Attleborough Archives - Norfolk Tile Doctor

Stained Victorian Hallway Floor Renovation Attleborough

Renovation of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Attleborough following Building Work

A client in the town of Attleborough, Norfolk contacted us about her Victorian tiled hallway following a recommendation from a neighbour. She wanted to get the floor renovated and had been struggling to find someone with the appropriate knowledge and experience to complete the work. She had tried to clean the floor herself but had little success and decided it was time to call in the experts.

Stained Victorian Hallway Floor Tiles Before Cleaning Attleborough

The whole house was being renovated and unfortunately the contractors working in the property had not taken care to cover up the hallway floor and it has subsequently become covered in all sorts of mess including a lot of plaster and paint. I explained that this would not be an issue and we were confident that we could remove all the contaminants and restore the floor to its former glory.

I created a quote for doing the renovation which would take two days, one to clean and one to seal. Happy with my quotation, we scheduled a date for our return which was to follow the conclusion of all remaining building works.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Floor in Attleborough

Before starting the renovation of her floor, our first job was to cover the walls and skirting with masking film to protect the newly plastered walls from splashes during cleaning. Next, with a focus on removing the paint splatters, a generous quantity of Tile Doctor Remove & Go was sprayed onto the tiles and left to dwell for ten minutes so it could get to work breaking down the dirt and softening the paint. Then using a black scrubbing pad fitted to our Klindex rotary buffing machine, the solution was scrubbed into the surface to remove as much of the contaminants and old now-ineffective coatings as possible. Once done, the resulting slurry was extracted away using an industrial wet vacuum.

The next step was to treat the floor to an acid scrub using Tile Doctor Acid Gel which was applied and left for five minutes before working in with a coarse 100-grit diamond pad. This treatment has a lot of benefits for tiled floors and is great for removing old cement, grout smears and other contaminants such as efflorescence salt deposits. Being acidic it also neutralises the pH of the floor following the use of Remove and Go earlier which is a strong alkaline. The floor was then wet vacuumed again and the process repeated with a finer 200-grit pad.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor in Attleborough

The floor was left to dry out overnight and then on our return it was tested with a damp meter to ensure it had dried and was now ready for sealing. The moisture readings were good, so we were happy to go ahead and apply the sealer.

We had discussed finish options with the customer earlier and as a result Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra was chosen. This is a fully breathable exterior grade product which provides high stain resistance and is perfect for high traffic areas such as hallways. It improves the colours in the tiles and has a low sheen finish so does not make the floor look too shiny. Five coats of sealer were applied leaving each one to dry before the next was applied.

Stained Victorian Hallway Floor Tiles After Cleaning Attleborough

My client was amazed how well her floor had come up and was delighted that the building contractors had not permanently ruined it! For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is a highly effective yet gentle tile cleaning product that doesn’t damage acrylic finishes.

Professional Victorian Hallway Floor Renovation in Norfolk

Renovation of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Attleborough following Building Work Read More »

Slate Shower Cubicle Renovation Attleborough

Removing Grout Haze from a Black Slate Shower Cubicle in Attleborough

1 Comment / Attleborough Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Nick White

This customer from Attleborough had a new shower installed with the walls clad in beautiful Black Slate tiles. Unfortunately, the installation of the tiles didn’t go according to plan and the Slate became stained with white crusty patches. The staining was completely resistant to any type of cleaning or limescale removal product leaving what was meant to be a very opulent shower cubicle looking very un-inviting.

Despite numerous consultations with the contractor, they were unable to resolve the problem or offer any solution that would renovate the stone and make it look as originally intended. Desperate for a solution she searched the internet, discovered Tile Doctor and I was asked to take a look and see what could be done. Attleborough is only about ten miles from my base in Norwich so its wasn’t long before I was able to pop round.

Slate Shower Cubicle Before Renovation Attleborough

After inspecting the installation, I ascertained that the problem here was two-fold. The primary problem was the installer and left a thin coating of grout on the surface of the Slate tiles. This is a common problem known in the trade as “grout haze” or “grout smears” and is usually removed afterwards by giving the tiles a good wipe down with a sponge. Clearly this wasn’t done sufficiently on this occasion. The second problem was the grout haze had provided the perfect moisture trap for the typical Norfolk hard water. Over a relatively short space of time, this trapped water had left hard limescale deposits which became firmly attached to the grout haze which, in turn, was firmly attached to the tile surfaces.

I mentioned earlier that my client had found that no amount of chemical cleaning could shift it. However, Tile Doctor products are designed for professional use and are far more powerful than those available in supermarkets and DIY stores. I also had available professional stripping and repolishing pads that can re-surface the stone so between the two I was confident of getting a good result and dramatically improving the condition of the shower cubicle walls.

Removing White Stains from a Black Slate Tiled Bathroom

The first job was to apply a liberal coat of Tile Doctor Acid Gel, which owing to its thick consistency, is the perfect choice for dissolving calcium-based contaminants on vertical surfaces. This coat was allowed to dwell on the tiles and in the grout lines for around thirty minutes with periodic agitation using a firm bristled grout and scrubbing brush. The solution was then rinsed off with clean water.

The process removed a considerable amount of the limescale but there was still a fair amount visible on the tiles particularly around the tap fittings. A further coat of Acid Gel was applied and again allowed to dwell for another thirty minutes before scrubbing vigorously using a black stripping pad fitted to a handheld Rotex random orbit polisher. After rinsing once again we found that all the limescale deposits and grout haze had been removed successfully.

The whole area was then dried off using a hot air gun and at this point the Slate had become pale and dry-looking after all the aggressive cleaning. Black slate is a type of oil stone which can often have its oil content stripped out by both chemical and physical cleaning.

Sealing Black Slate Bathroom Tiles

I had anticipated this issue however and the solution was to replace the lost oil in the stone using Tile Doctor Stone Oil which is a resin-based pre-polish sealer. It’s formulated to restore the slate’s attractive deep Black colour, improve the surface texture and seal against water absorption. I allowed the oil to soak in for a few minutes and then wiped off all excess product remaining on the surface before leaving it alone to cure for a couple of hours.

Once the oil had cured, the water resistance was then further enhanced by the application of a coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is a penetrating sealer designed for both interior and exterior applications. Finally, once the topcoat of Ultra-seal had dried, with some assistance from an industrial fan, the surface was buffed to a rich sheen using the Rotex polisher and a white nylon pad.

Slate Shower Cubicle After Renovation Attleborough

The client was very impressed by the finished result and hadn’t realised that her slate tiles actually had some flame-like pattern variation in their surface which had always been hidden before by the grout haze and limescale deposits.

For the aftercare of shower tiles, especially stone I recommend regularly spraying on a product called Tile Doctor Aqua-Pro which is a mild cleaner designed for use where the tiling has been sealed. A lot of tile cleaning products you find are simply too strong for use on sealed surfaces and can erode the sealer over time.

Professional Slate Tile Restoration in a South London Wet Bathroom

Removing Grout Haze from a Black Slate Shower Cubicle in Attleborough Read More »

Travertine Floor in Attleborough Cleaned and Sealed

Restoring a Heavily Soiled Unfilled Travertine Floor in Attleborough

1 Comment / Attleborough Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Nick White

Our client got in touch from Attleborough a market town between Norwich and Thetford to ask for our help restoring her kitchen and dining area floor. If you live in the countryside and have children and pets, unfilled Travertine is probably not the best choice for your kitchen/diner flooring, which is the conclusion our client discovered for herself.

The floor was only around three years old, but the entire area had become heavily scratched and soiled. Most of the dirt was occupying the unfilled pits in the stone which are an inconvenient feature of this natural material. No amount of daily vacuuming, mopping or rinsing will ever shift this kind of contamination which is why she called us in desperation.

Travertine Floor in Attleborough Before Cleaning

During our site visit, apart from the obvious heavy soiling, we also noticed a very prominent and ugly settlement crack which had appeared along the French doors leading to a four mm difference between the surface levels either side of the crack itself.

Travertine Floor in Attleborough Threshold Crack

Cleaning and Repairing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen and Dining Room

Our first job was to deep-clean the soiling from the floor using our heavy 17″ rotary machine fitted with a medium-soft brush and a 1:5 mix of Tile Doctor Pro Clean, diluted with very hot water. This combination made quick work of the surface dirt, along with the soiling in the grout lines. The resulting slurry was left to dwell on the floor for ten minutes to soften the residue sitting at the bottom of the pits before being power rinsed and vacuumed away using our 400psi hot water extraction machine. The machine was fitted with a specialist hard flooring wand which blasted the softened dirt out of the pits and immediately sucked all the contaminants up. This avoids anything spraying up the adjoining walls.

Having removed all the dirt, we then cut and polished the area again with the rotary machine but this time using Tile Doctor Diamond Burnishing Pads from 400-grit through to 1500-grit, rinse extracting between each stage to remove the resulting slurry. Internal corners were finished with hand-held diamond blocks. We then left the whole area to dry thoroughly overnight with assistance from our large capacity dehumidifier.

Travertine Floor in Attleborough Rotary Cleaning

Sealing Travertine Flooring in Attleborough

On our return the following day, we repaired the unsightly crack along the threshold by grinding the high lip down to the same lower level using a diamond blade fitted to our Bosch multitool. Followed by polishing with our Festool Rotex 90 Handtool. The crack, being rather wide, was then filled with a two-part epoxy stone repair compound and levelled with the Rotex after curing.

Travertine Floor in Attleborough Crack Repaired

After this, the floor was vacuumed thoroughly followed with the application of the a very fine 3000-grit diamond burnishing pad which is applied to the floor with a little water spayed onto the tile. This fourth and final burnishing pad really builds up the shine on the floor.

Travertine Floor in Attleborough Deep Cleaned

Our client really loved the new lighter look of her cleaned Travertine floor, so we chose to use Tile Doctor Ultra Seal to seal the floor and protect it from staining. Ultra-Seal is a matt impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores of the stone protecting it from within and without affecting the colour of the substrate. The sealer was liberally applied and allowed to be absorbed by the stone for a few minutes before the excess was removed. After an hour, the surface was re-burnished with the 3000-grit diamond pad and then vacuumed to remove any fine dust generated during the burnishing.

Our client was really happy with the improvement and left the following comment when we’d finished…

“Our travertine floor had suffered over the winter and I wasn’t totally convinced that anything would save it. However, it has been completely transformed and we are delighted with the results. Nick was professional and thorough – could not recommend more!”

Cleaning and Repair of Travertine Kitchen and Dining Room Floor in Norfolk

Restoring a Heavily Soiled Unfilled Travertine Floor in Attleborough Read More »