Liverpool Archives - Merseyside Tile Doctor

Porcelain Tiled Wall Grout Recoloured Maghull Liverpool

Grout Colouring Different Shades of Grey Grout in Maghull

Recently I paid a visit to a customer in Maghull just North of Liverpool who needed their recently installed bathroom grout colouring. It was a recent installation however it turns out that tiler had used two different bags of grout to do the grouting so there was a slight difference in the shading.

It was an unfortunate situation however raking out grout so it can be re-done carries the risk of chipping the tiles and these were an expensive variety of porcelain. The solution was to recolour all the grout as close to the original as possible using an epoxy grout colourant. Tile Doctor have ten different colours available including three different shades of grey so finding a suitable colourant was not going to be an issue.

Porcelain Tiled Bathroom Wall Before Grout Colouring Maghull Liverpool

The photos on this page haven’t really captured the difference original grouting very well but you can see the overall difference.

Grout Colourant Application

Firstly, I sprayed the grout with Grout Colourant Pre-Treater which is slightly acidic cleaning product that washes the grout and also being acidic etches it to make a better bond with the colourant. Once the Pre-Treater had been scrubbed into the grout it was rinsed off and left to dry.

Once dry the Grout Colourant was painted onto the grout with a small brush wiping away any excess from the surface of the Porcelain tile with a wet wipe as I progressed. The colourant dries very quickly so you can apply a second coat shortly after if you need to but it wasn’t necessary in this case.

Porcelain Tiled Bathroom Wall During Grout Colouring Maghull Liverpool

The Tile Doctor range of grout colourants have the added advantages of forming a barrier over the grout thereby preventing staining, discolouration and making future grout cleaning very easy.

Fortunately, the tiles were of a reasonably large format which reduces the number of grout lines so it didn’t take too long to complete the whole bathroom. Once dry the whole bathroom had the consistent shade of grey grout much to delight of my customer.

Porcelain Tiled Bathroom Wall After Grout Colouring Maghull Liverpool

Professional Grout Colourant Application in Porcelain Tiled Bathroom Liverpool

Grout Colouring Different Shades of Grey Grout in Maghull Read More »

Quarry Tiled Basement Hallway Floor Renovated St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool

Old Vicarage Basement Flooring Renovated in St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool

1 Comment / Liverpool Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Andrew Robb

The pictures below come from the basement of an old Vicarage in St Michaels Hamlet, Liverpool where there was a mixture of tiling including Quarry, Marble, and Sandstone. The current owner had bought the rather magnificent property 35 years ago and caried out various modernisations but had never touched the floors in the basement kitchen.

Built near the church of the same name, St Michaels Hamlet is a suburb of Liverpool close to the banks of the river Mersey. Back in the day the area was popular with wealthy shipping magnates and resulted in large Victorian mansions being constructed.

Quarry Tiled Basement Floor Before Cleaning St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool

Quarry and Yorkstone Tiled Basement Floor Before Cleaning St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool

The Red and Black Quarry tiles in the Kitchen were the main concern but there was also a section of Marble tiles and a small section of Yorkstone which had seen better days. I proposed milling the Yorkstone to reveal a fresh surface, but the owner only wanted the stone cleaned and sealed so its many faults and marks would highlight its history.

Deep Cleaning Basement Quarry Tiles in St Michaels Hamlet

The process I used to clean the Quarry, Yorkstone and Marble tiles was the same and involved spraying the floor with a 1:4 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and leaving it to soak in. Pro-Clean is an alkaline degreaser and stripper and is our go to product for cleaning Tile and Grout.

Marble Tiled Basement Floor During Cleaning St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool

After ten minutes the product has had time to break down the dirt in the pores of the tile and is then scrubbed in with a rotary brush fitted to a buffing machine running at slow speed. Water is added during the process to add lubrication and the whole floor is rinsed water at the end and the residue extracted with a wet vacuum.

With several floors to clean I split the work up and was able to inspect and re-apply the treatment where needed to ensure all the stubborn staining was removed. Once satisfied they were as clean as they could the floors were given a final rinse to remove any trace of cleaning product and then left to dry out overnight, assisted with a few heaters to help the drying process.

Sealing a Quarry, Yorkstone and Marble Tiled Basement Floor

The next day we took several moisture readings with a damp meter to make sure the floor was ready to seal. The heaters had done their job and readings were all good, had that not been the case I would have had come back another day to seal the floor, we don’t recommend applying a sealer to a damp floor as you won’t get the best result.

Having discussed the properties of different sealers with the owner previous Tile Doctor Colour Grow had been selected. It’s an impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores of the tile improving colour and adding protection from within. As well as enhancing colour it’s also a fully breathable so it will cope with any moisture under the floor allowing it to rise through the tile and evaporate at the surface. This is an important property when choosing a sealer for old floors like these which won’t have the benefit of a modern damp proof membrane.

Once done the Red and Black Quarry tiled floor looked much cleaner and lighter with the contrasting colours really shining through. The appearance of the Yorkstone and Marble floor was also improved. It never fails to impress me the transformation that can be achieved when it comes to cleaning old tiles.

Quarry and Yorkstone Basement Floor After Renovaiton St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool

My client was very satisfied with the work we carried out and left the following feedback for us which is always appreciated.

“This father and son team were super-professional and know exactly what they are doing. What was impressive was how they moved all the furniture with great care. Absolutely prompt in the mornings, and the results are amazing.
Paul G – Liverpool”

For aftercare cleaning I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner, it’s a mild cleaning product that’s pH neutral and compatible for use on sealed surfaces.

Quarry Basement Floor After Renovaiton St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool

Professional Renovation of a Quarry, Yorkstone and Marble Tiled Basement Floor in Merseyside

Old Vicarage Basement Flooring Renovated in St Michaels Hamlet Liverpool Read More »

Restoring a Cement Covered Tiled Floor in Formby

1 Comment / Crosby Tile Cleaning, Formby Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Andrew Robb

We were contacted by a client from Formby asking for advice on how to remove a thick layer of floor leveller from her Quarry tiled floor. I suspect at some point in the past a previous owner had decided to cover the tiles with lino and a cement-based levelling compound was applied to level the floor first. My client had tried to remove it herself but found it very hard going and after realising she had quite a project on her hands decided to call us instead and see if we could help with the restoration.

Quarry Tiled Floor During Self-Levelling Compound Removal Formby

I worked out a quote for the client which would include removing the self-levelling compound, cleaning up the tiles and then sealing them to improve its appearance and protect it going forward. The quote was accepted, and a date agreed for the restoration to be completed which would take two days.

Cleaning and restoring a Stone Tile Kitchen Floor

We have a variety of tools that we can use for removing cement but in this case, I decided to use an air operated pin gun. The head of the gun has long pins of different length which are fired at the floor gently chipping away at the floor compound, this made short work of breaking up the cement so it could be swept away. A lot easier than the method the client had previously tried.

With the floor clear of cement, it was given an acid wash with Tile Doctor Acid Gel scrubbed in with a buffing machine fitted with a black pad. The acidic formula cleans up the stone of old cement including fine particles of dust. Afterwards the gel was rinsed off the floor with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Sealing a Stone Tiled Kitchen Floor

We let the floor dry out overnight and returned the next morning to apply the sealer. For the best results, the stone needs to be dry so before sealing I always take several moisture readings with a damp meter to make sure. The results were good so the first of what would be three coats of sealer were applied to the floor. I used Tile Doctor Colour Grow for sealing, it is an impregnating sealer that works by occupying the pores in the store thereby protecting it from within, it also brings out the colour in the stone.

Once done the floor looked great, the old self-levelling compound was gone and the rich colours in the tile had been restored. In fact is was only when finished did we realise these were in fact Baked Clay Quarry Tiles, minerals are added during manufacturing to give then colour, although 95% clay they are very tough like stone. The client was over the moon with the outcome, the floor had been restored to its’ former glory.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Self-Levelling Compound Removal Formby

For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to keep the floor in good condition. It is pH neutral so will ensure the newly applied sealer is not compromised and the floor will continue to look good for a long while to come.

Professional Restoration of a Tiled Floor in Merseyside

Restoring a Cement Covered Tiled Floor in Formby Read More »

Victorian Tiled Porch Before After Cleaning Liverpool

Victorian Tiled Porch Deep Cleaned at Cressington Parks Liverpool

Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work History / Andrew Robb

Cressington Parks is a 19th Century gated private estate built for wealthy merchants who needed easy access to the city of Liverpool. Cressington has been designated a conservation area with many examples of period street furniture including gas lamps, gates and railings along with all the period buildings. In fact, the streets have been used for many television and film sets.

As you can see from the picture below this small but impressively intricate Victorian Tiled floor was in need of some love and care after being covered in carpet for many years and we were asked to do the renovation. We have restored several period floors in the conversation area where we find the properties are popular with younger family’s buying the homes for restoration.

Victorian Tiled Porch Floor Before Cleaning Cressington

Cleaning/Repairing a Victorian Tiled Porch Floor

This particular floor was at the servants’ entrance to the main house and required deep cleaning and a few repairs to be carried out. Given the small size of the floor we were aiming to complete the job within a day by using low moisture cleaning techniques.

The first task was to remove as much of the old coatings which included carpet glue, paint and varnish using very sharp scrapers. Once this was done, we covered the floor with Tile Doctor Acid Gel. Being in gel form it’s very easy to control and means it will stay in in place where a liquid treatment would just run away. After leaving the gel to dwell for ten minutes, we used a slow speed buffing machine fitted with extra weight and a black scrubbing pad to work the product into the tiles. This now soiled gel was then rinsed off with a little water and extracted using a wet vacuum. When we use this cleaning method the acid gel cleans the floor and helps counter alkaline salts inherent in the floor.

Whilst the floor was drying, we turned our attention to the damaged tiles which we replaced with matching tiles that we had sourced earlier. It takes some time to do this as you need to scrape out the surrounding grout, lever out the broken tile and then scrape out the adhesive. The new tile is then set in place with rapid set adhesive and matching grout.

Once that had set the rest of the floor was encouraged to dry out faster with the use of heat guns for about twenty minutes before letting the floor cool down. At this stage the floor was looking much improved!

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Porch Floor

After a further twenty minutes we did a damp test using a damp meter to make sure the floor was ready for sealing. The minimal use of liquids and added heat had worked well and we were able to move on and seal the tiles starting with a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating fully breathable sealer that brings out the colour in the tile.

The first coat was left to dry for forty minutes before following with three coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra. This is also a breathable sealer and is ideal for situations where no damp proof membrane. The Sealer left the floor with a lovely sheen and the colourful tiles really shone through. The floor was back to its’ former glory.

Victorian Tiled Porch Floor After Cleaning Cressington

Our customer was over the moon and has asked us if we could return to restore the outside pathways, what better feedback can you get.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Porch in Liverpool

Victorian Tiled Porch Deep Cleaned at Cressington Parks Liverpool Read More »