River Thames Archives - Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

Salt Stained Quarry Tiled Porch Cleaned Sealed Sutton Courtenay

Victorian Style Quarry Tiled Porch Sutton Courtenay

The photograph below is of a Large Quarry Tiled porch laid out with a classic Victorian pattern inlay at a house I worked on recently in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire. Sutton Courtenay is a pretty village of on the River Thames to the south of Abingdon and to the northwest of Didcot. Historically it was previously part of Berkshire, but it has been administered as part of Oxfordshire since 1974 when the boundaries changed.

The client was unhappy with the floor, it looked very tired, it had lost all its’ sheen and was covered in large areas of dirty white marks. I discussed with the client what Tile Doctor could do to improve the floor and showed them an example of the cleaning process I would use on part of the floor. They were very happy with the test patch and could see that we could vastly improve the look of the floor. We agreed a price for the work and scheduled in some time in the diary to complete the work for them.

Large Victorian Quarry Tiled Porch Before Cleaning Sutton Courtenay

Cleaning a Victorian Quarry Tiled Hallway Floor

First, I cleaned the floor with a weak dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a highly concentrated, multi-purpose alkaline Tile cleaner, stripper and degreaser. It is a very effective cleaner that removes grease from areas that have been neglected or subjected to heavy use. I scrubbed the product into the floor with a rotary floor scrubber fitted with a soft brush, I then rinsed with cold water and vacuumed up the slurry produced with the wet vacuum.

I then gave the tiles an acid wash using Tile Doctor Acid Gel scrubbed in this time with a black pad, then rinsed with a small amount of water and vacuumed again. This process is designed to counter any alkaline salts known as efflorescence, that may be present in the tiles which is quite a common problem on old floors like this where no damp proof membrane exists under the floor. This action deal with the appearance of white salt staining as moisture rises through the tiles from the subfloor.

I then left the floor to dry which only took a few hours due to the location of the tiles and the usually warm and windy for the time of year.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Returning in the afternoon, I checked the floor was dry with my moisture meter and I was satisfied the floor was ready to be sealed. I chose to seal the floor with Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating colour enhancing sealer which will protect the floor from staining from within by occupying the pores in the tile. Critically this sealer is also fully breathable thereby allowing moisture to pass through the tiles and not become trapped under the floor where it could spread to the walls leading to rising damp. I applied two coats initially and then after an hour, I applied a third coat. The floor was then buffed with a white pad to remove any excess and buff up the appearance of the tiles.

Large Victorian Quarry Tiled Porch After Cleaning Sutton Courtenay

The floor looked superb and the client was very happy with the finish, the vibrancy of the colours in the tiles which were enhanced by the sealer was now very intense and the floor looked as it should.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Quarry Tiled Hallway in Oxfordshire

Victorian Style Quarry Tiled Porch Sutton Courtenay Read More »

Very Dirty Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned in Radcot

I was asked to clean the Limestone tiled floor of a very old house in the Village of Radcot which is close to the River Thames and dates to the 14th Century. Being close to a river is very scenic but can be problematic and I was told the house had experienced flooding in recent years.

Whilst the Limestone floor clearly wasn’t as old as the house it was definitely in need of some attention to remove the dirty that had become ingrained into the pores of the stone and restore its appearance.

Limestone Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Radcot

Cleaning Limestone Floor Tiles

My first step was to let the floor soak for ten minutes in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, which is a strong Tile and Grout cleaner. The product was then scrubbed into the floor using a deck brush to remove any surface dirt. I also took the opportunity to clean up the grout before rinsing off the now soiled cleaning solution with water and extracting it with a wet vacuum.

Next I turned my attention to the stone tiles which would need to be stripped back, re-honed and then sealed to protect them. I find the best way to achieve this on stone is through the application of a set of Diamond encrusted burnishing pads.

I started the burnishing process by fitting a coarse 400 grit no.1 burnishing pad to a floor buffer and running at a slow speed, applied the pad over the whole floor. This coarse pad is designed to strip off old coatings and dirt from the tile. You use a little water to help lubricate and once complete it’s necessary to rinse the area with water to remove the soil that is generated. The next step is to start building back the polished surface with the 800 and then 1500 grit pads which are applied in the same manner.

This floor was left to dry before moving onto the final stage of the polishing process which is to apply the very fine 3000 grit which further restores the appearance of the Limestone tile. This last pad is applied dry with a small amount of water sprayed onto the surface to help bring up the shine.

Sealing Limestone Floor Tiles

With the floor dry I moved onto sealing the tiles in-order to protect them from dirt and staining. I used a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow for this purpose as this particular sealer enhances the natural colours in the stone. It’s also an impregnating sealer that works by occupying the pores in the stone thus preventing dirt from becoming ingrained in the stone.

My pictures of the floor are not brilliant but hopefully you can see how much more colourful the floor now looks.

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