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Quarry Tiled Floor Restoration Cheadle Hulme

Old Cement Covered Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Cheadle Hulme

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

These photos are from a house in Cheadle Hulme where the owner wanted the 120-year-old quarry tiles in the dining room restored as an original feature. The tiles had been discovered when a carpet was removed and as well as being very dirty had been covered with a cement based self-levelling compound.

Old Quarry Tiled Floor Before Restoration Cheadle Hulme

It’s not unusual to find tiles covered in self-levelling compound when a carpet or lino is fitted. It’s done to smooth out the grout depressions which otherwise would eventually show through. Fortunately, it can be removed however it does require a lot of work.

Removing Cement from a 120-Year-Old Quarry Tiled Floor

To deal with the cement I treated the Quarry tiles with neat Tile Doctor Acid Gel and left it to get to work on the cement for ten to fifteen minutes. I then ran over the floor with an abrasive 200 grit milling pad fitted to a weighted rotary floor buffer. This action loosened the cement so it could be removed although in some of the stubborn areas I had to use a little extra force with the careful application of a hammer and chisel. I also used handheld abrasive diamond encrusted blocks which came in very handy near the skirting boards and corners.

Old Quarry Tiled Floor During Cleaning Cheadle Hulme

It took a lot of effort to get all the cement off the tiles, but they responded well to the treatment, and I could see the floor slowly transform in the process. A lot of water was used to provide lubrication and during rinsing for which I used a wet vacuum to extract the resultant slurry off the floor. The Acid Gel also removes old grout smears from the tile and neutralises any efflorescent salts in the floor which can be a problem with floors of this age with no damp proof membrane.

Sealing a 120-Year-Old Quarry Tiled Floor

The floor was left to dry off overnight and I came back a few days later to check the moisture levels in the floor with a damp meter. Unfortunately, the readings were still too high to apply a sealer, so I re-arranged my return. In fact, it took weeks for the moisture level to drop below 25% which was the minimum acceptable level before sealing.

The sealer I used on this floor was Tile Doctor Colour Grow. It’s a fully breathable colour enhancing impregnating sealer that will cope with any damp moisture rising through the tile and being a colour enhancer really brought out the red and black colours in the tiles.

Old Quarry Tiled Floor During Sealing Cheadle Hulme

Whilst the sealer was drying, I painted the fireplace hearth with black paint, this really tied it in with the Black Quarry tiles and neatly finished off the appearance of the room. Needles to say by the time I had finished the floor it looked great, and my client was very happy with their newly restored Quarry tiled floor, so much so they took time to leave the following feedback which is always appreciated:

“Within hours of sending in an enquiry on the tile doctor website I was contacted to say that the local rep would be in touch. Within another couple of hours, Kamila got in touch. Right from the start Kamila was accommodating to suit my needs, carrying out a trial ‘out of hours’ to suit me. Her communication was fantastic, regularly keeping me updated. She is a lovely lady who is trustworthy. I had to leave Kamila a few times and she locked up and posted the key as agreed. I am extremely pleased with the results of my refurbished quarry tiled floor, I never thought it would come up as well as it has done.”

Old Quarry Tiled Floor After Restoration Cheadle Hulme

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 Floor in East Cheshire

Old Cement Covered Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Cheadle Hulme Read More »

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration at Jodrell Bank Farmhouse

We received an enquiry from a client who had just brought a farmhouse with a Victorian Tiled floor close to Jodrell Bank near the village of Goostrey. Jodrell Bank is a few miles north of Homes Chapel and famous around the world for the nearby Jodrell Bank Observatory which is an astrophysics centre and part of the University of Manchester.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Restoration Jodrell Bank

On restoring the farmhouse, the client discovered a Victorian tiled floor hidden under their hall carpet and wondered if it was worth saving. I rang the client up to arrange a day to do a test clean and talk through the process of restoring the floor. Turns out the floor was looking washed out and there were a few tiles that would need replacing. I went over to survey the floor and complete a test clean which worked out well. Certainly, the client was happy with the result and could now see the floors potential, so a date was arranged to start work.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Restoration Jodrell Bank Zoom

Cleaning/Repairing a Farmhouse Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The first job was to cut out the damaged tiles and replace them, this was done using spare tiles I had been saving over the years for replacements and they were fixed using rapid set tile adhesive which meant I was able to start cleaning the floor after two hours.

To get the years of ingrained dirt out of the tiles I used Tile Doctor Acid Gel which is a blend of phosphoric and hydrochloric acids in a gel form, so it stays on top of the tiles and does not run off. This was left to dwell for a good ten minutes before scrubbing the floor using a weighted floor buffer fitted with a 200-grit resurfacing pad. A little water was used to lubricate the resurfacing pad and dilute the acid gel which helps stop efflorescence which is often a problem with floors of this age. The solution soon turned into a dark slurry which was then removed using a vet vacuum.

The next step was to repeat the process using more water and a 400-grit burnishing pad which refines the surface after the application of the coarser 200-grit pad. After more rinsing and extracting the floor was wiped using a microfibre cloth and then left to dry out overnight so it would be ready for sealing the next day.

Sealing a Farmhouse Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The next morning, I took a couple of moisture readings with a damp meter to make sure the floor was dry and ready to seal. The results were good so three coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra were applied using a clean microfibre cloth rubbing in circles to blend the polymers together to leave a semi sheen to the floor. I chose Seal and Go Extra due to the fact that it’s a breathable sealer that will cope with any moisture rising through the floor, this is an important consideration with old floors as they don’t have a damp-proof membrane installed under the floor.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Restoration Jodrell Bank Zoom

The client was very satisfied with the restoration, it looked better than they had expected and of course a lot nicer than the previous hall carpet! I recommended they should use Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to maintain the floor which is pH neutral and will ensure the longevity of the seal we had applied.

Tile Restoration