kitchen Archives - Staffordshire Tile Doctor

Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned Sealed in Sutton Coldfield

Renovating a Beautiful Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor in Sutton Coldfield

I recently completed the renovation of a Multi-Coloured Slate tiled kitchen floor in Sutton Coldfield. I was actually at the property before Christmas to survey the floor and quote for the work however the owners had planned to have a new kitchen installed in the new year, so we decided it was best for me to wait until after the installation to complete the work.

The slate was in good condition but like any stone floor you do need to maintain the sealer to prevent dirt becoming ingrained in the stone. Sealer do wear off overtime especially in the high foot traffic areas such as Kitchens and within a few years the tiles become dull and difficult to clean effectively.

Multi-Coloured Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning and Sealing Sutton Coldfield

The kitchen was installed on schedule and I got the call to arrange a visit to deep clean and reseal the floor which would take to two days, one to clean and one to seal.

Cleaning Dirty Slate Kitchen Tiles

To begin the restoration, I soaked the slate in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and left it to soak in for about ten minutes re-applying extra solution where it dried. Pro-Clean is a powerful tile cleaner that will strip old sealers when applied in concentrated form. I agitated the product using a black pad fitted to a rotary buffing machine. I paid particular attention to the grout which the customer had trouble keeping clean. The rotary pad struggles to reach into the recesses of the grout lines so I also made sure to scrub the solution into the grout with a grout brush.

Once I was satisfied that the Slate and the Grout was clean and clear of old sealers, I gave the whole floor a thorough rinse with water using a wet vacuum to extract the soil and get the floor as dry as possible. The floor was then left to dry off fully overnight.

Sealing Slate Kitchen Tiles

Returning to the property the next day, I ran some quick damp tests to check for any excess moisture that might have prevented me from sealing the floor. We will always do this as excess moisture can affect the sealer curing.
The customer was very happy with the clean and the floor was dry, so we discussed sealer options to find out their preference for Matt or Satin finish. With the decision made to go with a Satin finish I began the application of the Tile Doctor Seal and Go which enhances the look of the stone with an aesthetically pleasing low-sheen finish, as well as providing on-going protection against ingrained dirt and staining.

Multi-Coloured Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor After Cleaning and Sealing Sutton Coldfield

A total of four coats of Seal and Go were needed to seal the Slate tiles and as you can see from the photos the sealer really put the life back into the floor.

Rejuvenating a Multicoloured Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor in Staffordshire

Renovating a Beautiful Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor in Sutton Coldfield Read More »

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles Before and After Cleaning Stoke on Trent

Travertine Kitchen Floor Polished in Stoke on Trent

1 Comment / Stoke-on-Trent Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

The pictures below are from a Travertine tiled Kitchen floor I was asked to clean recently at a house in Stoke on Trent. The floor was laid about five years ago and always had a matt appearance and never had a shine at all. I went over to look at the floor and was able to use a spare tile they had to show them how shiny I could get the stone. They were really impressed with the result and could now see the potential of their floor, so they booked me in straight away.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles Before Cleaning Stoke-on-Trent

Cleaning and Polishing Travertine Tiled Floor

Restoring the shine on a polished stone such as Travertine, Limestone or Marble requires the surface to be stripped back and then buffed, which we did by using a set of burnishing pads. These diamond encrusted pads come in different grades from 400 through to 3000 grit and each one does a different job from scrubbing to polishing. I started with the course red 400 grit pad together with a little water to help lubricate and then carried on with the medium Blue 800, then fine Yellow 1500 grit pad, then very fine Green 3000 grit burnishing pads.

My last task for the day was to give the floor a good rinse to remove any remaining soil and then dried the floor as much as possible using a wet vacuum before leaving the floor to dry off overnight.

Sealing Travertine Tile

On our return the next I applied a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a specially designed stone sealer that brings out the deep colour of the stone. Once this had dried I worked in Tile Doctor Shine powder with a buffing pad to give a really deep and durable finish.

Before leaving I finished the floor off by spray burnishing the floor with an ultra high speed burnishing machine fitted with a white buffing pad.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles After Cleaning Stoke-on-Trent

For the first time in five years the Travertine floor has a deep shine and my customer was really pleased with the outcome.

Putting a Deep Shine on Travertine Tiled Floor in Gloucestershire

Travertine Kitchen Floor Polished in Stoke on Trent Read More »

Rejuvenating a Sandstone Tiled Floor at a Barn Conversion in Rugeley

1 Comment / Cannock Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

The owners of this barn conversion in Rugeley had got to breaking point with their large Sandstone tiled kitchen and utility floor. They had tried various different cleaning methods without success to clean the floor, but it always appeared grimy, and they suspected it had not been sealed following installation.

Sandstone kitchen floor before cleaning Rugeley

This would make sense: a lack of sealer would have allowed the dirt to become ingrained in the stone, making it impossible to clean. Interestingly their next door neighbour had suffered the same problem and decided to replace the floor entirely. The property owners were seriously considering the same as a solution, that is until they as found Tile Doctor. I was called down to the property to see what could be done.

Removing Ingrained Dirt from Sandstone Tiles

To begin the cleaning process, I applied a strong, undiluted quantity of Tile Doctor Pro Clean to the floor and left it to dwell for a few minutes. This allows the high alkaline cleaner to seep into the pores of the stone to begin to break down the ingrained dirt. After the short dwelling period, I scrubbed the floor using a rotary machine with a black pad attached.

With the tiles clean, I then focused specifically on cleaning the grout lines and edges of the floor using a grout brush in combination with a steamer. Finally, I rinsed the floor with cold water, before vacuuming up the resulting cleaning slurry before leaving the tiles to dry completely overnight. The drying period is exceptionally important because excess moisture can cloud any new sealers and damage their performance.

Sealing Sandstone Tiles

I returned to the property the next day to find the clean tiles showing some signs of damp. It’s possible that the property, being a barn conversion, does not have a damp proof membrane installed beneath the floor, making these sorts of issues inevitable.

To be on the safe side, I opted to seal the Sandstone tiles with Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra, which allows full moisture vapour transmission, making it fully breathable and ideal for these situations. It also provides durable protection against ingrained dirt and stains and does a good job enhancing the look of the tiles.

The customers were very happy with the result, and left the comment below on the Tile Doctor Feedback system.

WONDERFUL, delight to have Trevor restoring my very tired flagstone kitchen floor, it is now beautiful. Many thanks Trevor a job very well done.

I’m sure they were also relieved that they won’t have to go to the expense of replacing their fantastic Sandstone tiled floor. What was Once a problem is now a real asset to the property.

Dirty Sandstone Tiled Floor Restored at a Staffordshire Barn Conversion

Rejuvenating a Sandstone Tiled Floor at a Barn Conversion in Rugeley Read More »

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Tutbury

1 Comment / Burton on Trent Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This Quarry tiled kitchen floor was in very good condition, with no cracked or broken tiles. However, my customer, who lives in the town of Tutbury, near Burton-on-Trent, was keen to boost the condition of the tiles further through professional maintenance, including a deep clean and a fresh seal to restore the sheen to the Quarry. NB, did you know it’s estimated that Tutbury has actually been inhabited for 3000 years, having once been the site of an Iron Age hill fort, this house of course was a lot more recent.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Before Cleaning in Tutbury Burton on Trent

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

To clean the tiles, I chose to use our tried and trusted alkaline cleaner, Tile Doctor Pro Clean. We use Pro Clean on most types of natural stone floor, including Quarry, Slate, and Victorian. I applied Pro Clean liberally across the floor and left it to dwell for a short period, giving it time to seep into the tile to get underneath and lift out any ingrained dirt. The cleaner was then agitated using a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine to remove the dirt and other general muck.

I then rinsed the floor with cold water and soaked up the resulting slurry with a wet-vac machine. Some areas of the floor proved to be quite stubborn to clean, so in these areas the cleaning process was repeated until satisfactory results were achieved. Finally, the floor was given another rinse and left to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

The next day I returned to the property and checked that the floor was ready to seal by running several damp tests, with the results indicating that was no excess moisture remaining on the tiles. We carry out these tests before sealing because moisture can cloud the sealer and prevent it from properly protecting the tiles.

My choice of sealer was Tile Doctor Seal & Go, a cost effective topical sealer that builds up a robust layer of protection on the surface of the floor and provides a durable sheen finish that, as you can see from the photographs, really lifts the appearance of the tiles.

It’s a fact that any sealed tiled floor will need to be regularly maintained as sealers do wear off over time, especially in the high traffic areas, and this is when the floor starts to lose its appearance as dirt becomes trapped in the pores of the stone. The life of the sealer can be extended however by ensuring you only clean the floor with a PH Neutral cleaner.

Professional Quarry Tile Floor Maintenance Staffordshire

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Tutbury Read More »

Kitchen Quarry Tiles Before and After Restoration Stoke on Trent

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Restored in Stoke-on-Trent

1 Comment / Quarry Tile Cleaning, Stoke-on-Trent Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

Here’s a job I recently completed in the heartland of the English pottery industry, Stoke-on-Trent. In this particular instance I was commissioned by my client to restore the appearance of the Quarry tiled floor in her kitchen which as you can see from the photo below was far from looking it’s best. Quarry tiles are typically a very hard wearing stone, but in high traffic areas like a kitchen, even this type of tile will require regular maintenance.

Kitchen Quarry Tiles Before Restoration Stoke-on-Trent

Cleaning a Quarry tiled floor

My first task, before beginning the restoration, was to remove the kickboards from around the bottom of the kitchen units, to prevent them from being damaged during the process. The next step was to acid wash the tiles using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up which was scrubbed into the tiles to remove old grout and plaster that had become stuck to the surface of the tiles at some point in the past. Once this had done its job I rinsed the entire floor with water washing away the excess soiled residue and any trace of acid.

The next step was to give the tiles a good clean using Tile Doctor Pro Clean, which is a high alkaline cleaner suitable for use on a range of natural stone floors. This was left to dwell on the tiles for ten minutes, allowing it time to seep into the stone to get underneath – and lift out – the ingrained dirt. I then agitated the solution with a scrubbing brush to remove the muck from the surface of the tiles. The floor was then given another rinse with water, and this was extracted using a wet vacuum.

Sealing a Quarry tiled floor

I left the floor to dry after cleaning for more than 24 hours, making sure that it would be ready for sealing the next day. Upon my return to the house I checked the floor was dry and then sealed the floor using four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go, which provides a robust surface seal and a durable low-sheen finish. The product is suitable for use on internal, unsealed, porous surfaces.

Kitchen Quarry Tiles After Restoration Stoke-on-Trent

The photographs above bears witness to the massive improvement which has been made to the quarry tiles, which has not only completely transformed the look of the tiles but also the appearance of the kitchen.

Restoring a Quarry tiled kitchen floor in Staffordshire

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Restored in Stoke-on-Trent Read More »

Dirty and Worn Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor Restored in Burton-on-Trent

1 Comment / Burton on Trent Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This slate floor was installed in the kitchen of a house in the town of Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire. As the name suggests, Burton-on-Trent sits alongside the River Trent, which runs through most of the northern Midlands. The old sealer on my client’s Slate tiled kitchen floor had completely worn off and, as a result, dirt had become ingrained in the pores of the stone which was now in need of restoration.

Slate is typically a very durable tile, having been used both residentially and commercially for hundreds of years but, in particularly high traffic areas like kitchens it’s important to maintain the sealer or dirt will get into the pores of the stone making the floor difficult to clean effectively and leading to the tile looking worse for wear. I was commissioned to get the floor back to good health and I prescribed a deep clean and re-seal.

Slate Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Burton-on-Trent

Cleaning a dirty Slate tiled floor

To start the cleaning process, I first diluted Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and water and left it to soak into the floor for a while so it could get to work lifting out the dirt from the pores of the stone. Pro-Clean is a versatile, high alkaline cleaner safe to use on natural stone which can be diluted in different strengths depending on the level of soil build-up. In this case, I opted for a reasonably strong solution due to the significant amount of ingrained dirt (as shown by the photographs).

After about ten minutes I started working in small sections to agitate the tiles with a scrubbing pad attached to a rotary machine. The pad and machine take a lot of the hard work out of the cleaning process although I usually do the grout by hand using a stiff scrubbing brush. Once I had finished the initial clean, I rinsed the entire floor with water, before repeating the process multiple times until I was satisfied that I had got the Slate tiles as clean as possible.

Sealing a Slate Tiled Floor

After completing the clean, I left the house for a few days to allow the floor enough time to dry before being sealed. As any Tile Doctor will tell you, all moisture must be removed from a tiled floor before sealing it, as it has the potential to compromise the effectiveness of the sealer.

Once I was satisfied that the floor was completely dry, I sealed the tiles using four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go, which provides a stain resistant surface seal and a nice, low sheen finish. Seal & Go is a water based product (so no smell) and is suitable for use on a wide variety of unsealed, porous surfaces as Slate, Victorian tile, Sandstone, and textured Quarry tiles.

As you can see, the overall results were fantastic and my client was really happy with the difference I’d been able to achieve.

Restoring Slate Tiled Floor in Burton-on-Trent

Dirty and Worn Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor Restored in Burton-on-Trent Read More »

Slate tile maintained in Bridgenorth

1 Comment / Cannock Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This slate tiled floor was installed in the Kitchen of a house in the town of Bridgnorth which is in the Severn Valley Staffordshire. The owner of the house wanted to have the floor deep cleaned and re-sealed and so gave us a call.

Cleaning black slate floor tiles

We set about cleaning the kitchen floor with a mixture of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed 50/50 with Tile Doctor Nano-tech Ultraclean which was worked into the pores of the slate tile using a slow speed rotary machine fitted with a Polyscrub scrubbing pad which can reach down into grouting as well as scrubbing the floor. I then used a wet vacuum to remove the resultant soiled solution before rinsing the floor down twice with cold water, this also neutralises the floor prior to sealing.

Sealing Slate floor tiles

I left the floor overnight to dry then came back next day and used a damp test meter to verify the floor was dry and ready for sealing. Once happy I proceed to apply three coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which as you can see from the photograph below has really brought out the natural colours in the slate. I used a water test after the third coat was dry to see if the water would form bubble on the surface thus indicating it was dry, which it did thereby indicating the floor was fully sealed.

Overall the job took two days and I’m happy report the customer was delighted with the outcome.

Slate tiled Kitchen floor Cleaned and Sealed in Staffordshire

Slate tile maintained in Bridgenorth Read More »

Slate tiled floor cleaned and sealed in Burton on Trent

1 Comment / Burton on Trent Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This slate tiled floor was installed in a Kitchen in Burton on Trent, Staffordshire. The owner of the house felt it was time to get it cleaned and re-sealed so gave us a call.

Cleaning black slate floor tiles

We set about cleaning the kitchen floor with a mixture of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed 50/50 with Tile Doctor Nano-tech Ultraclean which was worked into the pores of the slate tile using a slow speed rotary machine fitted with a Polyscrub scrubbing brush which can reach down into grouting as well as scrubbing the floor. I then used a wet vacuum to remove the resultant soiled solution before rinsing the floor down twice with cold water, this also neutralises the floor prior to sealing.

Sealing Slate floor tiles

Overall the job took two days and I’m happy report the customer was amazed with the outcome and very pleased.

Slate tiled Kitchen floor maintained in Staffordshire

Slate tiled floor cleaned and sealed in Burton on Trent Read More »