Terracotta Tile Cleaning Archives

Terracotta Tiled Conservatory Floor Renovation Ashmanhaugh Wroxham

Modern Terracotta Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Ashmanhaugh

Earlier this year I received a message from a homeowner in the small village of Ashmanhaugh near Wroxham about their Terracotta tiled floor. The floor had been installed twelve years prior in a large conservatory sunroom extension and was now in need of a clean and seal.

I went over to survey the floor and could see the Terracotta tiles were modern 30cm tiles. They had been sealed with a topical acrylic sealer after installation, but the finish was now very dull, patchy and worn. It was clear to me that the sealer had worn off on most parts of the floor leaving it porous and exceptionally difficult to mop.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Ashmanhaugh

The grout lines were particularly discoloured mainly due to the use of various wet-look cleaning products used over the years. This type of maintenance product often just serves to glue dirty water into the grout.

I worked out a quote to deep clean the Terracotta tile and Grout and then apply a new sealer that would give the desired finish. My client was happy with the quote and being frustrated with the floor was keen to have it restored to its former self as soon as possible.

Cleaning a Terracotta Tiled Conservatory Sunroom Floor

I returned to the property on the scheduled date and started by cleaning the grout with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove & Go. This was sprayed along the grout line and left to soak in for ten minutes. The product was then scrubbed in with a narrow wire-bristle brush to get the grout as clean as possible.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Cleaning Ashmanhaugh

The whole floor was then cleaned using a Klindex Rocky rotary machine fitted with a Nylon brush attachment to work in a strong 3 to 1 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. This process lifts the dirt and contaminants out of the tile turning the solution black. The floor was then rinsed with more water and the resultant slurry vacuumed away with a high-power industrial wet vacuum.

Next step was to give the floor an Acid Wash using a 10:1 dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up. Doing this has several benefits which include further cleaning the floor including removing grout haze, neutralising the PH level of the floor after the use of alkaline cleaning products and lastly it improves adhesion with the new sealer. This was brushed into the floor, rinsed off with water and then extracted with the wet vacuum.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Acid Washing Ashmanhaugh

The floor was then dried thoroughly with the wet vacuum before being left to dry off overnight, this is particularly important as Terracotta being made of clay is very porous and tends to hold the moisture. The floor needs to be dry before sealing as it can cloud the sealer and result in a patchy finish.

Sealing a Terracotta Tiled Conservatory Sunroom Floor

Work the next day started by confirming the Terracotta was dry and ready to take a sealer. I use a damp meter for this and was able to confirm the moisture readings were acceptable.

Tile Doctor has many different sealers available and in this case Seal & Go was chosen based on the flooring material and desired finish. Seal and Go is a modern sealer containing acrylic polymers and provides a hard-wearing low sheen satin finish that will subtly enhances the natural colour in the Terracotta without the floor being too glossy. Five coats were applied with a 300-gsm split-filament microfibre cloth, each coat was allowed to dry before applying the next.

Terracotta Tiled Floor During Sealing Ashmanhaugh

My client was delighted with the mid-sheen finish and please that the floor would be so much easier to keep clean going forward. On the subject of cleaning, I also recommended our Neutral Tile Cleaner which will keep the floor looking in great condition and will ensure the longevity of the newly applied sealer. It is a pH neutral cleaner so is mild enough to use daily if required.

Terracotta Tiled Floor After Cleaning Sealing Ashmanhaugh

Professional Restoration of a Terracotta Tiled Conservatory Sunroom in Norfolk

Modern Terracotta Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Ashmanhaugh Read More »

Terracotta Tiled Floor Renovation Ostrich Inn South Creake Fakenham

Terracotta Pamment Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed at South Creake Fakenham

1 Comment / Fakenham Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning / Nick White

This Norfolk Pamment tiled floor at the Ostrich Inn, South Creake near Fakenham is a good example of a floor badly contaminated as the result of extensive renovation works. Terracotta pamment clay is a very porous material and will easily absorb fluids and dirt if left unsealed and therefore unprotected.

Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Ostrich Inn South Creake Fakenham

The solution is a topical or surface-finish sealer that will prevent dirt from becoming ingrained in the pores of the tile. The sealer does wear off over time however and once that happens, the tiles become very difficult to keep clean. The same thing happens with the sand and cement pointing lines so it’s very important to maintain the sealer on both the tile and pointing especially in a kitchen environment where spills and therefore staining is more likely to occur.

I visited the property to survey the pamment floor and I could see the whole area, including the pointing, needed a complete strip and deep-clean followed by the application of a fresh combination sealer/acrylic finish. Due to its size and the logistics of furniture moving I could see the work would need to be done in two halves. I explained the process and conducted a small demonstration so they could see the results. Happy to proceed with my renovation plan we scheduled a date for the work to be done a few weeks later.

Stripping & Deep Cleaning a Terracotta Pamment Floor Near Fakenham

Cleaning started by spraying the Pamments with a strong 3:1 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed with a little Tile Doctor HBU Remover to increase its cleaning power. After spraying the mixture onto the tiles and pointing it was left to soak in for around ten minutes, more solution being added periodically to prevent it drying out.

The floor was then scrubbed using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. This process took some time and in all, five litres of Pro-Clean was consumed in the cleaning process. This was really needed to remove the many years of dirt and building work contaminants which had built up on the floor. A wet vacuum was then used to remove the chemicals and resulting slurry.

Pro-Clean is a strong alkaline product so to rebalance the pH level of the floor it was then given a thorough rinse with a solution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up. I like to do this as I don’t want anything affecting the curing of the new sealer later.

Sealing a Terracotta Pamment Floor near Fakenham

The floor was left to dry out overnight and a digital moisture meter was used the following morning to check it was dry. The results were fine and so I proceeded to apply the first of what would be five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which is a water-based acrylic sealer that adds a subtle sheen finish.

Terracotta Tiled Floor After Renovation Ostrich Inn South Creake Fakenham

As it was a fairly large floor area it took five litres of the sealer to treat the whole floor and in total, we spent four days at the property. Satisfyingly, the clients were absolutely staggered and delighted with the results we had achieved with a floor they thought was beyond rescue.

For maintenance cleaning I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is a pH neutral tile cleaning product which can be used daily if required. It’s a highly effective cleaning product with a pleasant fragrance and it won’t strip the tiles of the newly applied sealer like most strong household cleaners do. It’s also very concentrated so a small amount goes a long way and a small bottle should last a fair while.

Renovating Terracotta Pamment Floor Tiles in Norfolk

Terracotta Pamment Floor Deep Cleaned and Sealed at South Creake Fakenham Read More »

Yellow Clay Tiled Floor Before After Restoration Tacolneston

Renovating a Yellow Clay Tiled Floor in Tacolneston Village

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Norwich Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Work History / Nick White

We were contacted by a client who had bought an extensive grade 2 listed property in the village of Tacolneston which they had been renovating gradually. One of the last items on the list was the Yellow clay tiled floor which was laid throughout the large Kitchen and Dining Room and had been sadly neglected over the years.

Although I was unsure of their history these tiles were very similar to Terracotta so I was confident they would respond well to cleaning. The main issue for the client however was that the dark Grey grout lines which were deeply recessed from the surface of the tile and made walking across the floor in bare feet extremely uncomfortable.

Yellow Clay Floor Tiles Before Cleaning Tacolneston

Our original plan was to deep-clean the floor, then key-into the grout with a diamond blade multitool along the grout lines, back fill with additional grout and then seal the floor with a with an acrylic finish sealer that wouldn’t leave the floor too shiny. Things didn’t quite turn out to be quite that straightforward, however.

Cleaning and Re-Grouting a Yellow Clay Tiled Floor

The initial deep-clean was done using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted to a strong 2:1 ratio with hot water and then scrubbed into the floor with a rotary machine fitted firstly with a black nylon stripping pad to clean the tile surface followed by a medium grade nylon brush to get down into the recessed grout lines. The resulting slurry was then power rinsed and extracted away with a Ninja machine.

The surface of the clay tiles had cleaned very well but it quickly became obvious that the grout wasn’t grey at all but was the colour of a typical sand and cement pointing mix; the dark colour was actually a thick layer of grease and dirt which had become trapped in the grout line recess, probably due to many years of ineffective mopping. The pointing mix was clearly very old and had become soft and broken up in most areas across the whole floor.

With this in mind our next job was to remove as much of the loose, powdery pointing as possible with a diamond-bladed multitool. In the end we found that all the pointing had to be taken out completely in order to successfully repoint the floor and provide a consistent appearance. This took some time to do and once removed the and all the remnants vacuumed up, we proceeded to repoint the floor with a flexible and water-resistant limestone-coloured grout which had been chosen by the client.

Yellow Clay Floor Tiles During Grouting Tacolneston

Yellow Clay Floor Tiles During Grout Haze Removal Tacolneston

The following day, we returned to remove the grout haze left on the surface of the tiles during repointing and to prepare the floor for sealing by treating the floor to an acidic wash with a solution of Tile Doctor Acid Gel.

Sealing a Yellow Clay Tiled Floor

We left the new grouting to cure fully and returned two days later to apply a sealer which will protect the floor going forward and provide the desired finish. Before doing this the floor was visually inspected and the moisture content of the tiles and grout measured with a damp meter to ensure it had dried. The readings were low and although the building was very old it meant we would still be able to use a combination sealer with acrylic finish as we had originally hoped.

Yellow Clay Floor Tiles After Cleaning Tacolneston

As the client didn’t want the resulting appearance to be too “shiny”, we chose to use Tile Doctor Seal & Go which would give an excellent fluid resistant seal to both tile and grout with a mid-sheen finish. This was applied by hand in five coats which resulted in a very pleasing soft look across the whole floor.

Yellow Clay Floor Tiles Cleaned Grouted Sealed Tacolneston

The client was extremely pleased with what we had achieved and left the following testimonial:
“We could not be happier with the result! From embarrassing black grout and years of footfall damage, Nick and Sally have transformed our kitchen and dining room terracotta tiles into a thing of beauty! Many thanks for all your hard work and extra hours put in, I will be recommending your services to everyone :)”

Professional Restoration of a Yellow Clay Tiled Floor in Norfolk

Renovating a Yellow Clay Tiled Floor in Tacolneston Village Read More »