Southport Tile Cleaning Archives - Merseyside Tile Doctor

Badly Stained Red & Black Quarry Tiled Floor Renovation in Ainsdale

A previous customer got in touch late last year looking for help with a Quarry tiled floor he had bought at an old farmhouse in Ainsdale. Sandwiched between Southport and Formby the village is very close to the west coast which can bring its own issues.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Restoration Ainsdale

The floor was tiled with a classic combination of red and black Quarry tiles many of which very well worn and heavily stained with signs of white efflorescence. It was well overdue a renovation so I went over to survey the floor and get a better understanding of the issues. Whilst at the property I conducted a test clean to show how the tiles would respond to cleaning and the results were very encouraging. Satisfied the floor still had bags of potential I was asked to quote for its renovation.

Later that day I sent over a detailed quote for the restoration work which included an itemised list of the products needed. The quote was accepted and a date set for the work to start which would take two days, one to clean and one to seal.

Deep Cleaning a Heavily Stained Quarry Tiled Floor

To deep clean the tiles, it was sprayed with a combination of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and Remove & Go which combines a powerful tile cleaner with a coating’s stripper. These two strong alkaline cleaners combined would cut through the dirt and staining and were left to get to work for ten minutes before being scrubbed into the tiles.

We use a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and lubricated with more water to work the solution into the tiles. The cleaning solution turns black as the dirt is lifted out of the tiles and is extracted with a wet vacuum. This floor was then inspected and the process repeated several times until the dirt was gone.

To treat the efflorescence the floor was given an acid wash using a weak dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up which is an acidic product that dissolved the salts. Being acidic it also neutralises the ph level of the floor after the alkaline cleaners used earlier.

Sealing a 200-Year-Old Quarry Tiled Floor

The floor was then left to dry out overnight and then checked the next day for moisture using a damp meter which verified it was dry and ready to be sealed. The sealer chosen was Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an oil-based impregnator that soaks into the clay tile occupying its pores, this adds structure to the tile and ensures dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Restoration Ainsdale

The new seal brought out the red and black colours in the Quarry tiles and added an attractive sheen to its appearance. The customer couldn’t believe how much the floor had changed and has now booked us in to do some work in a barn conversion on the same site.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Restoration Ainsdale

For aftercare we recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a ph neutral, sealer friendly tile and grout cleaner.

Professional Renovation of Quarry Tiled Floor in Merseyside

Badly Stained Red & Black Quarry Tiled Floor Renovation in Ainsdale Read More »

Wood Effect Ceramic Tile Planks Grout Haze Renovation Birkdale

Removing Grout Haze from Wood Effect Ceramic Planks in Birkdale

1 Comment / Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Southport Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Andrew Robb

We were contacted by a property owner in Birkdale near Southport who recently had a large kitchen extension built with wood effect Ceramic tiles on the floor. Unfortunately, the builder struggled to remove all the grout from the tiles, and this left the floor in a bit of a state. Grout haze or grout smears as it is often called can be a huge problem when laying tiles, it needs to be polished off quickly after installation and even more so if your using a modern quick drying grout.

Wood Effect Ceramic Planks Birkdale Kitchen Floor Before Grout Haze Removal

This is quite a common problem, and we are often asked to resolve tile installation problems of one variety or another. Sometimes we can use an acid-based product such as Tile Doctor Acid Gel or Grout Clean-up which can break down the grout so it can be rinsed away and extracted. Modern polymer grouts which offer improved flexibility and adhesion are trickier and will require a different approach. I wouldn’t recommend the use of acidic products on natural stone however as it can etch the stone thereby causing more problems than it solves, fortunately these tiles were Ceramic.

I conducted a quick test with Grout Clean-up, and it responded well, so I could see removing the grout haze wasn’t going to be problem in this case.

Removing Grout Haze from Wood Effect Ceramic Tiles

I diluted one part Grout Clean-up with two parts water and mopped into onto the floor and left to dwell for a couple of minutes. The solution was then scrubbed into the tile using a buffing machine fitted with a black pad to loosen the grout haze adding more water as needed. The buffing machine was run over the floor once more and the liquids removed using a wet vacuum.

Wood Effect Ceramic Planks Birkdale Kitchen Floor During Grout Haze Removal

The ceramic tiles were then speed dried using floor fans so I could review the result and repeat the process where required. Once I was happy all the grout haze had been removed, I gave the floor dry buff with a white pad to remove any water marks and improve the final appearance.

Wood Effect Ceramic Planks Birkdale Kitchen Floor After Grout Haze Removal

The photographs really show the transformation once the grout was removed. Certainly my client was over the moon with the difference and the builder much relieved, I’m sure.

Professional Clean of a Wood Effect Ceramic Tiled Hallway in West Merseyside

Removing Grout Haze from Wood Effect Ceramic Planks in Birkdale Read More »

Starlight Quartz Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned Polished Southport

Achieving a Mirror Finish on Starlight Quartz floor tiles in Southport

1 Comment / Southport Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Andrew Robb

We were asked by a client in Southport for advice regarding their Black Starlight Quartz tiled kitchen floor. Over the years it had lost its appearance and they wanted to know if anything could be done to return the deep shine the tiles had when they were installed.

Quartz tiles are not the most practical choice for the floor of a busy kitchen, but these sparkly starlight tiles certainly add the bling. In this case the deep sparkly shine added by the factory during manufacture had worn down with use and now looked almost cloudy.

Starlight Quartz Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Southport

Like Terrazzo, Quartz tiles are a composite tile engineered from a mixture of resin, sand, quartz, and crushed mirror pieces. The Quartz makes it very durable and tiles with high ratios of Quartz are very hard wearing although as in this case will benefit from a polish from time to time.

I paid the client a visit to survey the floor and work out the best process for restoring the appearance of the floor. I was confident the work could be done in a day and quoted accordingly. Happy with the price we agreed a date for my return.

Cleaning Starlight Quartz Floor Tile and Grout

The first job was to wash down the floor with a mild solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to remove all the different products the client had used on the tiles to keep them clean. After ten minutes the solution was worked into the tiles with a floor buffer fitted with a black pad.

Buffing pads can struggle to reach into recesses of the grout line so I like to clean them manually with more Pro-Clean and a handheld scrubbing brush. The combination of the Pro Clean and scrubbing action releases the dirt making the solution turn into a dark slurry that is rinsed with water and extracted with a wet vacuum. The floor is then inspected, and the process repeated where necessary and afterwards two floor driers were placed on the floor to speed up the drying time.

Polishing and Sealing a Starlight Quartz Tiled Kitchen Floor

The Quartz tiled floor was then dry burnished using a standard speed buffing machine fitted with a Tile Doctor 3000-grit burnishing pad and a little water sprayed onto the tile. This process slowly builds back the polish on the tile.

Then once the deep shine had been restored to the Quartz tiles the floor was sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal impregnating sealer, the sealer is absorbed into the microscopic pores and will protect the tiles and grout going forward. The excess sealer was wiped off and then I ran over the floor with a White buffing pad to tighten up the seal and to further improve the finish on the tiles until it was like a mirror.

Starlight Quartz Tiled Floor After Cleaning Polishing Southport

Before leaving I advised the client that they needed to be careful what they used to clean their floor with going forward, some supermarket products are simply too strong and will strip the protective seal off a tile. For this floor I recommended Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is designed for cleaning highly polished floors and helps to maintain the patina.

They were delighted with the newly polished floor it really returned the wow factor back to the kitchen.

Professional Renovation of a Starlight Quartz Tiled Kitchen Floor in Merseyside

Achieving a Mirror Finish on Starlight Quartz floor tiles in Southport Read More »