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Quarry Tiles Before and After Cleaning Salisbury

Kitchen Quarry Tiles Floor Treated to a Deep Clean and Seal in Salisbury

When the sealer wears down on sealed tiled floor dirt will become ingrained in the pores of the tile and floor becomes more and more difficult to clean effectively. Even hard wearing tiles like Quarry tiles will experience this problem over time more so if you use acidic floor cleaning products to regularly clean your floor as they slowly eat away at the sealer.

This is a problem we come across relatively often and was the case this customer, living in the town of Salisbury contacted Tile Doctor for assistance. I paid them a visit to survey the floor and arranged a date to come back a give these brown Quarry kitchen tiles a thorough clean and fresh seal to provide durable protection against future soil build up.

Quarry Tiles Before Cleaning Salisbury

Cleaning a Dirty Quarry Tiled Floor

Taking a close look at the tiles, it was clear that they would need to be cleaned using a strong solution of the high alkaline Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, with special attention to be paid to the grout and to deal with some spots of grout haze.

To begin, Pro-Clean was applied across the floor and left it to dwell for 15 minutes to eat through any old sealer and dirt. A black pad was then to a rotary machine, and this was used to scrub the area throughly, lifting the muck away. Following this, a wet vacuum was used to remove the dirty cleaning slurry.

Next, I tackled the grout haze around the edges, by applying Tile Doctor Acid Gel to the affected areas, which is a mixture of Phosphoric and Hydrochloric acids in a handy gel form. This was scrubbed again with a black pad and rinsed with cold water to neutralise the area. Having successfully eliminated the dirt and grout haze, I left the floor to dry for a couple of days.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Floor

Upon my return I tested the area for damp using a damp tester; this should always be carried out before sealing as excess moisture can negatively affect the performance of the sealer.

When satisfied with the results of the damp test, I proceeded to seal the floor with five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go, which is a topical sealer suitable for sealing internal, unsealed porous surfaces. It works by building up a durable surface seal, preventing any dirt from becoming ingrained in the stone. Additionally, Seal and Go provides a subtle, but pleasant looking, low sheen finish and being water based no smell is given off as it dries.

Quarry Tiles After Cleaning Salisbury
The customer was very pleased with the results. Since she had struggled to keep the floor clean, I made sure before leaving the property to give the customer some maintenance tips to help her maintain the appearance of the Quarry tiles. I also assured her that Tile Doctor are always on hand to assist if any new problems occur.

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Porcelain Tile Salisbury Before and After Cleaning

Deep Cleaning Textured Porcelain Tiles in a Salisbury

The owner of this Porcelain tiled floor installed in a house in Salisbury had contacted us to look at the grout lines which had become very dark with ingrained dirt and also the textured parts of the tile which had trapped dirt and become difficult to clean effectively. We popped round to take a look and ran a small cleaning demonstration which was very successful and so they quickly booked us to complete the work.

Textured Ceramic and Porcelain tiles tend to have a rough surface which does give them more grip but it also means there are more places for dirt to become trapped, also many don’t realise but the cementitious nature of grout means the very top layer is slightly porous and also able to trap dirt.

Porcelain Tile Salisbury Before Cleaning Porcelain Tile Salisbury Before Cleaning

Deep Cleaning Porcelain Tile and Grout

We started by mixing a strong solution of Pro-Clean and NanoTech Ultra Clean and left to dwell for 10 minutes to allow the mixture to penetrate the build-up of ingrained dirt and grime. Then using a stiff grout brush we scrubbed each and every grout line to remove all traces of dirt and residue.

Next we attached a stiff poly brush to our rotary machine and covered the whole floor making sure that we scrubbed each tile at least four times to make sure we removed as much dirt and grime as possible. We then rinsed the floor several times using clean water and removing slurry with wet vacuum making sure that all product had been removed.

Porcelain Tile Salisbury After Cleaning Porcelain Tile Salisbury After Cleaning

The tile and grout now look much cleaner and hopefully you can appreciate the difference in the photographs above.

Restoring a Textured Porcelain Tiles in Salisbury

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Terracotta Tiled Floor Salisbury Before and After Cleaning and Sealing

Deep Cleaning Terracotta Kitchen Tiles in Salisbury

This customer in Salisbury was having difficulty bringing their Terracotta tiled
kitchen floor
back to the condition it was in when it was first laid. Upon
inspection it was evident that the sealer on the floor had failed and dirt had become
ingrained into the pores of the tile making it difficult to clean and causing it to
become increasingly dirty over a period of time.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Salisbury Before Cleaning

Terracotta Tile Cleaning

We started by cleaning the floor with a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean
mixed 50/50 with Nanotech Ultra Clean which has the effect of adding tiny abrasive
particles to an already effective alkaline cleaning product that is safe to use on Tile,
Stone and Grout. The solution was scrubbed into the grout first using a stiff grout
brush and this powerful combination made the removal of ingrained dirt much
easier to achieve. The next step was to use a black scrubbing pad on a rotary
machine to clean the tiles. Once I was happy with that the tile and grout was clean
the now dirty cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum and he floor then
thoroughly rinsed with cold water using a deck brush to make sure that any product
residue was removed. We then repeated the process for any stubborn stains and
give the floor another cold water rinse to finalise the cleaning process again using a
wet vacuum to remove as much water from the floor as possible to reduce drying
times.

Terracotta Tile Sealing

We left the floor to dry for seven days due the porosity of the terracotta. Upon our
return we gave the floor a damp test to confirm that the floor was dry enough to be
sealed. The test confirmed the tiles had dried and so the Terracotta was sealed using
seven coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which enhanced the colour and shine on the
floor but most importantly will give the floor the protection it needs.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Salisbury After Cleaning and Sealing
Before leaving I gave the customer some cleaning tips to prolong the life of the seal
and recommended in future they use Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to clean the
floor going forward; unlike most acidic tile cleaning products you find in
supermarkets Neutral Clean does not degrade and reduce the life of the sealer with
use.

Terracotta Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Salisbury

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