quarry tiles Archives - Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

Restoring Dull and Dirty Quarry Tiles in Thame

Dirty Black and Red Quarry Tiles Rejuvenated in Thame

Sometimes it isn’t until you’ve deep cleaned your tiles that you realise just how dirty they were to begin with. This was the case with my customer in Thame, in the south of Oxfordshire where I worked on a classic red and black Quarry tiled floor which was far from being in its best condition.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Thame

Cleaning Dirty Quarry Tiles

My starting point in the cleaning process was to mix a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean, which is the reliable, multi-purpose alkaline cleaner that is safe to use on tile, stone and grout. The solution was left to soak into the tiles for ten minutes before being scrubbed into the floor with a rotary floor machine fitted with a stiff brush.

Following this, I rinsed the floor with clean water and then proceeded to wash it with Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up. This is a concentrated phosphoric acid cleaner designed to remove efflorescence and other mineral deposits such as grout smears.

Finally, I rinsed the tiles again with water and Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, which is a pH neutral solution, to neutralise the chemicals and leave the floor fresh and clean, ready to be sealed. The floor was left to dry overnight.

Sealing Quarry Tiles

The next day I returned to seal the floor after checking the tiles were dry. I opted to use two different sealers. The first was Tile Doctor Colour Grow, which is an impregnating sealer with the added effect of enhancing the natural colour in the stone. The second was Tile Doctor Seal & Go, a topical sealer that adds the high quality, durable sheen finish to the floor that the customer had requested.

I took the photograph below after sealing half the floor, it really shows the difference a sealer can make to a tiled floor.

Here’s the photo of theQuarry tiled floorafter sealing the whole floor. As you can see, they now have a new lease of life, and they’ll be much easier for the customer to keep looking great in the future.

Professional Cleaning and Sealing of a Dirty Quarry Tiled Oxfordshire

Dirty Black and Red Quarry Tiles Rejuvenated in Thame Read More »

Quarry Tiled Floor Banbury Before After Cleaning

Removing Carpet Glue from Quarry Tiles in Banbury

1 Comment / Banbury Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / TileProf

This Quarry tiled floor at a house in Banbury had previously been covered in carpet which had been stuck to the floor with an adhesive when once removed left a stain of white marks all over the floor. The customer had taken the floor as far as they could so I got the call to complete the restoration.

Quarry Tiled Floor Banbury Before Cleaning

Restoring Quarry Tiles

The first process was to tape the newly papered wall to protect them from any splashes during the cleaning process. I then scrubbed in a dilution of Tile doctor Pro-Clean with the assistance of a rotary floor machine fitted with a black pad and then rinsed off the resultant slurry.

This process defiantly made an improvement but I can see more work would be needed so I then applied a mixture of Pro-Clean and HBU (Heavy Build-up Remover) to the floor and scrubbed this with a carbon brush attached to a rotary floor machine. This proved to be more effective removing the carpet glue marks so I then rinsed the floor with water and used my wet vacuum to remove the slurry. I then gave the floor a thorough rinse with water again using the wet vacuum to extract the solution afterwards.

To finish the cleaning of the floor and remove any grout smears and other minderal deposits I applied Tile Doctor Acid Gel to the floor; this was left to dwell for a short time before scrubbing in with a stiff brush and then rinsed away with more water and extracted again using the wet vacuum.

The last job of the day was to fill in some holes in the tiles with a colour matching resin filler.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled floor

I returned two days later and confirmed the floor was dry ready for sealing. To seal the floor I first applied a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating seal that also enhances the colour of the stone. This leaves a Matt finish and I showed the client this as they was not sure what finish they wanted, after seeing this that wanted more shine to the floor so once dried I applied a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which is a topical sealer that gives a sheen finish to the floor.

Quarry Tiled Floor Banbury After Cleaning

The client was very pleased with the end result leaving this as feedback.

Our options were a completely new floor or renovate the existing quarry tiles. We were glad we chose renovation; the results are amazing and a lot less messy and expensive than a new floor!

Restoring a Quarry tiled floor in Oxfordshire

Removing Carpet Glue from Quarry Tiles in Banbury Read More »

12th Century Church Tiled Floor Wantage Before After Renovation

Quarry & Marble Floor Tiles Renovated at a 12th Century Church in Wantage

1 Comment / Marble Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Wantage Tile Cleaning, Work History / TileProf

Did you know that Wantage, the town in Oxfordshire where I completed this job, is the birthplace of Alfred the Great? The town is certainly a historic area – in fact, I was contacted by the warden of a church dating back to the 12th century, who asked Tile Doctor Oxfordshire to help restore the building’s flooring, consisting of Quarry and Marble tiles.

This is an interesting mix of hard wearing and high end tiles, and while the floor was in
dire need of a deep clean, it could be restored back to looking fantastic once again.

12th Century Church Tiled Floor Wantage Before Renovation

The church has recently undergone a complete refurbishment with the help of a grant from lottery money. We were called after the builders had finished their work, to restore the floor to the finish required by the church warden.

His specification was to provide the Marble with a Matt finish and the Quarry tiles with a sheen finish. The floor was, at one point in its history, covered in carpet which had been taken up, no doubt exposing many years’ worth of muck.

Cleaning Dirty Quarry and Marble Tiles

My first task was to clean the floor with a diluted solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, a high alkaline cleaner safe to use on tile and stone. This was left to dwell for a short period to seep into the tile, before being scrubbed in to remove the initial layers of muck. The resulting residue was promptly vacuumed away.

To tackle the tougher areas of soil buildup, I opted to use Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU which was spread over the floor and left to dwell for about 30 minutes. This product differs from most cleaners in that it uses nano-sized cleaning particles to deal with difficult to reach dirt ingrained in the stone. I then rinsed the area with water and vacuumed this up.

Due to the substantial size of the church floor I had to work in multiple sections, and so the cleaning process took three days to complete. After finishing, I left the church for a few days to allow the floor time to dry.

Sealing Quarry and Marble Tiles

When I returned to the church I checked the floor with a damp meter and was satisfied that it was dry enough to seal.

First, I sealed the Marble tiles with Tile Doctor Colour Grow, which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer suitable for use on high end stone such as Marble and Limestone. I applied two coats, leaving a few hours between coats; this brought the colour back without a high shine, as per the church warden’s request.

12th Century Church Tiled Floor Wantage After Renovation

The next day I returned to seal the Quarry tiles, this time using Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra which is a topical sealer specially formulated to lea e a nice sheen as requested. I applied several thin coats of the sealer to build up solid protection on the floor.

The warden was extremely pleased with the finished floor, leaving the following feedback:

“We found the Tile Doctor online and watched some of the very helpful slideshows on YouTube. The Victorian Quarry tiles in our 12th century church had been covered with carpet for many years and needed a thorough clean and polish at the end of our major restoration project. Barry was very quick to respond to our enquiry and over the course of a week he did a brilliant job on our tiles. We’re delighted with the results, just in time for our reopening service with our bishop and MP.”

Professional Church Floor Restoration in Oxfordshire

Quarry & Marble Floor Tiles Renovated at a 12th Century Church in Wantage Read More »

Quarry Tiled Kitchen floor After Cleaning Milton

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Milton

1 Comment / Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Barry Woodward

Not too long ago I visited a client who had just moved into a lovely old cottage in Milton, Oxfordshire. She wanted to restore many of the antique features of the building, including a fantastic Quarry tiled floor in the kitchen.

Quarry is typically a robust, hard wearing stone, but in a high traffic area like a kitchen, the tiles will need regular maintenance. These tiles clearly hadn’t seen a thorough clean and fresh seal in a long time, and so I was called in to provide just that.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen floor Before Cleaning Milton

Deep cleaning an old Quarry tiled floor

On the first day of work, I gave the Quarry tiles a deep clean using a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and water. Pro-Clean is a versatile alkaline cleaner that also helps to break down any old and no longer effectual sealer remaining on the tiles.

The solution was applied evenly to the floor and left to dwell for half an hour, allowing time for it to seep into the stone to get underneath and lift out the ingrained dirt. I then removed the dirt by agitating the solution with a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor scrubber. I worked in small sections at first, and gradually finished the entire floor.

After completing the initial clean, I rinsed away the soiled solution and vacuumed up the excess moisture using a wet-vac machine. I then scrubbed the floor an acid wash using a dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up to remove grout smears and other mineral type deposits. The resulting solution was then removed in a similar fashion using a wet-vac.

The final step in the cleaning process was to rinse the floor with Tile Doctor pH Neutral Cleaner to remove any trace of product helps to tackle any remaining dirt and reset the pH balance of the tiles before sealing.

Sealing a Quarry tiled floor

After leaving the floor to dry overnight, I returned the next day to the house to seal the floor with Tile Doctor Seal & Go, a water-based topical sealer which gives the floor an aesthetically pleasing sheen and a robust surface seal.

The photos demonstrate the results better than this short account can, needless to say the floor is now transformed.

Professional tile cleaning and sealing of an old Quarry tiled floor in Oxfordshire

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

Quarry Tiles After Cleaning in Watlington

Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Office at Watlington

1 Comment / Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Barry Woodward

A company based in the 17th century market town of Watlington were renovating their office space and decided to replace the carpet which had been glued to the floor below. Upon further inspection this turned out to be a Quarry Tiled Floor and they were keen to restore it and so we got the call.

Quarry Tiles Before Cleaning in Watlington

Restoring Quarry Tiles

I first covered the whole floor with Tile Doctor Remove and Go, leaving this to dwell for a while whilst I fitted a scrubbing pad to my rotary machine. Once the machine was ready the whole floor was scrubbed followed by a rinse with water; the resultant soil was then extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum. This process removed most of the glue so I repeated the process until satisfied all the glue had gone. Remove and Go lives up to its name and although normally used to remove sealers it will remove most other coatings as well. This process took up most of the day so after the final and thorough rinse I left the floor to dry aiming to come back the next day to seal it.

When I returned the next day the floor had white patches of effervescence on it where salts had been forced up through the tile as the water evaporated; this had to be dealt with before the tiles could be sealed so I spent the second day scrubbing the entire floor with Grout Clean Up to remove it, after finishing the floor was given another thorough rinse to remove any product from the floor and used the wet vacuum again to get it as dry as possible.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled floor

I returned the third day to a nice dry and most importantly clean floor. To seal Quarry tiles I usually go for Tile Doctor Seal and Go as it’s water based (so no smell) and it adds a nice shine to the floor; however in this case being an office environment with a lot of heavy traffic I decided to go with Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores of the tile and is likely to be more durable, it also enhances the natural colours in the tile leading to a very nice finish.

I think you will agree the final result was a remarkable transformation

Commercial Quarry Tiled floor Restored in Oxfordshire

Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Office at Watlington Read More »