Wallingford Tile Cleaning Archives - Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

Old Quarry Tiled Pub Floor Restoration Chiselhampton

Quarry Tiled Floor Restoration at 400-Year-Old Listed Inn Chiselhampton

This picture below is of an old Quarry Tiled floor at a pub in Chiselhampton called the Coach and Horses Inn which dates to the late 1600’s. The building is listed and has undergone a restoration work by the new owners who called me to look at the Quarry tiled floor.

Old Quarry Tiled Pub Floor Before Restoration Chiselhampton

I paid a visit to the site to survey the tiles and provide a quote, it was immediately clear the floor was in a very bad state, in fact the site foreman said to me “I don’t suppose you can do anything with this, we’re gonna cover it up”. I love a challenge and I carried out a test and found under the rubble, bitumen, plaster and paint was a lovely red floor. Well, they were a little surprised I took it on but I was delighted and got the job!

Restoring and Replacing Old Quarry Tiles

First, I went around with a floor scraper to remove as much of the dusty surface as I could.
I then covered the floor in Tile Doctor Acid Gel and scrubbed it with a 100-grit diamond pad, this revealed that patches of the floor had missing tiles and had been back filled with concrete. I managed to source some replacement tiles from a reclamation yard and replaced the concrete with the tiles. The floor was starting to look great again.

I then covered the floor with Tile Doctor Acid Gel for a second time, but this time scrubbed with a 200-grit diamond pad. The floor was then rinsed with water and a sponge so as not to get the floor too wet. Old floors like these don’t have a damp proof membrane so can take a long time to dry and excess moisture in the floor can increase problems such as efflorescence leaving salty deposits on the tiles. Using gel cleaning products and a minimal amount of water gets around this problem. The floor was then left to dry overnight.

Sealing Old Quarry Tiles

The next day I returned to seal the floor and started by confirming the tiles were dry by taking several moisture readings with a damp meter. All was well and I was able to move onto the next step.

To seal the floor, I used two coats of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which brought out the red colour. This is a breathable impregnating sealer; it has an oil-based resin formula so it provides great water repellence and stain protection properties. It’s perfect for internal areas which have moisture issues and can also be used externally.

The first coat revived the colour of the red quarry tiles and the second coat, added a nice subtle sheen. To finish I buffed the floor with a 1500-grit burnishing pad attached to a high-speed buffing machine which produced a natural looking sheen.

Old Quarry Tiled Pub Floor After Restoration Chiselhampton

By the time I had finished the floor was completely transformed and looked great much to the surprise of the foreman. For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to ensure the floor remained in this condition for the long term. The product is pH neutral so mild enough to use daily without compromising the newly applied seal.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Pub Floor in Oxfordshire

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Dirty White Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned in Wallingford

1 Comment / Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Wallingford Tile Cleaning, Work History / TileProf

Photographs below of a White Limestone tiled kitchen floor at a house in Wallingford that was proving difficult for the owner to clean effectively. I went around to inspect the floor and could see that the sealer had worn off leaving the tiles vulnerable to dirt becoming ingrained in the pores of the stone. Once this happens it makes the job of keeping the floor clean quite difficult as you really need to get the dirt out of the pores of the stone to do it right and of course once you do dirt will soon become trapped again without a sealer in place.

Given these Limestone tiles were White the dirt was more visible than usual, so the customer was keen to have the floor deep cleaned to remove the ingrained dirt and then sealed to prevent the problem reoccurring.

White Limestone Floor Wallingford Before Cleaning

Cleaning White Limestone Kitchen Floor Tiles

To restore the floor back to its original condition I used a set of burnishing pads which are encrusted with industrial diamonds and come in different grades from coarse to very fine. Applied with a little water the coarse 400 grit pad is designed to strip the floor of dirt and old sealers whilst the remaining pads which are a finer restore the polished surface. Between each pad you need to rinse the floor with fresh water which is removed with a wet vacuum before finally being left to dry overnight.

On this occasion I found when I started with the 400 grit pad it wasn’t having the effect I was expecting and quickly established that this floor would need grinding back with a much coarser milling pad first. Fortunately I have numerous different types of pads available and was able to switch to a 50 grit milling pad which not only got rid of any remaining seal but also grinded out the ground in dirt. This does leave the stone in a rough condition so to restore the final finish I followed up with the 400 and 800 grit pads and finished with the 1500 grit pad, rinsing with water between each pad to remove the soil that is generated. It was quote a large floor, so it took two days to complete the process over every Limestone tile.

Sealing White Limestone Kitchen Floor Tiles

To seal the floor, I used Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which works by impregnates the stone occupying its pores and thus preventing dirt from becoming ingrained in there. This particular sealer doesn’t change the appearance of the stone and so leaves it with a natural look. Again, it was a large area, so it took two days to apply two coats. I then returned on day 5 to go over the whole floor with a 3000 grit polishing pad to give the floor a slight sheen.

White Limestone Floor Wallingford After Cleaning

White Limestone Floor Honed and Sealed in Oxfordshire

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