terracotta tile

Terracotta Tiles Henley On Thames After

Terracotta Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Henley on Thames

Another Terracotta tiled floor installed in a conservatory this time in Henley on Thames. The previous sealer was mostly worn away and was no longer offering much protection allowing dirt to get ingrained into the tile and making it difficult to clean effectively resulting in dull looking tile and grout.

Terracotta Tiles Henley On Thames Before

Cleaning Terracotta Tile

I first covered the floor with a mixture of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and water which was scrubbed in with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a slow speed floor scrubber; the soiled solution was removed using a wet vacuum and floor was rinsed down with clean water until all the chemicals were removed again using a wet vacuum to remove the liquids. The process was repeated a number of times until we were happy the tile and grout was clean and took most of the day.

Sealing Terracotta Tile

I left the floor to dry overnight and came back the next day to seal it checking with a moisture meter first to ensure the floor had dried. Terracotta is very porous so in the end it tool eight coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go to seal the floor, Seal and Go is a water based sealer so it doesn’t give off an odour when it’s drying and also offers durable stain protection together with a low sheen finish.

Terracotta Tiles Henley On Thames After
The floor has been much improved certainly the customer was very pleased with the result.

Terracotta Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Oxfordshire

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Patchy Terracotta Tiles After Cleaning and Resealing

Terracotta Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Kidlington

I was asked to look at a Terracotta tiled kitchen floor that had just be fitted at a house in Kidlington, it seems the tiles were sticky and patchy and basically looked a bit of a mess. The home owner phoned me on Thursday sounding really upset and as I’m based in the general area I was able to look at the floor later that day.

On inspection I could see that the recently applied sealer had not taken to the floor probably as it was not been allowed to dry properly before sealing. We didn’t know what had been applied on the floor so I did a test on a couple of tiles to see which products would work best to strip the sealer off and then booked the job in for the following Saturday.

Patchy Terracotta Tiles Before

Cleaning Terracotta Tile

I placed my dust sheets down were needed and then I started on the floor by wetting it with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-clean, this product is quite versatile and being alkaline is safe to use on tile, stone and grout. The floor was then scrubbed using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad to agitate and then rinsed down with clean water which was then removed using a wet vacuum and the floor left to dry. This process was repeated until I was satisfied that all the sealer was off and then give the Terracotta a thorough and final rinse to neutralise the floor and make sure there was no chemicals were left on the tile, again a wet vacuum was used to remove the water and I also asked the customer to leave the front and back windows open so the air flow would help dry the floor quicker.

Sealing Terracotta Tile

After a couple of hours I tested the floor with a Damp Meter to confirm the floor had dried and began to seal the tiles using Tile Doctor Seal and Go sealer which is an ideal sealer for Terracotta and also provides the satin finish the customer wanted.

Patchy Terracotta Tiles After Cleaning and Resealing
The area wasn’t the large so I managed to complete the whole Job in one day, needless to say the owner was very pleased that I was able to restore her new floor and oven the moon with the services given only three days had elapsed from the first point of contact to completion.

Patchy Terracotta Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Oxfordshire

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Abused Terracotta Conservatory Tiled Floor Kidlington After

Terracotta Tiled Conservatory Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Kidlington

This Terracotta tiled floor installed in a conservatory in Kidlington Oxfordshire was in the worst condition I have ever seen, you should be able to make out a large amount of stains quite easily yourself in the photograph below. The conservatory had been used as a greenhouse with many plant pots sitting directly on the tile which over the years had led to the staining and a build-up of white salts on the surface.

Abused Terracotta Conservatory Tiled Floor Kidlington Before

Cleaning Terracotta Tile

My first step was to give it a good hoover to remove any loose detritus; I then covered the floor in a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean which was left to soak into the Terracotta tile for a few minutes. Pro-Clean I should add is a heavy duty alkaline cleaning product designed for cleaning tile, stone and grout. The next step was to scrub the floor with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine; after the scrubbing was done I rinsed with water and removed the waste with a wet vacuum. I then repeated the process again tackling the grout this time with a stiff brush before thoroughly rinsing with a high pressure spinner tool to totally flush the floor. The next step was to rinse the floor with Grout Clean Up which is an acid wash to remove all the salts in the floor, after that I rinsed the floor with the spinner tool again.

Sealing Terracotta Tile

I left the floor to dry overnight and the next day came back to do the sealing taking care to use a moisture meter of the floor first to ensure it had dried sufficiently . I used Tile Doctor Seal and Go to seal the floor, it’s a water based sealer so it doesn’t give off an odour when it’s drying and also offers durable stain protection together with a low sheen finish. It’s also a breathable sealer which will allow moisture to rise up through the floor and evaporate on the surface rather than trapping it beneath the seal.

Abused Terracotta Conservatory Tiled Floor Kidlington After
The floor was transformed by this process and I think you will agree this is confirmed by the before and after photographs above which really speak for themselves.

Terracotta Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Oxfordshire

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