Kitchen Tiles

Tumbled Marble Tiled Floor Before After Honing Oxford

Tumbled Marble Floor Honed and Sealed in Oxford

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Oxford Tile Cleaning, Work History / By

The owners of this house in the historic city of Oxford contacted Tile Doctor about their Tumbled Marble tiled floor which was not looking its best and was proving difficult to clean effectively. The floor is part of a kitchen/dining room where the grout had darkened substantially with dirt. Oxford is only 12 miles from by base in Chalgrove so I spoke to the client on the phone and arranged an appointment to visit the property and survey the floor.

I could see that sealer had also worn off which is a common problem with natural stone floor and dirt was now trapped in the pores of the stone. They had tried multiple types of household floor cleaners and nothing was getting the floor to look clean, and as it was so light in colour it was really looking quite dirty.

Tumbled Marble Floor Before Cleaning Oxford

We find the best way to renovate hard stone flooring such as Marble is to use a set of diamond burnishing pads which hone the stone and restore its appearance. I recommended this method to the homeowner and worked out a quote. The quote was agreed, and we set a date to do the work which given the size of the floor I calculated would take two days, one to burnish and one to seal.

Cleaning/Repairing a Tumbled Marble Tiled Kitchen/ Dining room Floor

The burnishing process starts with the application of a coarse 400-grit diamond pad which is applied using a rotary floor scrubber and lubricated with water. This pad is run over each tile two to three times and this effectively cleans the stone removing any old sealer in the process.

After rinsing the fine slurry off the floor with more water and extracting with a wet vacuum I turned my attention to the grout. For this I applied a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines and scrubbed it into grout with a stiff brush. The cleaner was then rinsed away with water taking the dirt with it and extracted as before using the wet vacuum.

I then continued to burnish and hone the Marble tiles starting with 800-grit pad and then followed by 1500-grit pad. Each pad was applied with water to lubricate and then the slurry rinsed and extracted off the floor as before. The floor was then left to dry out overnight.

Sealing a Tumbled Marble Tiled Kitchen/ Dining room Floor

On day two I returned and began work by checking the floor was dry enough to seal with a damp meter. All was well so I proceeded to apply the sealer. After discussing sealer options with the client, I opted to use Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour intensifying sealer which enhances the natural colours in the stone. It also provides durable protection by impregnating the pores of the stone preventing dirt from becoming engrained there. I applied two coats of Colour Grow allowing time in-between for the first coat to dry before applying the second.

Before leaving for the day I buffed the floor with a white pad to remove any excess sealer and give the floor a lovely sheen.

Tumbled Marble Floor After Cleaning Oxford

After I had finished the floor looked pristine and my client was over the moon.

 

Professional Renovation of a Tumbled Marble Tiled Floor in Oxfordshire

White Limestone Floor Wallingford Before After Cleaning

Dirty White Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned in Wallingford

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

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 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 Wallingford After Cleaning

 

White Limestone Floor Honed and Sealed in Oxfordshire

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