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Pale Limestone Floor Clean Seal Walton-on-Thames

Pale Limestone Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Walton-on-Thames

1 Comment / Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Shepperton Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Jonathan Oldham

This Pale Limestone floor was installed in the kitchen and adjacent dining area at a property in Walton-on-Thames around three years ago. Unfortunately, it was not sealed after installation and over those three years dirt had slowly become ingrained in the stone giving it a darker/dirty appearance.

Kitchens especially are high traffic areas and so always under attack from foot traffic and spillages from cooking. Additionally, the adjacent dining area had patio doors and was vulnerable to dirt being walked in from the garden.

We always recommend sealing porous flooring material like natural stone such as Limestone. Otherwise, dirt becomes lodged in the pores of the stone and once that happens it becomes very difficult to remove.

I visited the site to survey the floor and carried out a small test clean at one end of the Kitchen to work out the best cleaning solution and to show the client the result that could be achieved.

Limestone Floor During Test Cleaning Walton-on-Thames

The test went well, and the clean tiles showed up well against their neighbours. My clients were very happy to see the potential of a full clean and were happy to go ahead with my quotation.

Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

To deep clean the Limestone, it was initially wetted with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which as is name suggests is a powerful cleaning agent designed to remove coatings and stains from tiles. Working in sections the solution was applied and left to soak into the stone for around fifteen minutes before being scrubber into the tile using a black pad fitted to a rotary floor buffer.

During scrubbing the cleaning solution soon turned black as the dirt was broken down and pushed out of pores in the stone. The soil was then rinsed off the floor and extracted using a low-pressure extraction machine. The buffing pad can struggle to reach into the depths of the grout so after cleaning the tile I gave the grout a good scrub by hand using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean.

Limestone Floor During Cleaning Walton-on-Thames

After a final rinse and extraction to remove any remaining products and dirt from the floor you could see huge difference between the clean and original sections of floor. Some areas that were very heavily soiled did need more work though, so the process was repeated until I was satisfied that the floor was as clean as possible. The floor was then left to dry overnight, ready for sealing the following day.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

Returning the next day, the moisture level of the floor was checked with a damp meter to ensure it had fully dried out. Satisfied with the readings two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow tile sealer were applied to the floor. Colour Grow is a premium impregnating sealer which gives excellent protection against spillages and general foot traffic, making the floor very easy to maintain in the future. I chose this sealer as it improves colour and brings out the best in Pale Limestone.

Limestone Floor After Cleaning Walton-on-Thames

Once complete the Limestone looked so much cleaner and brighter and as you would expect given the transformation my client was very happy with the work.

Before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning and with the floor being sealed, I recommended in future they use a milder cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. Stronger household tile cleaning products can prematurely break down the sealer and once that happens, they will soon be back to square one.

Professional Renovation of a Pale Limestone Tiled Floor in Elmbridge

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Limestone Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Bushy Park Teddington

This Limestone tiled floor had been installed in the kitchen of a property in Teddington three years before and due to the use of the wrong cleaning product was now stripped of its protective sealer. Limestone like any natural stone is porous and without a sealer in place dirt becomes trapped in the stone making it very difficult to keep clean. The property was close to Bushy Park situated in South West London on the North bank of the Thames which is only about seven miles from my base in Shepperton.

I discovered all of this after visiting the property to quote for deep cleaning and resealing the floor. It turns out they have been using Flash multi-surface & floor cleaner which has an acidic pH of 10.3, compare this to Tile Doctor Remove and Go which we use to strip sealers off floors and has a pH of 12. Needless to say, this was not the right product to use and the old sealer had been completely stripped off the floor and probably within the first few months.

Limestone Tiled Floor Before Cleaning in Teddington

On top of this our customer had 3 children and a dog running in and out of the garden and was therefore transferring quite a lot of dirt into the stone. After surveying the floor, I discussed the renovation process with the customer which would take two days and include a deep clean of the Limestone followed by the application of a sealer to ensure it did not hold onto the dirt. They were after a sheen finish for the floor and were keen to have natural brown and cream variations in the stone highlighted. We agreed a price for the work and booked a date for the work to start.

Deep Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

To start with, we machine scrubbed the floor with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to break down the dirt and release it from the stone. We find the best process is to spray the Pro-Clean onto the floor first and then leave to dwell for ten minutes before scrubbing. It’s not long before the cleaning solution turns dark with the dirt released from the pores of the stone and this soil is then rinsed with water and vacuumed off the floor with a low-pressure hard floor cleaning machine.

Following the cleaning, we honed the Limestone using a sequence of 800, 1500 and finally 3000-grit Tile Doctor Burnishing Pads. The pads are applied with water to lubricate and the slurry generated is rinsed off the floor as before. This burnishing process brings up the natural sheen of the stone and tightens up its pores prior to sealing. I left the floor overnight to allow it to dry out.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

The next day I returned to the property and checked the floor for moisture using a damp meter. The readings were fine, so I proceeded with the application of the sealer for which I used two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This is an impregnating sealer that enhances the colours and contrast on the stone while protecting it against future soiling and spillages. It gave a lovely sheen finish to the floor as requested by the customer.

As you can see from the pictures the process made a huge difference to the floor which now looks lighter and brighter, certainly the customer was more than happy. Before leaving I recommended, they should clean the floor using Tile Doctor Stone Soap, this is a pH neutral product that will ensure the seal does not get broken down like it previously had using the household cleaners. It is gentle enough to use every day if you wish is designed to help maintain the patina of the burnished stone.