Grout Clean-up

Here we have a Quarry tiled floor at a property in Tiverton which Is a small village in the West Cheshire countryside with many chocolate box cottages and listed buildings. The property which was built in the 1800’s had been inherited by a young couple who had decided to renovate it and this included the old flooring.

To get a better idea of what was needed I paid them a visit to survey the floor. The Quarry tiles were very old and I suspect originally to the property, they had been badly neglected and had clearly seen a lot of wear resulting in a loss of colour. Unfortunately, it was never going to look like new again however I advised on what could be done to clean them up and put some character back into the floor.

Later that day I sent over a full quote for doing the restoration work which included an itemised list of the products needed. I heard nothing back for five months then got a phone call asking if I could help them as they had been unsuccessful completing the floor themselves. Happy to help a date was arranged to start the restoration of the tiles which had seen more activity since my last visit and now had every kind of builder’s rubbish on them.

Cleaning a 200-Year-Old Quarry Tiled Floor

The first job was to give the floor a good brush and scrape to remove as much of the plaster dust and other contaminates as possible. To do this a strong cleaning solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong alkaline cleaner stripper combined with Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU. This is a heavy build up remover with nano sized particles to help dissolve and lift the stains out.

The solution was left to dwell and soak into the floor for thirty minutes which gives the products time to breakdown the dirt. Then a small section of flooring was scrubbed with a black pad fitted to a weighted buffing machine. Unfortunately, this had very little effect and clearly something more abrasive was needed to cut through the mess.

To up the ante we decided to fit the buffing machine with a 60-grit carborundum brush and run this over the floor with more water to improve lubrication. This combination did the trick and soon made light work of removing the building plaster, paint and cement from the floor. This process generated a lot of soiling which was rinsed off the floor with more water and a wet vacuum.

Next the floor was given an acid rinse using a mild dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up, this further cleans up the tile and neutralises the pH level of the floor after the alkaline cleaning products used earlier.

Sealing a 200-Year-Old Quarry Tiled Floor

The floor was then left to dry out for two days before returning to seal with two coats of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal to leave a wet look to the stone. This product is oil-based which soaks into the clay tile occupying its pores, this adds structure to the tile whilst preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. X-Tra Seal is also fully breathable which is an important characteristic when select a sealer for older floors that won’t have the benefit of a damp proof membrane.

The work took three days to complete and by then end of the job the character had been restored to the floor. Naturally the tiles were never going to look perfect again but I think they suited the period cottage quite well.

 

Professional Renovation of Period Quarry Tiled Floor in West Cheshire