Macclesfield Tile Cleaning Archives - East Cheshire Tile Doctor

Marble Tiled Floor Renovation Macclesfield

Polishing a Dull Marble Kitchen Floor in Prestbury near Macclesfield

1 Comment / Macclesfield Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

The photographs below are of a Marble tiled floor at a property in the pretty East Cheshire village of Prestbury near Macclesfield. The Marble tiles ran through much of the ground floor including the hallway and kitchen. The Marble had lost its shine and the once cream grout was going black with dirt, additionally there were a couple of deep-seated stains which I suspect was from a spillage of some sort.

Marble Floor Before Polishing Prestbury Macclesfield

Interestingly before contacting me my client hadn’t realised, it was expensive Marble tiled floor, and thought it would need replacing. Fortunately, I recognised it straight away and was able to advise that it just needed polishing and the grout cleaning.

I quoted for cleaning the Marble tiles, restoring the polished appearance using a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads, cleaning the grout, spot treating the stains and sealing the floor to protect it. My client has happy with the quote which was considerably cheaper than replacement and a date scheduled for the work to begin.

Cleaning/Renovating a Marble Tiled Kitchen Floor

To restore the polished appearance of the Marble I used a set of four burnishing pads which are applied to the floor in sequence from coarse 400-grit through to a fine 3000-grit. The pads are fitted to a rotary machine and run over the floor until each tile has been burnished using only water to help lubricate. The first pad cleans up the stone and removes old sealers. this is then followed with the finer 800-grit, 1500-grit and finally a 3000-grit pad. Except for the 3000-grit, each pad is applied with water and the floor is rinsed and the soil extracted afterwards with the wet vacuum.

Marble Floor During Polishing Prestbury Macclesfield

There was a lot of area to cover so I did this work in sections and during the rinsing and extraction process gave the Grout lines a good clean using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean tile and grout cleaner and a handheld scrubbing brush. Fortunately, the Marble tiles were large format so there were less grout lines to clean. The Pro-Clean really gets to into deep seated dirt and grease which tends to accumulate in the grout.

To take out the deep staining I sprayed on a product called Tile Doctor Reduxa, it doesn’t dissolve the stain like most cleaning products it seems to attach itself to the contaminates which can then be lifted out by evaporating with heat from a heat gun. It takes a little time to do but it’s very effective and innovative.

After a final rinse with water and extraction with a wet vacuum, the floor was then left to dry off overnight assisted by the under-floor heating.

Sealing a Marble Tiled Kitchen Floor

I returned on the second day and started by checking the floor was dry by taking several moisture readings with a damp meter. The readings were good, so I proceeded to seal the floor using a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Ultra-Seal.

Marble Floor After Polishing Prestbury Macclesfield

Ultra-Seal is an ideal sealer for Marble as it seeps into the stone and occupies the tiny pores within thereby preventing dirt from accumulating there. Additionally Ultra-Seal is almost invisible and won’t change the natural colour of the stone which was perfect for my client who was happy with the colour of the beautiful Cream Marble as it was.

Once done the floor looked transformed and for aftercare, I left a bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is designed for the regular cleaning of polished stone and helps maintain the patina. I’ve also offered to pop back once a year to do a maintenance clean which involves giving the tiles a quick polish with a 3000-grit pad and top up the sealer.

Professional Restoration of a Marble Tiled Kitchen in East Cheshire

Polishing a Dull Marble Kitchen Floor in Prestbury near Macclesfield Read More »

Sandstone Tiled Floor Before and After Renovation Disley

Renovating a large Sandstone Floor in Disley

1 Comment / Cheadle Hulme Tile Cleaning, Macclesfield Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

This is a large 17.2 m2 Sandstone Floor installed throughout the living and kitchen areas of a property in the beautiful village of Disley close to Lyme Park which is run by the National Trust. The floor had been installed four years ago and my client was unhappy with the original sealer which hadn’t lasted very long. Without the protection of a sealer dirt had become ingrained in the pores of the stone which was now difficult to clean. Another issue was the rough nature of the Sandstone meant it was impossible to mop as it shreds the mop! As a result, the floor was mainly cleaned with a hoover which was not ideal, especially in a kitchen.

I went over to survey the floor and before quoting I ran a small test clean in the kitchen which took the floor back to its natural pale colour and really showed how dirty the floor had become. Test cleans are great as it helps me to formulate an effective cleaning plan and provide an accurate quote. My client was impressed with the result and so I was booked to come back and deep clean and then reseal the whole floor. Due to its size I estimated the floor would take two days to deep clean and a further day to apply a new sealer, so three days in total.

Large Sandstone Floor During Test Clean Disley

Deep Cleaning and Restoring a Sandstone Tiled Floor

Working in large sections I started by cleaning the floor and stripping off the old sealer with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a coatings remover that is safe to use on stone. The solution was left to soak into the pores of the Sandstone for ten minutes before being worked in with a 200-grit diamond pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. This action not only removed the old sealer and cleaned the floor but the 200-grit pad being vey coarse removed a lot of the roughness from the surface of the Sandstone so it shouldn’t shred any more mops.

Large Sandstone Floor During Cleaning Disley

After rinsing the floor with water and removing the slurry with a wet vacuum I set about cleaning the grout with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked into the grout line with a stiff brush and assisted with steam from a professional steam cleaner with a grout attachment. Once done the floor was rinsed and extracted again to remove the soil from the grouting. There was also an area near one of the doors where the grout had become loose and needed replacing so I made up a batch of matching grout and filled this in. The floor was then left overnight to dry with assistance from a couple of air movers.

Sealing a Sandstone Tiled Floor

I returned the next day to finish the floor by applying a sealer. First, I double checked the floor was dry with the damp meter. The readings confirmed the air movers had done a good job and that the floor was within the accepted parameters, so I was ready to seal. The sealer I chose was Tile Doctor Seal and Go which being water based doesn’t leave a smell as it dries, it really works well on Sandstone and adds a nice subtle sheen to the stone.

Once finished the floor looked much cleaner, lighter in colour overall more inviting, you could even see the fossils in some of the tiles.

Large Sandstone Floor After Cleaning Showing Fosils Disley

The surface was also smoother so the customer should find cleaning with a mop much easier in future. On that subject its worth pointing out that owners of sealed floors should always use a neutral pH tile cleaner on their floors as most supermarket products are simply too strong and will prematurely strip the sealer off a tile if used repeatedly. Tile Doctor sell a product called Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is ideal for cleaning sealed Sandstone floors like this one.

My client was really happy with the results and sent me a message later saying: “the floor looks amazing!”

Large Sandstone Floor After Cleaning Disley

Professional Renovation of Sandstone Tiled Kitchen and Living Room in Cheshire

Renovating a large Sandstone Floor in Disley Read More »

Victorian Hallway Tile Repair before and after Renovation in Prestbury

Victorian Tiled Hallway Repaired and Cleaned in Prestbury

1 Comment / Macclesfield Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Wilmslow Tile Cleaning, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

This fantastic chequered black and white Victorian Tiled Hallway was located at a house in the village of Prestbury north of Macclesfield in Cheshire. According to Wikipedia Presbury is part of the “Cheshire Golden Triangle” villages which include Wilmslow and Alderley Edge which are the most sought after and expensive places to live outside of London.

It was a lovely building however a new stair case had been fitted which didn’t quite match the foot print of the original staircase leaving a gap in the hallway tiling. The owner of the property wanted matching tiles fitted and also to give the floor and good clean and seal so they would blend in.

Chequered Victorian Floor Prestbury Before Repair and Clean

Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Floor

To clean the floor and strip off any remaining sealer I first created a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean cleaning solution which is a versatile alkaline cleaner that’s designed for use on tile, stone and grout. reliably eradicates dirt on a wide variety of natural stone floors.

The solution was applied liberally across the floor, and left to dwell for about ten minutes to allow time for it to soak into the Victorian tiles. It was then scrubbed into the tiles using a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary cleaning machine. The resulting cleaning slurry was rinsed off with water and then extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum. I repeated this process until I was confident the tiles were clean and free of old sealer.

The next step was to treat the floor to an acid wash using Acid Gel, this is especially important on old floors where there is no damp proof course to prevent damp rising through the tile leaving salt deposits on the surface. This problem is known as efflorescence and is neutralised by the acid. The gel was then removed and the floor given another rinse using the wet vacuum to get the floor as dry as possible.

The last task of the day was to fix replacement tiles in the gap left by the original staircase. Fortunately, Tile Doctor keep a range of replacement tiles so I was able to source some that matched without too much problem. After grouting the hallway was left to dry off fully overnight so it could be ready for sealing the next day.

Chequered Victorian Floor Prestbury After Repair and Clean

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor

The next morning, I returned to the property and ran some damp tests. This is incredibly important to do before sealing any tiled floor because any excess moisture can cloud the sealer and prevent it from doing its job properly.

Once satisfied that the floor was dry, I applied a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a breathable impregnating sealer that enhances colour and protects from within. I dusted off any excess sealer and then followed up with the application of four coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which provides both a robust surface seal and a long-lasting low sheen finish. I waited two hours for the sealer to dry and then the rotary machine fitted with a white buffing pad over the floor to makes sure everything was nice and tight.

Professional Victorian Tiled Floor Restoration in Prestbury

Victorian Tiled Hallway Repaired and Cleaned in Prestbury Read More »

Renovating Terrazzo Kitchen Tiles in Bosley

Colourful Terrazzo Tiles Cleaned and Sealed in Bosley

1 Comment / Macclesfield Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Work History / Kamila Logonzy

This post is from the small Cheshire village of Bosley where I had received an enquiry from the owner of the old station master’s house. The house was quite old and the owner had been modernising it whilst keeping many of the original features. This includes some fantastic Terrazzo kitchen tiles which unfortunately were not looking their best due to an abundance of ingrained dirt. The floor was well overdue to be restored by a professional, so we were called in to get the job done.

Terrazzo Kitchen Tiles Before Cleaning in Bosley Cheshire

Terrazzo is a very hard wearing and affordable material that was quite common in many public buildings so I suspect this floor was original.

Burnishing a Terrazzo Tiled Floor

Terrazzo is very hard wearing so we find the best method to clean them is to treat them like a Marble or Travertine and use a process we have developed called ‘burnishing’. This process cleans and polishes the tiles using a system of four 17″ diamond-encrusted burnishing pads of varying grits in conjunction with a little water as lubrication.

We started by applying the Coarse 400 grit pad to grind away the stubborn ingrained dirt, a little water is used to lubricate and then the floor is rinsed to remove the slurry that is generated. We then worked our way through the system to a Medium 800 grit pad, Fine 1500 grit pad and finally a Very Fine 3000 grit pad each one applied in the same way.

This process carefully refines the polish of the surface of the tiles, restoring shine and lustre while ridding the stone of ingrained dirt. Once the burnishing had been completed, we gave the floor a thorough rinse to remove dirty water and soil residue the floor. It was then left to dry overnight.

Sealing a Terrazzo Tiled Floor

The floor had dried by the next day, so the tiles were ready to receive a fresh seal to protect against ingrained dirt and make them easier to keep clean in the future.

Our choice of sealer for this floor was Tile Doctor Colour Grow, it’s an impregnating sealer that’s specially formulated to enhance the natural colours in the tiles. As an impregnating sealer, Colour Grow fills the pores in the stone to act as a barrier against muck.

Terrazzo Kitchen Tiles After Cleaning in Bosley Cheshire

Before we left the customer to enjoy their newly restored Terrazzo tiles, I made sure to use a rotary machine fitted with a white pad to gently buff the floor and make sure the finish was pristine.

Polishing Terrazzo Kitchen Floor Tiles in East Cheshire

Colourful Terrazzo Tiles Cleaned and Sealed in Bosley Read More »

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East Cheshire Tile Doctor

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