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Victorian Quarry Tiled Floor Before After Renovation Hale Barns

Renovating a Victorian Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Hale Barns

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.

Old Victorian Quarry Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Hale Barns

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!)

Old Victorian Quarry Tiled Floor After Renovation Hale Barns

 

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Kitchen in East Cheshire

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Ceramic Tiled Shower Cubicle Before and After Cleaning Sale

Multiple Ceramic Tiled Shower Cubicles Refreshed in Sale

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.

Shower Cubicle Before Cleaning in Sale Shower Cubicle Before Cleaning in Sale

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.

Shower Cubicle After Cleaning in Sale Shower Cubicle After Cleaning in Sale

 
 

Professional Shower Tile and Grout Cleaning in Cheshire

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