Sandstone Tile Cleaning Archives - Norfolk Tile Doctor

Marble Ledger Stones Renovation Wymondham Abbey

Renovating Sandstone Flags and Marble Ledger Stones at Wymondham Abbey

I am proud to have been asked to renovate the Sandstone floor at Wymondham Abbey which is one of the grandest religious buildings in East Anglia. The floor consisted of an entrance area of very dirty and dull honed sandstone flags leading to an aisle of sandstone and dull, scratched black inscribed Marble ledger stones totalling approx. 200m2.

Sandstone and Marble Floor Before Renovation Wymondham Abbey

The abbey is a magnificent Norman church, originally established in 1107 as part of a monastic foundation. It was later enlarged and embellished with a particularly fine angel roof and the unusual twin towers are a prominent local landmark.

Having been asked to quote for the renovation of the floor and given its age I decided it would be best to visit the property and survey the areas needing attention before quoting. The flooring was in good physical condition and everything was as described; I could see the stone would need a deep clean burnishing and detail work needed around the engravings. I worked out a plan for the renovation which was considerate of the abbey’s age and from that prepared a detailed quote which was accepted.

Stripping and Deep Cleaning an Indian Sandstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

To start Tile Doctor Pro-Clean (diluted with three parts water) was applied to all surfaces and left to soak in for ten minutes before being scrubbed using a heavy 40kg Klindex rotary floor machine. For extra traction, an additional 10kg of weight was added and the machine was fitted with a 120-grit silicon carbide brush. This combination releases the soils from the stone to the surface where it was extracted using a Klindex triple-vac. It certainly helps having the right machinery for this type of work.

Sandstone and Marble During Deep Cleaning and Honing Wymondham Abbey

The deep engravings on the Marble ledger stones were hand cleaned with Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel and a grout brush and then finished with 400 and 800-grit diamond pads fitted to the rotary. These pads work wonders on hard stone surfaces such as Marble. The soiling was extracted as work progressed and after a final rinse the floor was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing an Indian Sandstone Tiled Kitchen

Next day the Marble ledger stones were checked for moisture to confirm they were dry before applying a coat of Tile Doctor Stone Oil. This works well on dark stone as the oil deepen the dark colours.

Marble Ledger Stones During Sealing with Stone Oil Wymondham Abbey

Once dry the whole floor was sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer that brings the features in the stone alive. Once dry the Marble ledgers were given a buff using a hand-held rotary polisher fitted with a white buffing pad.

Sandstone Floor After Renovation Wymondham Abbey

Marble Ledger Stones After Renovation Wymondham Abbey

The Committee members were exceptionally pleased with the results achieved and have asked us to return to work on the next section of floor as part of their ongoing renovation schedule.

For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a gentle yet effective cleaner that won’t impact the sealer. Strong bleach-based cleaners need to be avoided as they will strip the sealer off the stone prematurely.

Professional Cleaning of a Stone Flooring in Norfolk

Renovating Sandstone Flags and Marble Ledger Stones at Wymondham Abbey Read More »

Riven Sandstone Floor Renovation Rocklands

Very Dirty Riven Sandstone Floor Rescued in Rocklands

1 Comment / Attleborough Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Watton Tile Cleaning / Nick White

This riven Sandstone floor was laid throughout the ground floor of a modern barn conversion annex in Rocklands and included the spacious kitchen and living area. Rocklands is situated between the market towns of Watton and Attleborough and encompasses the villages of Rockland All Saints and Rockland St Peter.

The kitchen had just been replaced and this had left stripes on the slabs which had been formerly covered by the old kitchen units and were now clearly visible as clean stone. These patches were in sharp contrast to the rest of the heavily soiled Sandstone floor. Various sealers had been applied to the surface over the years and the use of assorted cleaning products had caused obvious and visually unpleasant discolouration across the whole area.

Riven Sandstone Floor Before Renovation Rocklands

To renovate the floor, I recommended stripping the stone to remove previous coatings, then deep cleaning to extract ingrained dirt and then finally applying a fresh sealer to protect the floor going forward. Having measured up I was able to create a detailed quote that listed all the products needed and how to order them. With the quote agreed a date was set for the work to start.

Stripping and Deep Cleaning an Indian Sandstone Tiled Floor

To strip off the old sealers a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go was sprayed onto the floor and left to soak in for ten minutes. This dwell time gives the product time to break down the old coatings and other contaminates, it also gives it time to seep into the pores of the stone and digest the ingrained dirt. Then focusing on grout cleaning a stiff long handled grout brush was run along all the grout lines to get them clean.

Next a coarse carbide brush was fitted to a weighted Klindex rotary floor buffer and run over each tile using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean for further cleaning power. This machine is very heavy which ensures extra traction with the floor to improve cleaning and in this case, I added an extra 10kg for maximum effect. It generates a lot of soiling which is extracted with an industrial wet vacuum.

Riven Sandstone Floor During Renovation Rocklands

Riven Sandstone Floor During Cleaning Rocklands

When I was happy the floor was clean it was given an acid rinse using a dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up which was scrubbed into the stone and rinsed off and then extracted as before. This process further cleans up the stone, removing old grout smears and neutralises the PH level of the floor after the use of Remove and Go which is an alkaline cleaner.

The floor was then left to dry off overnight so it would be ready for sealing the next day.

Sealing an Indian Sandstone Tiled Kitchen

The Sandstone floor was sealed using five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go applied by hand with cotton cloths. This sealer was chosen because it provides durable stain protection and results in an attractive low sheen finish which the client had requested. This sealer is perfect for sandstone which is very porous in its nature and did well to bring out the natural features and colours in the stone.

Riven Sandstone Floor After Renovation Rocklands

My client was very happy with the transformation and greatly relieved that we’d managed to rescue the very large natural stone floor in their well-used guest annexe.

Riven Sandstone Floor After Renovation Rocklands

Professional Renovation of an Riven Sandstone Kitchen in Norfolk

Very Dirty Riven Sandstone Floor Rescued in Rocklands Read More »

Stripping, Cleaning and Sealing a Riven Indian Sandstone Floor in Ingham

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Wroxham Tile Cleaning / Nick White

Here we have a heavily riven Indian Sandstone slab floor in the kitchen of a large property in Ingham on the Norfolk Broads. It was a lovely location to work being only a mile from the market town of Stalham and about 2 miles from the Norfolk coast.

The Sandstone floor was laid by the client’s late husband whose took great pride in it. Unfortunately, the riven nature of the Sandstone had trapped a lot of dirt and particularly along the sand and cement pointing. The floor had been sealed previously with a colour enhancing impregnator however it hadn’t been properly cleaned before sealing, so dirt and contaminants were trapped under the matt finish. As a result, no end of mopping could ever get the floor clean.

Sandstone Floor Before Cleaning Ingham

To rectify the problem, we recommended removing the sealer, deep cleaning the Sandstone and then re-seal. The challenge was to ensure all the old sealer was stripped away completely along with the soiling both on the surface and ingrained in the stone. I provided them with a quote for the works which they were happy to go ahead with.

Stripping and Deep Cleaning an Indian Sandstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

We returned to the property a few weeks later to start the cleaning. Working in sections this began with the application of Tile Doctor Remove & Go initially sprayed along the grout lines and left to soak in for ten minutes. The whole floor was then sprayed with more Remove and Go and the stone and pointing scrubbed with a heavy 17″ Klindex Rotary machine. The machine was fitted with an extra 10kg weight to increase traction and a 120-grit silicone carbide brush.

Sandstone Floor During Cleaning Ingham

Once done the floor was then rinsed and the slurry was then extracted with a high powered 3-stage wet vacuum. The floor was then checked and the process repeated in a few stubborn areas.

When I was happy the floor was clean it was given an acid rinse using a dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up which was scrubbed into the stone and rinsed off and then extracted as before. This process further cleans up the stone, removing old grout smears and also neutralised the PH level of the floor after the use of Remove and Go which is an alkaline cleaner.

The floor was then left to dry off overnight so it would be ready for sealing the next day.

Sealing an Indian Sandstone Tiled Kitchen

The sandstone floor was sealed using five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go applied by hand with split-filament microfibre cloths. We selected this sealer because it provides durable stain protection and results in an attractive low sheen finish. This sealer is perfect for sandstone which is very porous in its nature and did well to bring out the natural features and colours in the stone.

My client was amazed that we had managed to renovate the floor to a higher standard than it had ever been – she said her husband would have been absolutely delighted.

Sandstone Floor After Cleaning Sealing Ingham

Professional Restoration of an Indian Sandstone Kitchen in Norfolk

Stripping, Cleaning and Sealing a Riven Indian Sandstone Floor in Ingham Read More »

Restoring a Carpet Covered Sandstone Hallway in Carbrooke

1 Comment / Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Watton Tile Cleaning, Work History / Nick White

This was perhaps the most challenging restoration we have been presented with to date.
The work involved removing carpet and underlay from a long Yorkstone tiled hallway at a beautiful old Grange in Carbrooke on the outskirts of Watton and restoring the flagstones to their original glory. These pavers are a type of Sandstone, a carboniferous sedimentary rock consisting of quartz, mica, feldspar, clay and iron oxides quarried in Yorkshire and having a rich sandy colour with a slightly sparkling surface.

On lifting the carpet, we found, to our dismay, that the rubber-backed underlay had been firmly stuck down to the surface of the stone with what appeared to be a thick layer of yellowing impact adhesive which covered the entire area right up to the thresholds and skirting boards.

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Carpet Removed Revealing Underlay

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Underlay Peeled Back Revealing Glue

Stripping Carpet Adhesive off a Sandstone tiled floor

Our first task was to remove as much of the underlay by hand using sharp-bladed scrapers and a heck of a lot of elbow grease. Having done this, the next step was to cover the remaining adhesive layer with a specialist water-based stripper which was applied by brush and allowed to react for an hour. The result was an incredibly sticky substance with the consistency of chewing gum which we had to painstakingly remove inch by inch with paint scrapers. This process had to be repeated twice as even the specialist stripper couldn’t cope with the sheer volume of goo in a single application. The floor was then left overnight to dry out and settle down.

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Applying Stripper

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Scraping Away Softened Glue

The following day, we deep-cleaned the whole area using very strong mix of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and Remove & Go, scrubbed in with a rotary machine fitted with a black stripping pad. Four pads were used up in this process as they quickly became clogged with the thick slurry which was then power rinsed and vacuumed away from the floor. Any remaining patches of the glue were further softened using Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU Remover and carefully picked off by hand with the bladed scrapers.

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Deep Cleaning

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Stone Surface After Deep Cleaning

Finally, the slabs were finished using a brush fitted to the rotary machine with 320 grit honing powder to achieve a smooth, silky and very clean surface before being power rinsed with plenty of clean water. Again, the floor was left to dry thoroughly overnight with the assistance of our large capacity dehumidifier and thermostatic hot air blower.

Sealing a Sandstone tiled floor

Returning the following day, we found that the dehumidifier and heater had done their job and the sandstone was ready for sealing, the moisture content having been brought down to an average of 10% overall as shown by our damp meter testing.

The client had requested a light shine on the floor so that it would be easy to maintain on a daily basis. We chose, therefore, to use Tile Doctor Seal & Go, a combination sealer with a mid-sheen topical finish, which we applied using paint pads and microfibre cloths in five thin coats, resulting in an excellent fluid resistant seal with a lustrous shine.

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Applying Sealer To Edges

Yorkstone Hallway Restoration Carbrooke Finished Floor

This was a tough job but a highly satisfying result, further emphasised when the client’s antique furnishings were placed in situ.

Deep Cleaning and Restoration of a Sandstone Hallway in Norfolk

Restoring a Carpet Covered Sandstone Hallway in Carbrooke Read More »

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Attleborough Tile Cleaning, Barnham Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Cromer Tile Cleaning, Dereham Tile Cleaning, Downham Market Tile Cleaning, Encaustic Cement Tile Cleaning, Fakenham Tile Cleaning, Fireplace Cleaning, Flagstone Tile Cleaning, Great Yarmouth Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Hunstanton Tile Cleaning, King’s Lynn Tile Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Marble Tile Cleaning, Norwich Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Swaffham Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Thetford Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Vinyl Tile Cleaning, Watton Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History, Wroxham Tile Cleaning / Nick White

Norfolk Tile Doctor

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