Westminster Tile Cleaning

Westminster Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find examples of the cleaning and renovation of tiles carried out in Westminster.

Bleach Stained Multicoloured Sandstone Patio Renovation Little Venice

Bleach Discoloured Sandstone Patio Renovated in Little Venice

Earlier this year the owner of this Sandstone patio at a property in Little Venice wanted to spruce up the stone ready for summer and so cleaned it with bleach. Unfortunately, the sandstone flagstones didn’t respond as expected and became discoloured leaving them in a worse condition.

Multicoloured Sandstone Patio During Cleaning Little Venice

This was a real shame as these Sandstone pavers were of the multicoloured variety which are really lovely and usually full of colour and character. Fortunately, I was able to re-assure the owner that natural stone is a very forgiving material and I was confident of restoring the beauty to the patio. I worked out a detailed quote for the work which included materials which was accepted. The weather was excellent back then, so it wasn’t long before I was able to return to work on the patio.

Cleaning a Multicoloured Sandstone Tiled Patio

The owner had already done a reasonable job of removing dirt and algae from the stone, so we were able to move straight onto making sure it was free of any previous protective coatings. To do this I used a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which was left to soak into the stone for ten minutes before being worked in with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine. It was clear to me some sort of topical sealer had been used in the past, and it took a while with several re-applications to make sure all of it was removed.

Multicoloured Sandstone Patio During Cleaning Little Venice

During the various stages of cleaning and scrubbing the patio was being rinsed with water to remove the soiling which was extracted with a wet vacuum. Once finished the patio was inspected and any stubborn areas spot cleaned with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. Once done the patio and mortar looked really clean but all that scrubbing and cleaning had removed all the colour from the stone turning it almost grey. I wasn’t worried about that though as I knew the new sealer would put the colour back in the stone.

A lot of water was used during the cleaning so after that was complete the patio was left to dry off in the baking sun.

Sealing a Multicoloured Sandstone Tiled Patio

On our return the Sandstone was tested with a moisture meter to confirm it was dry and then sealed with a coat of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an oil-based impregnating sealer that soaks into the stone to protect it from within. The oil content of the sealer also does a great job of putting the life back into the stone and bringing out the colours.

Multicoloured Sandstone Patio During Sealing Little Venice

Once complete the patio looked fantastic and the owner was super excited about the new look. With the Patio being sealed I warned the client about using bleach again to clean to stone as this would damage the sealer, however I don’t think this is likely to happen again. Instead, I recommended using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a mild yet effective product that won’t impact the sealer.

Multicoloured Sandstone Patio After Renovation Little Venice

 

Professional Restoration of a Multicoloured Sandstone Patio in London

Bleach Discoloured Sandstone Patio Renovated in Little Venice Read More »

Polishing a Granite & Limestone floor tile in Westminster

Polishing a Granite & Limestone floor tile in Westminster

This interesting unusual Granite and Limestone tile combination was installed in the kitchen of a house in Westminster, London. The black Granite was looking Dull and the Limestone had a dirty appearance of the tile surface which had lost its shine and was looking dull.

Stripping the Granite and Limestone Tiled Floor

To resolve we had to strip back the Granite and Limestone surfaces using a set of burnishing pads, these diamond encrusted pads come in a number of different colours each one has a different grade of coarseness and does a different job from scrubbing to polishing. I started with the red pad together with water and then carried on with the white, then yellow pads using water. Finally when I had dried the floor I used a green pad to buff the floor up. This activity took most of the day so left the floor to dry overnight.

Granite and Limestone Kitchen floor before

Sealing Granite and Limestone Tiles

The next morning I arrived to find the floor had dried out sufficiently for it to be sealed which was done using a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. Colour Grow is a a great sealer for lifting the natural colours out in hard stone flooring such as Granite and Limestone floor as well as providing stain protection. Once the sealer had dried I then finished it all off with a quick buff using a white buffing pad.

Granite and Limestone Kitchen floor after
You can see from the photographs how the combination of the burnishing pads and sealer and really lifted the look of the floor.

Polishing a Granite & Limestone floor tile in Westminster Read More »

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Central London Tile Doctor

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