Wirral

Ceramic Wood Plank Effect Shower Tile Cleaning Kirby Wirral

Limescale Removed from Ceramic Wood Effect Tiles in West Kirby Wet Room

We received an enquiry from a new homeowner in West Kirby keen to discover if anything could be done to renovate a wet room that had been tiled completely in Ceramic wood effect tiles. It had not been used since the previous owners moved out four months earlier and was stained with limescale and the usual build-up of grime and dyes you find from the regular use of soaps and shampoos etc.

I went over to survey the wet room tiles and see for myself the extent of the staining. I’ve never come across a wet room tiled exclusively in wood effect tiles before, it was certainly different and the limescale certainly detracted from its look.

Ceramic Wood Plank Effect Shower Tile Before Cleaning Kirby Wirral

I worked out a solution to resolve the problems agreed a price to do the work and a date was scheduled for the work to take place.

Cleaning a Ceramic Tiled Wet Room

Limescale can be removed using an acidic product such as Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up or Acid Gel, however you must be careful as some natural stone tiles such as Limestone can be etched with the use of acidic cleaning products. Fortunately, these tiles were Ceramic and so this wouldn’t be a problem. For this job I decided to go with Tile Doctor Acid Gel as being in a gel form it is much easier to control and it would stick better to the vertical surfaces.

On arrival I split the shower into sections focusing on the wall tiles first. The method was straight forward, apply the Tile Doctor Acid Gel, allow it to soak in for twenty minutes and then manually scrub into the tile and grout with a stiff brush. Rinse off and then re-treat any stubborn areas that needed further work. With the wall tiles done I moved onto the floor using the same process as the walls but using a wet vacuum to remove the residue on the floor.

Once complete and dried the wet room looked transformed, I got the impression I was in an old wooden ship and began to appreciate why the previous owner had gone for the effect.

My client was very happy with the difference and much relieved I had been able to vanquish all the limescale.

Ceramic Wood Plank Effect Shower Tile After Cleaning Kirby Wirral

I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Aqua Pro for regular day to day cleaning; this has a neutral formula and will eliminate any build-up of shampoos and soaps as well as any hard water deposits which build up over time. It has a nice fresh lemon smell and comes with a trigger spray for easy application. Due to the tiles being ceramic there is no need to apply a seal as the surface is sealed at the factory.

 

Professional Restoration of a Ceramic Tiled Wet Room in West Cheshire

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Travertine Tabletop Before and After Polishing Heswall

Polishing a Travertine Table Top in Heswall

One of my customers for who I recently polished their Marble floor was over the moon with the results and wondered and if I could achieve the same effect with a Travertine table which had many scratches to the top. The table was at his house in Heswall which is located on the Wirral, on the Eastern side of the Dee Estuary with lovely views across the river towards North Wales.

Travertine Tabletop Before Polishing Heswall Wirral

The table was a lovely piece of stone furniture, but I could see it was badly marked, scratched and had lost much of its surface sheen. Whilst this was a slightly unusual request, the polishing process works equally well on any type of stone so apart from the physical issue of working on a raised surface, I couldn’t see a problem with working on the table and anticipated that it would come up quite well. We agreed a cost and I arranged a time to come back and complete the job.

Travertine Tabletop Before Polishing Heswall Wirral

Cleaning and Polishing a Travertine Table

When polishing floor tiles, I would normally use large Tile Doctor 17-inch diamond encrusted burnishing pads fitted to a rotary floor buffer, naturally that simply wouldn’t work on a table however, I do have a small hand-held buffing machine that’s perfect for getting into small spaces and polishing stone wall tiles which would be perfect for this situation.

To restore the polished finish on the table I was able to use the hand buffer together with a set of four 6-inch diamond encrusted burnishing pads of different grits from coarse to very fine. The process involves working through the pads in sequence. I started the polishing with the coarse 400-grit pad and a little water, this coarse pad removes the scratches and ingrained dirt. The table was rinsed down and then the 800-grit medium pad was applied which is the first step in the polishing process. Again, this pad is applied with water to lubricate and the table was rinsed down afterwards. The process was repeated with the 1500-grit fine pad and then the 3000-grit very fine pad to bring up a really nice shine to the Travertine table, I should mention the last pad is applied dry with only a tiny amount of water sprayed onto the surface.

Sealing a Travertine Table

The last step was to seal the stone to protect it going forward for which I used two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. The sealer is rubbed into the top then the excess polished off after ten minutes. Once the sealer was dry the table surface was then buffed with a white pad to bring up the finish even further.

Travertine Tabletop After Polishing Heswall Wirral

The client was really pleased with the result, the table looked like new; he was so glad he had asked me to look at it following the work on his floors. Before leaving I talked to him about the best way to look after his table in the future and recommended for regular cleaning that he use Tile Doctor Stone Patina Spray which has been especially formulated for the regular cleaning of stone worktops.

Travertine Tabletop After Polishing Heswall Wirral

 

Professional Restoration of Travertine Table East Cheshire

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