Ultra-Seal Archives - Leicestershire Tile Doctor

Jura Cream Honed Limestone Floor Renovation South Kilworth

Honed Jura Cream Limestone Tiled Floor Renovated in South Kilworth

This is a Honed Cream Jura Limestone floor in the Kitchen of a property in the village of South Kilworth outside of Lutterworth. Our customer asked us to renovate the floor and resolve a couple of issues they were having.

Jura Cream Honed Limestone Floor Before Renovation South Kilworth

The grout was the main area of concern, some parts had failed and needed replacing and the rest just needed cleaning. There were scratches on some of the Limestone tiles that also needed attention. The stone itself was in good condition but as it hadn’t been professionally cleaned and sealed for seven years it was overdue a refresh.

Renovating Grout on a Jura Limestone Floor

Work started with cleaning the grout lines which was done by manually scrubbing in a 1:4 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean with a stiff brush. This product is a very effective alkaline tile and grout cleaner product that releases the dirt ingrained into the cementous surface of the grout. When we were happy with the result the soiled cleaning solution was removed with a wet vacuum and the floor washed with clean water.

Jura Cream Honed Limestone Floor During Grout Cleaning South Kilworth

The next step was to sort out the cracked and heavily stained grout by raking it out with a special tool and then replacing. I also dealt with several structural movement cracks in the limestone tiles at this point by filling with a colour matching stone resin filler.

Removing Scratches from Honed Jura Limestone Tiles

Attention then turned to removing the light scratches and etching with an abrasive 200-grit diamond pad. This pad is applied using a weighted rotary floor machine that can grind, hone & polish natural stone. It’s applied with water for lubrication which turns into a creamy slurry that is rinsed off with water and then extracted with a wet vacuum.

With the scratches removed the tiles were then burnished with a 400-grit pad to create a satin low light reflection finish across the whole floor. As before the resulting slurry was removed with a thorough rinsing and wet vacuuming.

Sealing Cream Jura Limestone Floor Tiles

After the floor had dried the stone and grout was sealed using Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal, several coats were applied until the stone had reaches its saturation point. We chose Ultra-Seal for this floor as its almost invisible and doesn’t darken the colour of the stone at all, which is exactly that natural look finish the customer wanted.

Although it’s probably difficult to appreciate the improvement to the floor from these pictures my customer was certainly happy. In fact, they mentioned that it had never looked as good as it does now.

Jura Cream Honed Limestone Floor During Grout Cleaning South Kilworth

We recommend re-sealing every five years as sealers will eventually wear down, especially in high traffic areas. We do however offer an annual maintenance clean & top up sealer treatment which is ideal for maintaining the appearance of highly polished natural stone floors.

This particular sealer is an impregnator that soaks into the pores of the stone, thereby preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. This will protect from liquid-based surface spills & soil penetration ensuring dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

On the subject of cleaning, I left a bottle of Tile Doctors pH Neutral Stone Soap with the customer. This product is designed for the cleaning of sealed stone floors and will help maintain the integrity of the sealer whilst building a slight patina on the stone. It’s important to use the correct maintenance cleaner as stronger products will weaken the sealer and if correctly used the sealer may last up to five years

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Removing Grout Haze from Wood Effect Porcelain Floor Tiles in Stoneygate

Post Installation Clean of Wood Effect Porcelain Tiles in Stoneygate Leicester

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Leicester Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning / Adam Carpenter

The floor in the Kitchen photos of a property in the Leicester suburb of Stoneygate are not as you might think made of wood but are in fact Wood Effect Porcelain Tiles. They had recently been installed but unfortunately the tiler had not managed to remove all the grout resulting in a film of grout haze on the surface. This film does affect the appearance of the tile and due to the textured nature of the grout it will also attract dirt more easily making it much more difficult to keep clean.

Wood Effect Porcelain Floor During Grout Haze Removal Stoneygate Leicester

Wood Effect Porcelain Floor Before Grout Haze Removal Stoneygate Leicester

Normally grout haze can be removed using an acid-based product such as Tile Doctor Grout-Clean-up however this was a modern polymer cement grout which is much harder to remove. Unsure how resolve the problem we were tasked by our customer to remove the grout haze and clean up the tiles to improve their appearance.

Removing Grout Haze from a Wood Effect Porcelain Tiled Floor

Before tackling the grout haze, the floor was thoroughly vacuumed and a silicone seal ran along the kitchen unit end panels to help protect against moisture ingress during cleaning.

The next step was to break down the polymers in the grout haze using Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a versatile floor cleaning product we usually use to remove coatings such as sealers. This was allowed to dwell prior to agitation with an abrasive Tile Doctor 800-grit diamond pad. The resultant slurry was then rinsed off the tiles with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Next, I tackled the grout haze by giving the floor a wash and scrub in Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up diluted 1 to 10 with water. This product is designed for removing grout haze or grout smears as its sometimes referred to. This was agitated with a White floor pad getting into grain of the wood effect and removing the remaining grout and paint spots from decorating. Once done the floor was rinsed with water again and the slurry extracted using a wet vacuum as before.

Sealing Grout on a Porcelain Tiled Floor

With the grout haze removed the floor looked so much better and due to the nature of Porcelain should stay that way. Grout however is easily stained and there’s much more risk of that happening in a Kitchen so before leaving I agreed to seal the grout.

First the grout needed to be dry so I force dried the tiles with floor fans, then applied Tile Doctors Ultra Seal ‘natural look’ impregnating sealer to the grout lines.

Wood Effect Porcelain Floor After Grout Haze Removal Stoneygate Leicester

For aftercare I left my client with a bottle of Tile Doctor pH Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a gentle but effective cleaning product designed for use on tile and stone.

Wood Effect Porcelain Tile Cleaning in Leicester

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Travertine Kitchen Floor Before After Refinishing Kings Norton Leicester

Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Refinished in Kings Norton

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Leicester Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning / Adam Carpenter

The photographs below are of a Travertine tiled floor installed in the kitchen of a 17th century cottage in the small Leicestershire village of Kings Norton. The owner had called us in to deep clean and refinish the Travertine tiles which had become soiled, dull, the grout had darkened in places and there were lots of holes that needed filling.

This issue is quite normal for a natural stone floor which benefits from having a sealer in place to stop dirt from becoming trapped in the pores. Travertine can also suffer from pitting which are small holes in the surface of the tile, these pits attract dirt and should be filled to prevent that happening. With Travertine especially you need to ensure a neutral ph. cleaner is used as anything stronger can exacerbate the problem.

Deep Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Floor

The first job was to give the floor a thorough clean with a particular focus on the grout and pitting. It was clear the sealer had pretty much worn off over time so Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied using a 1:4 dilution with water. The solution was left to soak into the floor for ten minutes first to help break down the soil build-up. The Pro-Clean was then worked into the Travertine tile and grout using a floor buffing machine fitted with a Black scrubbing pad and extra weights to increase contact.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tile Refinishing Kings Norton During Cleaning

The soiled cleaning solution was then rinsed off and the soiling extracted using a wet vacuum. This process was repeated until I was happy the stone and the grout were as clean as possible.

With the dirt removed it made it easier to highlight the holes that needed to be filled. For filling I used a straw-coloured resin glue which matched the natural colours of the Travertine very well. Once the resin has set the next move was to burnish the stone to further clean it, remove light scratches and generally improve its appearance. This process also helps the filled pits blend in with the stone.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tile Refinishing Kings Norton Before Cleaning

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tile Refinishing Kings Norton After Filling

Burnishing the floor involves stripping back the stone using a coarse 400-grit diamond encrusted burnishing pad and then building up the finish with a medium 800-grit pad to restore the finish and add the light sheen our customer had requested. The floor was given a light rinse and extraction in-between pads and then a thorough rinse afterwards to remove the slurry generated during burnishing.

Sealing Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles

The floor was left to dry off naturally and we returned later to apply a sealer which for this floor the customer had requested a natural finish. After ensuring the floor was dry it was then sealed to saturation point using Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is an impregnating sealer that penetrates deep into the pores of the stone to ensure dirt cannot become ingrained there. This sealer doesn’t alter the look of the stone resulting in the natural appearance the customer had specified.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Tile Refinishing Kings Norton After Cleaning

I left a bottle of Tile Doctor Stone Soap for aftercare cleaning; this is a ph. neutral product that will gently clean the stone and improve patina. If your going to use a supermarket cleaning product always read the label and ensure they are compatible for use with sealed natural stone.

Professional Maintenance of Travertine Floor Tiles in Leicestershire

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