with limescale, in fact Tile Doctor now offer a training course for commercial cleaning companies because of it. I discussed with the client the process I would use to restore the appearance of the Travertine and with our quote accepted we agreed a date to complete the work.

Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Shower Cubicle

To begin with I applied a set of six-inch diamond burnishing pads fitted to a hand buffer to slowly remove the etching and gradually build the polished appearance of the stone. The pads are applied in sequence from 400-grit which resurfaces the stone through to 3,000 grit which builds up the polished appearance of the stone.

The Grout was then given a clean using Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel which was left to soak into the grout line for ten minutes before being scrubbed in by hand. Being a gel, it sticks better to vertical surfaces resulting in longer dwell time and therefore better cleaning results.

The combination of the two processes really got to grips with the ingrained dirt and the heavy limescale. The tiles were thoroughly rinsed which is nice and easy in a shower situation, and then left to dry for a few hours, prior to the seal being applied. During this time, I turn my attention to other bathroom areas for which I use a wet vacuum to extract the water and soiling.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Shower Cubicle

We sealed the Travertine and Grout later that afternoon using a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This is a impregnating sealer which soaks into the pores to provide durable protection, it also enhances the natural colours in the stone to bring the best features out in the Travertine. The stone had been installed all the way up to the high ceiling, so I needed to climb up a ladder to reach all areas.

The customer was beyond happy with results and left the following feedback:

“Kamila turned a bleach disaster in a travertine shower into a just installed look, also clearing mould stains at the same time – in a long day. Fantastic service, great price: don’t hesitate to book her. Steve D, Hale, 10 February 2020”

20 Year Old Travertine Shower Cubicle After Renovation Hale Barns

For everyday aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Aqua Pro which is designed for cleaning bathrooms where a sealer has been applied. This will keep the shower cubicle looking in great condition moving forward. It will also help to keep the dreaded limescale and mould under control and with regular use it will also ensure the newly applied sealant stays in place for longer.

If you’re a commercial cleaner reading this then do take a look at Tile Doctor’s Agency Tile Cleaning training course. It will fill the knowledge gap many cleaners have when it comes to cleaning stone tiling and ensure you avoid being in a similar situation.

Professional Travertine Tiled Shower Cubicle Restoration in West Cheshire

Bleach Disaster Resolved in Hale Barns Travertine Tiled Shower Cubicle Read More »

Victorian Floor Before After Restoration Hale Barns

Victorian Tiled Hallway Altered and Restored in Hale Barns

1 Comment / Altrincham Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

We were contacted by an architect who was working on the redevelopment of a late Victorian property in Hale Barns, their client wanted to restore the property to its former glory and several internal changes meant reconfiguring the doorways on the ground floor. This in turn would impact the elegant Black and White Victorian tiled hallway floor and the request was for us to lift half the tiled floor and then replace it once the internal changes were complete.

Black White Victorian Hallway Floor Before Restoration Hale Barns

Certainly, an interesting request and one we were happy to quote for. Hale Barns is an affluent part of Cheshire with a mixture of late Victorian and ultra-modern housing popular with footballers, so It’s refreshing to see a period property like this sympathetically restored instead of being demolished.

Lifting and Rebuilding a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The first part of the works involved removing the section of flooring that would be disrupted by the internal changes. Normally we would carefully cut out one tile so we can get a purchase on the remainder from underneath; however the floor had some loose tiles so it simply a question of lifting these then putting a flat plate under the rest and popping them up. I make it sound simple but doing it without damaging a tile takes patience.

Black White Victorian Hallway Floor During Tile Removal Hale Barns

Black White Victorian Hallway Floor During Removal Hale Barns

The lifted tiles were stored in buckets containing a 4:1 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and water. The tiles were left so soak for a couple of days to soften the adhesives, grout and dirt before being cleaned off and left to dry out.

Once the building work was completed, we were called back into rebuilt the Victorian floor taking into account the new door thresholds. The first job was to level the floor with fast drying self-levelling compound to provide a new sub-base for the tiles. This was left to dry overnight and the next day we started laying the floor back down with fast setting tile adhesive. Once the floor was laid, we left for the day, so it could set overnight.

Black White Victorian Hallway Floor During Restoration Hale Barns

Lifting and Rebuilding a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Next day we checked the tiles were set before starting to clean with a set of abrasive burnishing pads which attach to a slow speed weighted rotary floor machine. We started with a very coarse 100-grit pad and use water to help lubricate the process, the resulting soil is then rinsed off and removed with a wet vacuum. Using exactly the same process we continue to further refine the tiles by working our way through ever finer grades of pads until we get to 1500-grit. The floor was then washed with Tile Doctor Acid Gel and this is left to soak into the tile before being washed off with water. Giving the floor an acid wash in this fashion helps clean the tile of old mineral deposits and also neutralises any alkaline salts in the floor which could cause problems later on, this is a common issue with old floors more commonly known as efflorescence. The floor was dried using the wet vacuum to remove as much moisture as possible before being left to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor

The next morning, I finished off the restoration of the floor with the application of a very fine 3000-grit burnishing pad which gave the floor a light sheen. This final pad is applied dry with only a little water sprayed onto the tile using a method we call a ‘Spray Burnish’.

The floor was then checked for moisture with a damp meter to make sure it was dry before sealing. All was well and two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer were applied to protect the floor going forward. Colour Grow is a fully breathable impregnating sealer that will enhance the colour of the black tiles and being breathable will cope well with any moisture rising through the floor. Once the sealer had dried fully the floor was buffed with the 3000-grit pad leaving a sheen as requested by the client.

Black White Victorian Hallway Floor After Cleaning Hale Barns

Black White Victorian Hallway Floor After Sealing Hale Barns

The result was quite a transformation that was well received by the architect and their client.

Professional Victorian Tiled Floor Restoration in Hale Barns

Victorian Tiled Hallway Altered and Restored in Hale Barns Read More »

Marble Bathroom Counter tops Before and After Polishing Bowden

Marble Bath Surround Polished in Bowden

1 Comment / Altrincham Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

Although most of the work we do involves floor cleaning you should know we also cover stone worktops in Kitchens and countertops in bathrooms. An example being this opulent bathroom with Marble countertops that surrounded the sink and bath.

The bathroom was installed at a house in the up-market area of Bowden which together with the villages of Hale and Hale Barns are regarded as being the wealthiest parts of Greater Manchester. The customer had got in touch to ask if we could restore the appearance of the Marble surrounds which had become dirty and etched through general use.

Marble Bath Surround Before Polishing Bowden

Restoring the Appearance of Marble Countertops

My first job was to protect the wood panelling and lush red carpet that surrounds the bath, once all was protected we started to use a set of tile doctor six-inch burnishing pads to clean the Marble and restore the polish.

The Burnishing pads come in a set of four and are applied to the stone with a little water in sequence from the coarse 400 grit pad which removes etching and then through the medium 800-grit, fine 1500-grit and finally the very fine 3000-grit pad which restore shine to the Marble. I use a hand-held buffing machine to do this and carefully rinse in-between each pad to remove the small amount of slurry which is generated.

The last 3000-grit pad is applied with just a spay of water using what we call a spray burnish technique, this also has the benefit of leaving the stone dry which is exactly how we need it for the next step in the restoration process which is applying a sealer.

Sealing Marble Countertops

To finish off the restoration, I proceeded to seal the Marble tops with Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is an impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores of the stone protecting it from within. I should add, Ultra Seal is a natural look sealer that doesn’t change the colour of the stone.

The sealer is applied with a soft cloth, left for five minutes and then the excess is polished off with a soft cloth. We also replaced the silicone sealant around the bath and wash basins and once we were finished the bathroom looked newly installed.

Marble Bath Surround After Polishing Bowden

The customer was over the moon that we brought life back to her impressive bathroom.

Professional Marble Vestibule Polishing in Cheshire

Marble Bath Surround Polished in Bowden Read More »

Ceramic Tiled Shower Cubicle Before and After Cleaning Sale

Multiple Ceramic Tiled Shower Cubicles Refreshed in Sale

1 Comment / Altrincham Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Grout-Cleaning, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

The photographs below are from one of three shower cubicles we were asked to clean and restore at a modernised Victorian property in SALE Cheshire. Ceramic tiles are glazed so very easy to keep clean, grout and silicone however are not and if you let mould build-up untreated it can very difficult to remove.

Mould likes a warm damp environment which can be reduced by improving the ventilation in the shower room, other steps you can take to reduce mould include always leaving the door open after a shower to improve cross ventilation and rinsing the shower down with cold water after a shower. Tile Doctor also have a product called Oxy-Pro that you can spray on your tiles after use.

Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester but is historically part of Cheshire and dates to before the Middle Ages. A survey commissioned by the Royal Mail in 2017 highlighted Sale as the 4th most desirable town in England to live in and being so close to the city of Manchester makes it a popular choice for commuters.

Cleaning Ceramic Bathroom Tile and Grout

To get the grout clean Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was decanted into a spay bottle diluted with water and the solution was sprayed onto the grout lines. Pro-Clean in a strong and effective grout cleaner and after leaving it in place for about five minutes it was scrubbed in by hand using a stiff brush along the grout lines. I also gave the tile and cubicle glass a clean with Tile Doctor Oxy-Pro which comes in a ready to use spray bottle.

The next step was to carefully remove the old silicone sealant from around the edges of the shower cubicle using a sharp knife, so it could be replaced with new.

At this stage I took a step back to review the results of the cleaning, I wanted the best possible outcome for my customer and if more work was needed to get the shower looking it’s best now was the time. I concluded that the grout was much improved by unfortunately the mould staining was still visible in areas and that the best way to proceed would be to colour the grout.

Colouring Shower Tile Grout

Tile Doctor have a Grout Colourant product that’s available in ten different colours including White which I felt would be the best colour for the cubicle. Other colours include three shades of Grey, two shades of Brown and two shades of Beige as well as Black. The Grout Colourant is painted onto the grout lines using a small brush and I find a toothbrush works well for this purpose. Excess colourant needs to be removed from the tile before it sets, and I often find baby wipes work well for this purpose.

The grout colourant adds an epoxy barrier over the grout that is resistant to staining and much easier to clean than the grout itself. With this in place the grout will stay protected and the cubicle should keep its appearance for some time to come.

While the Grout Colourant was drying I replaced the silicone around the base of the shower cubicle using a premium mould resistant silicone that should be more resistant to staining.

Once the colourant and silicone had dried I gave the cubicle a final inspection and buffed up the ceramic tiles with a six-inch white pad fitted to a handheld buffer. As I mentioned before there were three shower cubicles to complete so as one was drying I was able to move onto another and as a result managed to complete all three in one day.

Professional Shower Tile and Grout Cleaning in Cheshire

Multiple Ceramic Tiled Shower Cubicles Refreshed in Sale Read More »

Bathroom tile and grout before and after refresh in Hale Village

Ceramic Tiled Bath and Shower Tiles Refreshed in Hale Village

1 Comment / Altrincham Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Grout-Cleaning, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

We commonly encounter customers who are struggling to keep their Ceramic tiled shower cubicles clean. Since most people use their showers every day, the tiles and grout inevitably come into contact with shampoos and soaps that can cause staining, discolouration and mould. In fact, it’s not uncommon for property owners to completely give up on trying to clean the tiles, especially as many everyday cleaners are ineffectual, and this allows the situation to worsen over time.

This customer, who lives in Hale Village – known to be one of the UK’s quietest and best kept villages despite being just outside the busy city of Liverpool – was fed up with the state of her tiled shower cubicle and decided to seek professional assistance. I explained that with regular maintenance using suitable products, the tiles could be easily kept clean. I visited the property to show her first hand the results that could be achieved by cleaning and recolouring the grout.

Ceramic bath tiles before refresh Hale Village

Grout Cleaning and Recolouring Ceramic Bathroom Tiles

The ideal product for cleaning grout that has become affected by mould is Tile Doctor Mould Away, a fast and effective formula that can be directly applied. After applying the Mould Away I allowed it to soak into the grout for 20 minutes, before scrubbing it in with a special handheld brush. I also scrubbed it into the tiles to remove any excess staining caused by coming into contact with shampoos and soaps.

After completing a thorough clean of both the grout and tiles, it was time to remove the old silicone sealant from around the edges of the bath, and replace it with a fresh white sealant. I then opted to recolour the grout to match it with the tiles and the new sealant, doing so carefully with Tile Doctor’s own White Grout Colourant. This is just one of ten different Grout Colourant options we offer. Other options include Charcoal Grey, Black and Cappuccino Brown to much different colour tiles.

Ceramic bath tiles after refresh Hale Village

The combination of cleaning and recolouring completely refreshed the appearance of this Ceramic tiled shower cubicle, to the point that it almost looks new. Needless to say my customer was very happy, and can see now just how easy it can be to keep these tiles looking good using the right products.

Professional Bathroom Tile and Grout Cleaning in Cheshire

Ceramic Tiled Bath and Shower Tiles Refreshed in Hale Village Read More »

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Alderley Edge Tile Cleaning, Altrincham Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Cheadle Hulme Tile Cleaning, Congleton Tile Cleaning, Crewe Tile Cleaning, Encaustic Cement Tile Cleaning, Fireplace Cleaning, Flagstone Tile Cleaning, Grout-Cleaning, Holmes Chapel Tile Cleaning, Knutsford Tile Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Lymm Tile Cleaning, Macclesfield Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Middlewich Tile Cleaning, Nantwich Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Sandbach Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Vinyl Tile Cleaning, Wilmslow Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

East Cheshire Tile Doctor

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