Travertine Tile Cleaning Archives - South London Tile Doctor

Travertine Kitchen Floor Before After Sealing Sanderstead

Renovating Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles in Sanderstead

This customer, who lives in Sanderstead located between Croydon and Purley in Surrey had been experiencing difficulties in keeping her beautiful Travertine tiled kitchen floor in good condition. Over the years it had suffered from a heavy build up of dirt and oily stains, not to mentioned a number of cracks and small holes. Needless to say, the customer was keen to have the Travertine tiles and grout renovated and made easier to keep clean.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Sanderstead

Restoring Travertine Flooring

To begin the renovation, I applied Tile Doctor Remove and Go across the entirety of the large tiled area. This heavy duty remover breaks down any old sealers and other coatings, leaving the area ready to cleaned or, in this case, burnished.

Burnishing is a method for cleaning and polishing certain types of high-end stone, including Travertine, Marble, and Limestone. Our burnishing system involves the application of four diamond encrusted pads of varying grits. Firstly, I applied the Coarse grit pad, which helps to break down any dirt and stains on the surface of the tiles. Then, I worked my way through the Medium, Fine, and Very Fine pads, using a little water which acts to lubricate the process gradually building the polish on the Travertine. The floor is rinsed with water between the application of each pad to remove the soil that is generated and also give a final rinse at the end before leaving to dry.

To round off the first day of work, I filled any cracks and holes in the Travertine using a colour matching resin which greatly improved the look of the tile.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Cracked Tile Before Repair Sanderstead

Travertine Kitchen Floor Cracked Tile After Repair Sanderstead

Sealing Travertine Tiles

The following day I returned to the property to seal the tiles checking first that the floor had dried. I use a moisture meter to do this and it confirmed the floor was dry so I proceeded to seal the floor using our colour intensifying impregnating sealer Tile Doctor Colour Grow. Once that was dry, I added the finishing touches by buffing the floor with a soft white buffing pad. As you can see from the photographs, the combination of a fresh seal and polish worked wonders.

Travertine Kitchen Floor After Sealing Sanderstead

We did such a good job with the floor that the customer asked if we could also improve the appearance of their natural stone fireplace which was suffering from bad rust and oil stains however I do a separate write up on that.

Cracked Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Fully Restored in Surrey

Renovating Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles in Sanderstead Read More »

Honed Travertine Kensington Before and After

Honed Travertine Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Kensington

1 Comment / Battersea Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

I was asked to clean and reseal this Honed Travertine flooring in Kensington, London which ran through the ground floor area and to a small area in the basement. The floor had been laid nine years prior and had only had regular washing by the housekeeper and was now overdue a deep clean and re-seal..

Honed Travertine Kensington Before Cleaning

Deep Cleaning Travertine Tiles

It was a large area so it was necessary to work in sections which had the added complication of having to move the customer’s furniture around.

With each area I scrubbed the floor with a rotary machine fitted with a medium brush head and a hot 3:1 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. I scrubbed it in and left it for 10 minutes before scrubbing again then vacuumed it away with a wet vac. I then checked all the grout lines were clean in case the brush head had missed any.

Next I fitted a pad holder to the rotary machine and using a medium grade burnishing pad scrubbed the area again, I then followed this up with the fine grade pad to build a nice sheen on the stone to match the customers’ requirements.

Honed Travertine Kensington After Cleaning

During the cleaning process it became evident that some of the Travertine tiles had holes in them, it’s possible they had been this way when supplied but it’s also possible that they had been worn through by the use of an acidic cleaning solution. so after once the tiles were cleaned and polished I filled in the holes with a matching filler.

Sealing Travertine Floor Tiles

The next step was to seal the Travertine to protect it from future staining and for this I used Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer that occupies the pores in the stone. In total I had to use three coats on sealer on the stone due to its porosity. I finally buffed the floor using a white soft buffing pad; this was to take off any seal left sitting on the surface of the stone and helps to work it in.

Honed Travertine Kensington After Sealing

In total it took four days to do this job and the customer was really happy with the result and left a very nice testimonial on the Tile Doctor website.

Travertine Floor Cleaned, Polished and Sealed in Kensington

Honed Travertine Tiled Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Kensington Read More »

Travertine Tiled Floor Diamond Polished in Surbiton

1 Comment / Travertine Tile Cleaning, Wimbledon Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

I recently carried out a clean and diamond polish of a Travertine tiled floor in Surbiton for a customer who had been fed up with the floor since she and her husband had moved in 2 years ago. The floor was the last job on their list of things to be done and they wanted to make sure that it was done properly as unfortunately in the past they have fallen prey to unscrupulous tradesmen who had not lived up to expectations.

When I was asked to quote I explained what I would do and showed pictures of previous work, and also my Trustmark Accreditation. They had also researched my work through my website and through the work history where there are lots of examples of Travertine tiles I have worked on in the past. I received the work order the next day and booked the job in for three weeks after.

Stripping and Polishing Travertine Tiles

I arrived at the agreed date and time and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had put sheeting around all of their kitchen units and skirting so all I had to protect was the wooden flooring next to the travertine.

Travertine Floor Surbiton Before Cleaning

My first job was to scrub the floors Using Tile Doctor Pro Clean to get rid of any ingrained dirt and clean the grout, the soiled cleaning solution was then removed using a wet vacuum and we moved onto burnishing the stone. This is done using a rotary scrubbing machine fitted with a coarse diamond encrusted burnishing pad and a little water began to strip off the old dirt and seal from the floor, the resulting slurry was then removed using a wet vacuum. The burnishing pads come in a set of four so once we were done with the coarse pad we moved on to the Medium pad which is the first step in the polishing process.

At this point I could see more work was required to improve the grout which was done using a combination of pressurised steam, more Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a stiff brush. Once I had removed all the dirt and old seal from the grout I went on to the next stage of polishing and used the fine pad finally moving on to the extra fine pad to give the floor that extra deep shine.

Sealing Travertine Floor Tiles

Once the floor was dry we set about sealing it using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer designed to provide maximum stain protection on natural stone floors whilst bringing out the colour in the stone. After the second coat was applied I waited 10 minutes before buffing any excess residue with a white buffing pad.

I offered the customer the option of creating a higher shine by applying Tile Doctor Shine Powder to give it a mirror polish but she declined as she was more than happy with the finish. Overall the floor came out really well and I found it quite a humbling experience as she was constantly saying thank you due to the fact that she had been messed about by previous contractors so was quite relieved to find someone who could actually do the job properly.

Travertine Floor Cleaned, Polished and Sealed in Surbiton

Travertine Tiled Floor Diamond Polished in Surbiton Read More »

Travertine Tiled Kitchen floor in Mitcham

1 Comment / Travertine Tile Cleaning, Wimbledon Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

I was recently asked to visit a customer with a Travertine Tiled Kitchen floor in Mitcham South London who had spilt a strong cleaning product on the Travertine Tiles. Due to the litigious nature of the wold in which we live I can’t name the product in this post but I can tell you it’s advertised on the TV as a wonder cleaner, unfortunately acidic products like this one will eat into the sealer and with frequent use cause holes to appear in natural stone. Fearing that he had ruined them I checked the floor over and assured him I could make his tiles look as good as new.

Cleaning Travertine Tile

I used the diamond encrusted burnishing pad system starting with the red pad and water to clean the tiles and remove any topical sealers that may have been present. This was continued with the white and yellow pads using nothing but water and then with a stiff grout cleaning brush and a weak solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines to make sure all the grout was thoroughly cleaned. Last step of the cleaning process was to rinse the floor of any dirt picked up by the pads and then when the floor was dry I used a green polishing pad to add a shine to the floor.

Sealing Travertine Tile

To protect the travertine it was sealed using a single coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer which brings out the natural colour in stone. Once it was all dry again I buffed it up again but used a soft white buffing pad. As you can see by the photos the tiles look great and I have one very grateful customer who said they look better than when they were first laid.

Travertine Tiled Kitchen floor in Mitcham

Travertine Tiled Kitchen floor in Mitcham Read More »

Travertine Tiled floor in Gerrards Cross

1 Comment / Putney Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

I had a phone call a few weeks ago from a lady in Gerrards Cross to come and clean her large Travertine tiled floors prior to her renting out a property. I had actually carried out this job for her four years ago and she was really pleased with the service we provided and had therefore asked me come back. Thinking back four years is a long time between floor polishes so we certainly did a good job on the floor the first time.

Maintaining Travertine Tiles

Travertine is a very hard stone which required the surface to be cut back before polishing, to do this we make use of a diamond encrusted burnishing pad system which is supplied in a set of four pads each one having a different purpose. We started with a Red pad first together with a little water and this strips dirt and old sealers from the floor, this is followed with the White, Yellow and finally Green pad which doesn’t required the use of any water. As you progress through the pads you find the polish is restored and you get a deep shine in the surface of the tile.

Sealing Travertine Tile

To protect the floor from stains it was sealed with a single coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing sealer that brings out the colours in natural stone. Once the sealer was dry it was buffed using a white buffing pad to make sure that I hadn’t left any residues from the seal.

Once again the lady was really pleased with our work and promised to call the next time the property was to be let out again, but next time she wants me to do the carpets and the patio areas as well.

Travertine tiled floor maintained in Gerrards Cross

Travertine Tiled floor in Gerrards Cross Read More »

Kitchen Travertine Tiled floor cleaning in Mortlake

Putney Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

We recently cleaned and sealed a small Travertine floor in a kitchen for a customer in Mortlake near Richmond upon Thames in Surrey. To be fair the floor wasn’t that bad, it was just a bit dirty because the customer had been told to use a steamer to clean the floor which was bad advice as the heat from the steam was breaking down the sealer and resulting in the tiles getting dirty.

Cleaning Travertine Kitchen Tile

I first applied a 50/50 mix of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and Nanotech Ultra Clean leaving it to dwell on the tile for 15 minutes before scrubbing it in with a rotary Machine fitted with a brush head. Once I was satisfied the floor was clean it was thoroughly rinsed with clean water. The dirty solution removed using a wet vacuum and then left it to dry overnight.

Sealing Travertine Tile

The next day the floor had dried and we proceeded to seal it using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which as well as providing a good level of stain protection also brings out the natural colours in the stone. I always use a water test to determine if the right about of sealer has been applied, very simply you drop a small amount of water onto the stone and if it forms a bubble on the surface it’s sealed.

Before I left I provided the customer with a proper maintenance plan for the floor, and expect a call in around a years’ time to come and do a deep clean and seal. The customer was delighted with the results and said the floor looked better than when they had it laid.

Resolving Travertine steam cleaning problems in Surrey

Kitchen Travertine Tiled floor cleaning in Mortlake Read More »

Travertine Wall Tile Shower Refresh in Wandsworth

Travertine Tile Cleaning, Wandsworth Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

These travertine wall tiles were laid in a brick pattern in a large shower cubicle in a house in Wandsworth, South London. As you can see the tiles hadn’t been cleaned for a couple of years and had become discoloured from the shampoo dyes etc, there was also some mould which is a common problem in wet areas and usually down to insufficient ventilation. The owner wanted to sell her house and was keen to get the shower looking like new again.

Cleaning Travertine Wall Tiles

We cleaned the Travertine wall tiles using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. It’s always best to leave Pro-Clean to dwell for a few minutes before cleaning so it can get to work on the dirt, as you would expect however liquids will simply run down a wall tile so the trick here is to apply the solution using a spray attachment; the idea behind this is to combine the product with air so it becomes lighter and sticks to the tile. Then next step is to get in with a small stiff scrubbing brush and really work the solution into the tile and grout and loosening the dirt along the way and the wash the wall down with water to remove any cleaning products.

Sealing the Travertine Wall Tiles

The wall was wiped down and allowed to dry for before applying the sealer. There are a number of products you can use for sealing Travertine and in this case I used Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which provides stain protection without changing the appearance of the tile. The last step was to remove and replace the silicone seal between the Travertine tile and the shower tray, there was some mould build up on the original silicone which wants it gets a hold into the silicone it cannot be removed and so it’s always best to replace. At the end I had one happy customer and I think you will agree I achieved the aim of making it look like new again.

Wandsworth Travertine Shower Refresh

Travertine Wall Tile Shower Refresh in Wandsworth Read More »

=================================

Battersea Tile Cleaning, Brixton Tile Cleaning, Caterham Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Cheam Tile Cleaning, Clapham Tile Cleaning, Croydon Tile Cleaning, Encaustic Cement Tile Cleaning, Epsom Tile Cleaning, Fireplace Cleaning, Flagstone Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Marble Tile Cleaning, Peckham Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning, Purley Tile Cleaning, Putney Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Vinyl Tile Cleaning, Wandsworth Tile Cleaning, Wimbledon Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Daniel

South London Tile Doctor

================================= Read More »