tile restoration Archives - Glasgow Tile Doctor

Victorian Tiled Floor Restoration Glasgow West End

Neglected Victorian Tiled Floor Repaired and Restored in Glasgow’s West End

The photographs below are of a large Victorian Tiled floor at a property in Glasgow’s West End. The floor had been sadly neglected over the years leaving it dull, dirty and damaged with several cracked tiles.

Victorian Tiled Floor Glasgow West End Before Restoration

I visited the property to discussed with the client the work needed to carry out a full restoration which included replacing the broken tiles and renovating the whole floor. From the survey I worked out a restoration plan which in turn was converted into a quote for completing the work which would take three days. Happy with the plan and my quote I was given the go ahead and a date scheduled.

Repairing a Damaged Victorian Tiled Floor in Glasgow

Work started with replacing the broken tiles and loose tiles that we identified during the survey. These had to be removed very carefully so as not to disturb more than was necessary. Once removed the base was cleaned up and all the old adhesive removed.

Victorian Tiled Floor Glasgow West End During Restoration

Replacement tiles, that we had sourced before arriving, were then cut to shape and dry fitted into the gaps until I was happy that the original pattern had been replicated. Only then were the replacements fixed in place along with any salvageable loose tiles. Once the repairs were carried out, we then left this to set and fully dry out before returning to begin the cleaning.

Repairing and Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Floor in Glasgow

On the second day we arrived and after checking the work from yesterday had set correctly started setting up to deep clean the floor. This commenced with pasting Tile Doctor Acid Gel onto the tiles and then after ten minutes scrubbing it in with a coarse 200-grit diamond pad. This process released the dirt from the Victorian tiles into the solution turning it a black slurry.

The floor was rinsed with a little water and the soiling extracted with a wet vacuum. Once the whole floor had been cleaned the tiles were further refined using finer diamond burnishing pads of 400, 800 and 1500 grit. The pads are applied with water to help lubricate the process and the soiling generated is extracted with the wet vacuum after each pad.

To finish the cleaning process the floor was given a final clean using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up and after a final rinse and extraction were left for a week to dry.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor in Glasgow

The tiles were left for a week as I wanted to ensure they were completely dry before applying the sealer. Applying sealer to a damp tile can result in a patchy appearance.

Given the age of the floor, I decided to apply a fully breathable sealer called Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal. This is an important consideration when sealing old, tiled floors as it will allow for any moisture to rise through the tile and evaporate at the surface, otherwise moisture can become trapped until the floor resulting in damp issues. X-Tra seal is oil-based so helps add structure to the tile and being an impregnator that soaks into the tile it provides very durable protection.

Victorian Tiled Floor Glasgow West End After Restoration

The client was very pleased with the newly restored floor, and for ongoing cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. This product has a neutral Ph which is ideal for sealed surfaces; stronger bleach-based cleaners are simply too strong for use on sealed tiles and will erode the sealer prematurely.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Floor in Glasgow

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Slate Tiles Cleaned and Sealed in a Glasgow Kitchen

1 Comment / Glasgow Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History / Steven Thomson

These Slate tiles were installed in the kitchen of a house in Glasgow and as you can see from the photograph below they were looking dull and tired and there was evidence of grout haze over a lot of the tiles. The Tile Doctor diagnosis was that a face lift was in order for which a deep clean and re-seal was prescribed.

Slate Tiles in Glasgow Kitchen Before Cleaning

Cleaning a Slate Floor

The first step was to sweep up all the loose debris from the floor; we scrub the floor quite hard during our work so it’s important to remove any grit that could scratch the surface of the tile. We then mixed a dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go 50/50 with Nanotech Ultra Clean and began to work the solution into the floor allowing it to dwell for around an hour first (This process helps to soften and break down the remains of the sealer on the stone). We used a hard deck scrubber to agitate the chemicals and loosen the dirt and old sealer from the floor which is then extracted from the surface using a wet vacuum and rinsed down with clean water several times to make sure all chemicals are removed.

The next step was to apply a dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which was then scrubbed the floor once again with hard deck scrubber. This broke down and removed all of the cement/ grout haze that the installer had left over the surface of the tile, again the floor was then rinsed with water and extracted to remove any chemical residue.

The floor was scrubbed again this time using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to make sure all old sealer, cement, grout haze and dirt had been completely removed. We then give the floor a thorough and final rinse and mopped the tiles with Neutral Tile Cleaner to neutralise any remaining trace of chemicals and removed the solution using the wet vacuum before leaving the floor to dry overnight.

Sealing a Slate Floor Sealing

Once the floor was dry it was then sealed using five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which was chosen to provide the desired finish that the customer wanted.

Slate Tiles in Glasgow Kitchen After Cleaning and sealing

Slate Tiled Kitchen floor cleaned and sealed in Glasgow

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Terrazzo Floor Cleaned at Kilmacolm School

1 Comment / Johnstone Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Work History / Steven Thomson

This Terrazzo Floor was at the entrance to a School in Kilmacolm where as you can see from the photograph below had come under some heavy use and was now proving difficult to keep clean. We were asked to give it a deep clean, polish and re-seal therefore making it much easier to maintain going forward.

School Terrazzo Floor Kilmacolm before cleaning

Cleaning a Slate Floor

Hard stone surfaces such as Terrazzo have to be burnished to get the shine back and this process basically involves cutting back the surface with a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads.

Before burnishing however the floor was swept out to remove any loose debris that could get caught under the pads and scratch the floor. Once that was done a Coarse 400 grit burnishing pad was fitted to our heavy rotary machine and run over the surface with a little water to help lubricate the process, the coarse pad removes surface dirt and coatings such as sealers. Once that was finished we moved onto the medium 800 grit pad which is the first step of the polishing process and also removed ingrained dirt. The surface of the Terrazzo is still quite rough at this stage so once complete with the medium pad the fine (1,500 grit) is used smooth down the surface and continue to build up the polish in the floor. The last pad is a very fine (3,000 grit pad) and this pad builds on the existing polished effect to create a high shine finish.

All these pads are applied with water and the resultant slurry needs to be cleaned off during the process with the final step of giving the floor a thorough rinse with clean water, I can recommend a wet vacuum at this point as it makes light work of removing liquids from floors.

Sealing a Terrazzo Floor

Once the floor was completely dry it was sealed using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a great product to use of these characteristic floors as it brings out the colour in the floor as well as providing on-going stain protection. The floor was then buffed using a white buffing pad to bring up the shine further; needless to say our client was extremely happy with the finished result.

School Terrazzo Floor Kilmacolm after cleaning

School Terrazzo floor Cleaned, Polished and Sealed

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