kitchen Archives - Hertfordshire Tile Doctor

Terracotta Lodge Floor Tile Before and After Cleaning in Welwyn Garden City

Traditional Terracotta Kitchen Floor Renovated in Welwyn Garden City

The pictures below were taken at a beautiful Hertfordshire Lodge located on the outskirts of Welwyn Garden City where the traditional Terracotta Kitchen floor had lost its appeal and was now in need of renovation.

Welwyn Garden City is actually a new town that was created in the 1920 with an aim to create a modern garden city, the architecture is therefore fairly modern.

Terracotta Lodge Floor Tile Before Cleaning in Welwyn Garden City

Deep Cleaning Kitchen Terracotta Tiles

As usual the first step before starting the cleaning process was to clear the floor of as move furniture as practical and use protective tape to cover the threshold edges, skirting’s and doors and use a protective sheet to the fixed kitchen units.

To deep clean the Terracotta tiles and remove any trace of old sealers and waxes present a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go was applied to the floor and left to soak in for about ten minutes. Then the solution was agitated using detail brushes along the grout lines and edges and polypropylene pads.

Once done the now soiled cleaning solution was extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum and the tile and grout rinsed with fresh water.

This process removed most of the dirt and old coatings but more work was required so a further treatment using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong tile cleaner and sealer remove was applied and worked in using an orbital floor machine fitted with a scrubbing pad.

Again the soiled cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum and the tile and grout given a steam clean to remove any trace of cleaning product residue. The floor was then left for two days to fully dry out.

Sealing Terracotta Kitchen Tiles

On our return the floor was checked for dampness before we proceeded to seal the floor; sealing damp tiles can result in a patchy finish so this is always worth checking.

To seal we gave the Terracotta tiles a primer coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that brings out the natural colours in the tile and by occupying the pores of the clay tile it stops dirt becoming ingrained. This was then followed by six coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which works really well on Terracotta and adds a nice satin sheen finish. The floor now looks much healthier and has really lifted the appearance of the kitchen.

Terracotta Lodge Floor Tile After Cleaning in Welwyn Garden City

Before leaving we advised the customer to avoid commercial acid based cleaning products as these are not appropriate for sealed Terracotta tiles. We suggest using a low alkaline/neutral PH product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner as this will maximise the life of the sealer and maintain the sheen of the tile.

Traditional Terracotta in the Kitchen Restored in Welwyn Garden City

Traditional Terracotta Kitchen Floor Renovated in Welwyn Garden City Read More »

Mexican Terracotta Before and After cleaning

Cleaning Mexican Terracotta Tiles, St Albans

St. Albans Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Work History / Robert Voyce

Mexican Terracotta tiled floor laid several years ago in the kitchen of a property in Wheathampstead near St Albans. It had originally been laid and sealed in the classic method with a wax and was becoming increasingly impossible to clean.

Mexican Terracotta before prepped for cleaning

Cleaning Mexican Terracotta Tiles

We started the cleaning process using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean in order to remove excess dirt and soil from the surface of the tile. This was followed by the application of Tile Doctor Remove and Go combined 50/50 with NanoTech Ultra Clean agitated with a brush fitted to a scrubbing machine running at slow speed. This worked to breakdown and remove the remaining wax sealer returning the Mexican Terracotta back to its original condition. The resulting solution was rinsed off with water and a cleaned with Neutral Tile cleaner followed by two further water rinses. A wet vacuum comes in very useful at this point for removing the liquids from the floor.

Mexican Terracotta Cleaning and wax removal

Mexican Terracotta After cleaning ready for sealing

Sealing Mexican Terracotta Tiles

We left the floor to dry and returned some days later to seal. We started this process with a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which really helps to bring out the colour in the tile followed by six to seven coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go. Terracotta is by its nature a very porous tile and so it’s not unusual for it to need seven coats.

Cleaned and Sealed Mexican Terracotta floor

Cleaning Mexican Terracotta Tiles in St. Albans

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Limestone Kitchen Floor Tiles Before and After Cleaning

Cleaning Limestone Floor Tiles In London

Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Watford Tile Cleaning, Work History / Robert Voyce

We were called in during some major house renovations to restore the Limestone Floor tiles fitted in the kitchen and utility room. This involved a good deep clean, burnishing and then sealing to restore the natural colour and appearance of the stone.

Limestone Kitchen Floor Tiles Before Cleaining

The floor was pre cleaned with a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and NanoTech Ultra-Clean agitated with a slow speed machine fitted with polypropylene brush, the solution was removed with a wet vacuum rinsed with water and dried.

A couple of the floor tiles in the hallway were fractured so the next job was to replace them; this involves chopping out the tile and cleaning up the exposed area so new tiles can be installed and grouted.

The Limestone Tiled floor was then Burnished using the four stage Twister Burnishing pad set which removes topical sealers, ingrained dirt before finally polishing the floor into a high shine.

Limestone Tiled Floor Final Stage Sealed And Buffed

Once the final finish had been achieved the floor was sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer which brings out the colour of the tile and provides a protective impregnating seal. The last step was to run a buffing machine over the floor to get that final finish.

Cleaned Limestone Tiled Kitchen Finished

Before leaving we advised the customer to clean the floor using a neutral frequent use cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner, other products can be acidic and can actually dissolve holes in the tile over time. The customer was very pleased with the work we did and left the following comment:

Very professional, high quality job. Rob and his team were a pleasure to deal with and worked hard to meet our time constraints. The floor is unrecognisable from what it was before!

Mr. B. Chapman, London, NW8

Limestone Floor Restoration in London

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