london Archives - South London Tile Doctor

Acid Damaged Marble Tabletop Renovated in Putney

Restoring the Appearance of a Marble Coffee Tabletop in Putney

1 Comment / Marble Tile Cleaning / Daniel

The photographs below are from a client in Putney, and show what will happen to a Polished Marble tabletop if you try and clean it with Viakal. Marble is made from calcium and magnesium carbonate which makes it acid sensitive, Viakal on the other hand is an acid cleaner blended from Formic and Citric acids resulting in a pH level of 2.2. This product uses the acid to dissolve the calcium and magnesium deposits in Limescale.

Acid Etched Polished Marble Table Before Renovation Putney

To be fair to Viakal the label does state not to use it on natural stone, but who reads the label, certainly my clients cleaner hadn’t. The result was the acid had etched the lovely, polished Marble surface and it appeared to be ruined.

I was happy to re-assure my client that the etching could be removed, however, to do this the table would need to be burnished with a set of diamond pads of different grades. This process cuts into the stone with a coarse pad to remove the etching and then slowly builds back the polished appearance using finer grades of pad. The table was very heavy however so the work would need to be done on-site.

Polishing a Marble Tabletop

Due to the weight of the stone table, it couldn’t really be moved so my first job was to relocate nearby furniture, roll up the rug and cover everything in blankets and a drop cloth. The last thing I wanted was any other possessions getting splashed during the burnishing process.

When polishing Marble floor tiles, I would normally use large 17-inch diamond pads fitted to a rotary floor buffer, however that simply wouldn’t work on a table, so I ordered a set of 6-inch burnishing pads from Tile Doctor instead. These smaller pads fit nicely on a hand-held buffer that would be perfect for this situation.

The burnishing process involves working through the pads in sequence. I started with the coarse 100, 200 and then 400-grit pads applied with a little water, these coarse pads were able to remove the etching and ingrained dirt. The table was rinsed down and then the 800-grit medium pad was applied which is the first step in the polishing process. Again, this pad is applied with water to lubricate, and the table was rinsed down afterwards.

Acid Etched Polished Marble Table During Renovation Putney

The process was repeated with the 1500-grit fine pad and then the 3000-grit very fine pad to bring up a really nice shine to the Marble table, I should mention the last pad is applied dry with only a tiny amount of water sprayed onto the surface.

Sealing a Marble Table

The last step was to seal the stone to protect it going forward. I used Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal for this, it’s an oil-based impregnator and I figured the oil in the sealer would mask any marks that I wouldn’t be able to remove, however I actually ended up removing all the etching so the sealer just gave the stone a really nice colour and gloss.

Acid Etched Polished Marble Table After Renovation Putney

My customer was very pleased with the work and said that the table looked better than it ever had before. NB. For the aftercare cleaning of a polished Marble coffee table like this I recommend the use of Tile Doctor Stone Patina Spray which has been especially formulated for the regular cleaning of stone worktops.

Professional Restoration of a Marble Tabletop in South London

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Indian Sandstone Patio Floor Transformation in Chiswick

Indian Sandstone Patio Transformed in Chiswick

1 Comment / Sandstone Tile Cleaning / Daniel

This Indian Sandstone patio renovation was completed in Chiswick during the summer. I thought I would share it with as there was ten years of lichen and grime built-up on the stone that needed removing. Also, patio cleaning is not something that people generally associate with Tile Doctor but the fact is our stone cleaning equipment works just as well outdoors as it does in (weather permitting) so it is something we do.

Indian Sandstone Patio Before Renovation Chiswick

Indian Sandstone is a very beautiful stone and looks great when its clean, however outside it will soon degrade due to the weather and really needs to be maintained annually to keep it looking at its best. As mentioned earlier this patio had not been touched for ten years and due to the surrounding trees and other vegetation it was badly stained with dirt, algae and lichen turning everything dark.

This project was a difficult one to quote for as you never know what your going to find under all that dirt so I had to set the customers’ expectations accordingly

Deep Cleaning an Indian Sandstone Patio in Chiswick

Cleaning started by pressure washing the stone and mortar to dislodge as much muck and grime as possible and reveal the stone underneath. It was a large patio but fortunately I have a professional high-pressure machine that cuts through the dirt very effectively.

With the soiling removed the next step was to remove ingrained dirt and blackspots from the Sandstone. To do this a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Patio Cleaner was sprayed on to the stone and left to soak in for about forty minutes and agitated with a brush.

I find dwell time is essential for this product so it’s worth experimenting with longer times If needed. This product is very strong and really designed for professional use so If your using it yourself do read the label to make sure its compatible with the stone and do wear protection.

Once done the patio was rinsed with hot water (circa 70 degrees) and the soiling removed with a wet vacuum. It was then inspected and any stubborn stains re-treated.

Indian Sandstone Patio After Renovation Chiswick

This process took a whole day to complete and I managed to get the Indian Sandstone paving incredibly clean. The subtle colours of the stone paving were really evident and made a massive transformation from the original.

Restoration of an Indian Sandstone Patio in London

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Slate Tiled Floor in Marylebone, London

Battersea Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

The customer was an American lady who lived in a flat in Marylebone right in the centre of London; she worked in the City and had the slate tiles in her kitchen cleaned and sealed by another company the year before and she had not been impressed with the results.

I had provided a quote and did a small demonstration on the floor to give her an idea of how the finished result would look; having been unhappy with the previous company we had to work hard to win her confidence but the demo combined with photographs and testimonials from previous work that we had done managed to assure her we could complete the job to the right standard.

Cleaning the Slate Tiled Floor

Having turned up at 7am so that she could get to work we set about scrubbing the slate tiled floor with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a rotary machine fitted with a black pad, we used a grout brush to clean out the grout lines and then rinsed the floor thoroughly with clean water before switching on a air blower to help the floor to dry.

Sealing the Slate Tiled Floor

Once the floor was dry we proceeded to seal it with Tile Doctor Seal and Go which provides good stain protection with a low sheen finish, slate is quite porous and it took five coats before it was fully sealed.

That night I received a call from the lady thanking me for such a good job and not only was she pleased with the work but we were half the price of the original company.

Cleaning and Sealing a Slate Tiled Floor in Marylebone, London

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