Bromley Archives - South East London Tile Doctor

Limestone Floor Cleaning and Polishing Bromley

Tumbled Limestone Floor Cleaned, Polished and Sealed in Bromley

I get called to renovate this Tumbled Limestone tiled floor at a property in Bromley every few years. The sealer does a good job of protecting the stone, but it does wear off with use and the natural crevices in the Travertine attract dirt easily. The other problem of course is the grout which due to its cementous nature also attracts dirt and darkens over time.

Limestone Floor Before Cleaning Bromley

Polished stone floors do regular attention if you want to keep them looking good and this is why we offer a maintenance program where we pop back to the property once a year to top up the sealer and repolish. In this case the owner also had a dog who was very well natured however dogs are not know for wiping their feet before entering your house.

Limestone Floor Before Cleaning Bromley

Stripping and Polishing Tumbled Limestone Tiles

With most polished Limestone floors, I would normally start with a set of burnishing pads which are the best way to restore the finish. In this case however I decided to start the cleaning process with the application of a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is left to soak into the stone for ten minutes before being worked in. This gives the product time to digest and breakdown the dirt that gets trapped in the crevices. I then use a silicon carbide brush fitted to a rotary floor machine to work the solution into the stone to bring out the dirt. The soiling is then rinsed off the floor and extracted with a wet vacuum.

The next step was to burnish the stone using a set of Diamond encrusted pads of increasing grits that range from a coarse 400-grit to a very fine 3000-grit. The pads are fitted to the rotary machine and are run across the whole floor lubricating with water which is deployed from a tank on the machine. After each the pad the soiling is rinsed away and extracted with the wet vacuum as before.

Limestone Floor During Cleaning Bromley

I stopped the burnishing process on the first day with the 1500-grit pad and turned my attention to the grout joints which are scrubbed by hand with a wire brush and more Pro-Clean. After another rinse and extract the Limestone and grout was already looking noticeably cleaner.

Sealing Limestone Tiles

I returned the next day and set about polishing the floor with the last in the set of burnishing pads which is a 3000-grit pad. This pad is applied with only a little water sprayed on to the stone as its run over the surface, this technique is known as a spray burnish and leaves the floor dry and ready to be sealed.

I was already aware that the owners of the property like the stone to look completely natural and so the sealer chosen was Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal. This is an impregnating sealer that works by soaking into the pores of the stone so dirt cannot become ingrained there allowing it to be easily removed from the surface. It doesn’t change the appearance of the stone at all so it’s almost invisible and difficult to detect which is exactly what they were after. Ultra-Seal is also a great grout sealer and will ensure the grout keeps clean for much longer.

Limestone Floor After Cleaning Polishing Bromley

Once the sealer was dry gave the floor an application of Tile Doctor Shine Powder which is a stone polishing compound that is worked into stone, left to dry and then buffed off with a White buffing pad to leave a durable shine on the stone.

Limestone Floor After Cleaning Polishing Bromley

Before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning and left them with a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which not only cleans but also help maintain the patina on polished stone.

Professional Renovation of a Large Polished Limestone Floor in Kent

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Damaged Victorian Step Before and After Restoration Chislehurst

Damaged Victorian Tiled Step Fully Restored in Chislehurst

1 Comment / Chislehurst Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Jason Gates

This client in Chislehurst wanted to create a better first impression as their front Victorian tiled step looked tired and had been damaged by long term settlement in the sub floor. They ideally wanted to keep the original tiling but thought it would have to be replaced. The problem was that one section of the base had dropped and the tiling had cracked either side of this.

Victorian Tiled step Before Repair and Restoration Chislehurst

After visiting the property, I told the client that it could be repaired with matching reproduction tiles and fully restored. My client was happy with this suggestion, and they agreed to go ahead with my quote on that basis.

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Path and Step

Our workload has been busy this year so I returned as soon as I could and started by carefully lifting the tiles from the dropped section and all the cracked tiles that had been affected. Before retiling I had to underpin the original base and raise the level with new concrete. Once this was done, I left the property for a few days so the new concrete base could cure fully.

When I returned to the job, I set about fixing the replacement reproduction tiles in place laying them down in the same pattern as before, again these needed time for the adhesive to set so I left the property once completed.

Victorian Tiled step During Repair and Restoration Chislehurst

Restorative Cleaning of Victorian Tiles

I returned again a few days later to clean and seal the tiles. I first used Tile Doctor Remove and Go to remove any ground in dirt and old sealers that may be on the original tiles. As these tiles were outside and open to the elements, I needed to remove some blackening from the tiles and used Tile Doctor Patio and Brick Driveway Cleaner to get that off. I put this on the tiles and let it dwell for a while, adding water to it to keep the tiles wet. It was a small area so to help lift the dirt out of the tile I scrubbed the tiles by hand. Once done the whole area was rinsed with more water and the soil extracted with a wet vacuum.

The next step was to bring up the appearance of the tiles and remove further dirt with the application of a 100 and then 200-grit milling pad. These pads are applied with water for lubrication and do a great job of deep cleaning the tiles and hone up the face of the tile to ease the sealing process. It was a small area, and the weather was good so it wasn’t too long before I could move onto sealing.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Path and Step

When the tiles were dry, I applied two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow and then once this had dried, I applied a coat of Tile Doctor Stone oil. Both these sealers are impregnators, which soak into the pores of the tile to enhance the appearance and natural colours of the tiles.

Victorian Tiled step After Repair and Restoration Chislehurst

It took a half few days to fully restore the path, fortunately Chislehurst is very close to my base in Bromley and so I was able to do some other work in between. The step looked new afterwards and my client was very impressed with the completed job.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Step in South East London

Damaged Victorian Tiled Step Fully Restored in Chislehurst Read More »

Rebuilt Victorian Tiled Hallway Cleaned and Sealed in Bromley

Bromley Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Jason Gates

Not too long ago I was called to the large town of Bromley, where my client was in the process of renovating an Edwardian house. The house has a fascinating original geometric Victorian tiled hallway which had previously been covered in carpet which my client now wanted restoring and extending.

Before beginning my work I had an initial consultation with the client and liaised with the builder. It was agreed that the existing floor joints would be strengthened and the current floorboards would be replaced with ply sheets, allowing for the area to be fitted with new Victorian tiles, ensuring that these were consistent with the original design.

Geometric Victorian Floor Restoration Bromley Before

Restoring a Victorian tiled hallway

The first task was to clean the original tiles so that they would blend in with the fresh, new tiles. To do this I mixed a solution of three parts Tile Doctor Pro-Clean (a high alkaline cleaner) to one part clean water, combined with a small quantity of NanoTech HBU. NanoTech HBU is a penetrating cleaner which uses nano-sized particles to reach areas other cleaners simply can’t in order to lift out difficult stains and ingrained dirt.

This solution was washed over the floor, and was left to dwell for five minutes. I then used my rotary machine with a black pad to agitate and work the solution into the dirty tiles. After completing this initial clean I used a wet-vac machine to hoover up the resulting residue.

There was also some glue residue around the edges of the floor from where carpet grippers had been placed years before. To remove this I used Tile Doctor Remove & Go, which breaks down adhesives, waxes and old sealers. I covered the treated area with plastic to prevent it from drying out, before leaving it to sit for a couple of hours. Once the product had begun to break down the glue I then agitated it with a scrubbing pad to remove the residue. The area was then cleaned with the Pro-Clean/NanoTech HBU solution.

Tiling with Victorian floor tiles

Once the old floor was clean I started laying down the new floor using a matching set of tiles I had managed to source. Victorian tile designs are still very popular so many of the original designs can still be found being made today.

Geometric Victorian Floor Restoration Bromley During Tiling

Once the tiles had been stuck to the new hardboard I was able to give both floors a general clean with a weak dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to remove any dirt from tiling etc, this was followed by a rinse and the use of a wet vacuum to get the floor as dry as possible before sealing.

Sealing a Victorian tiled hallway

After leaving the house for more than 24 hours to allow the hallway to dry completely, I returned to seal the tiles. After inspecting the area to ensure no excess moisture remained, I applied five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go, a water-based topical sealer, to both the old and new tiles.

This gave the entire hallway a nice sheen finish (as you can see from the photographs), as well as a robust surface seal to protect the tiles from dirt and wear in the future.

Geometric Victorian Floor Restoration Bromley Tiling Complete

Once the sealing process had been completed, it was near impossible to distinguish between the old and new tiles and as you can imagine the customer was very pleased with the end result.

Geometric Victorian Floor Restoration Bromley Sealed

Victorian tiled Hallway restored, rebuilt and extended in Kent

Rebuilt Victorian Tiled Hallway Cleaned and Sealed in Bromley Read More »