Quarry Tile Cleaning

Details below of a Quarry tiled floor renovation in the kitchen of a holiday cottage in Caeathro which is a small village close to Caernarfon. This work was before the whole of Wales was put on lockdown due to the Coronavirus and my client had bookings for the upcoming holiday season so the wanted the floor renovating in time for their next guests.

Having discussed the floor over the phone I went over to the property to carry out a survey of the floor so I could fully understand the issues and provide a quote for the work. I’m glad I went over, as during the test clean, I discovered the quarry tiles appeared to have been covered previously by a few layers of wax polish which can be tricky to remove. Additionally, there were quite a few tiles that were broken and would need replacing.

I managed to work out the best way of removing the wax and cleaning up the floor and provided a quote for stripping, repairing and then resealing. My client was happy to go ahead with my quote and we booked the work in for the next available date, being a holiday cottage, the property was empty so all we needed was the key.

Cleaning/Repairing a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

The first job was to repair the floor which was in quite a state. We removed the broken tiles and replaced with matching tiles that fortunately I already had available. Being a Tile Doctor, you tend to end up with a collection of tiles which you know will come in handy at some point. A fast setting flexible tile adhesive was used to set the new tiles in place which allowed us to quickly move onto cleaning the floor shortly after lunch.

Tile Doctor have a solution for every tile problem and in this case, we applied a strong solution of Tile Doctor Wax Away which as its name suggests was made for the job and ideal for this situation. It was left to soak for fifteen minutes to break down the wax before being scrubbed into the tiles with a buffing machine fitted with a black stripping pad.

The floor was rinsed, and the slurry extracted with a wet vacuum. The floor was then inspected, and I could see another treatment would be required to ensure all the wax had been removed. When renovating a tiled floor, it is important to remove any old coatings and strip the surface back to the tile, if this is not done properly it will result in a patchy appearance later.

Once the remains of the wax had been removed from the floor, the floor was washed with a mild dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left to soak into the tiles and then scrubbed in as before. The soil was then rinsed off with water and removed by wet vacuum.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

The floor was left to dry overnight, and I returned the next morning to seal the quarry tiles. As usual I tested the floor first with a damp meter to make sure it was dry and ready for sealing. I was happy that the moisture readings were within range so we could go ahead.

The floor was sealed with five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next. This sealer is recommended for quarry tiles and adds a nice low sheen to the floor, without making it too shiny. Seal and Go is also water based so its doesn’t leave a smell as it dries making it much nicer to work with.

The client called in to the property later in the day, after we had left and called to confirm they were very happy with the end result. Hopefully, they will be able to result lettings soon and get some return on their investment.

 

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in North Wales