Putney 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

Restoring the Appearance of a Marble Coffee Tabletop in Putney Read More »

Victorian Tiled Floor Covered by Paint Restored to New in Putney

For whatever reason, property owners do sometimes decide to cover up their tiled floors, whether by using something like linoleum or, in some cases, simply painting over the area. Personally I blame that BBC TV series Changing Rooms for some of these disasters and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to blame for what had occurred at this flat in Putney which believe it or not is an ancient parish that was historically part of Surrey as opposed to London.

The property owners had re-converted the building from two converted flats back into a single dwelling. However, the previous tenants of the bottom flat had decided to paint over the Victorian tiled floor in their section.

Victorian Floor Restoration Putney Before Paint Removal

Naturally the new owners wanted to have this paint covering removed, and for the Victorian tiles to be restored back to looking their best after a long time of being hidden. Here’s how I did it.

Removing Paint from a Victorian Tiled Floor

To remove the layer of paint from the surface of the tiles, I needed to use a solvent remover product specifically designed to remove paints, this was applied liberally to the affected area and left to dwell.

While the solvent remover was working its magic, I set about cleaning the remainder of the tiled area using Tile Doctor Remove & Go. Remove & Go also contains properties designed to break down solvents, as well as adhesives, along with any old sealer remaining on the tiles. This also helped to lift away any trapped dirt.

I then scraped off the top layer coat of paint and was left with a grey undercoat. To lift this out of the tiles and grout I used Remove & Go in combination with a steamer. The heat of the steamer helped to strip away the excess paint, making removal a much easier process.

Victorian Floor Restoration Putney During Paint Removal

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor

After leaving the area to dry for a full five days, I returned to the property to reseal the tiles.

My choice of sealer was Tile Doctor Seal & Go, which is a water-based blend of acrylic polymers designed to provide both a stain resistant surface seal and a long-lasting low-sheen finish. It is suitable for use on most kinds of unsealed, porous surfaces, including Slate, Quarry and Sandstone but works really well on Victorian tiled floors.

Victorian Floor Putney After Restoration

The photo below shows the before and after results of the work, with no traces of the paint covering remaining on the tiles. It is a wonder why someone would choose to cover up such a fantastic Victorian patterned floor, but needless to say my client was very happy with what is for all intents and purposes a brand new feature for their property.

Putney