quarry tiles Archives - South London Tile Doctor

Vinyl Covered Quarry Tiled Floor Restoration Cheam

Vinyl Covered Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Cheam

1 Comment / Cheam Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Daniel

The owner of this property in the South London suburb of Cheam got in touch about restoring a Quarry tiled floor that had been covered with Vinyl tiles. After surveying the floor, it became clear that some of the original Quarry tiled floor was missing and had been replaced with concrete before covering with Vinyl.

Vinyl Covered Quarry Tiled Floor Before Restoration Cheam

To fully restore the Quarry tiles floor, it would therefore be necessary to dig out the concrete sections and tile with matching quarry tiles which had been supplied by the client. Once done we would then need to renovate both the old and the new sections of floor and seal them to achieve a consistent appearance. I was also asked to dig out an old matwell and prepare it for a new mat as part of the work.

This was a large job, but following a site visit I was able to provide my client with an accurate price and arranged a time to carry the work out which would take five days.

Removing Vinyl Tiles

The first part of the job was to lift the existing Vinyl tiles which had been laid on top of the Quarry tiles. I used a heat gun to help loosen the adhesive and then assisted with a steamer scrubbed Tile Doctor HBU Nanotech stripper into the floor to remove the glue and bitumen from the surface of the newly exposed Quarry tiles.

Vinyl Covered Quarry Tiled Floor During Restoration Cheam

Restoring the Appearance of a Quarry Tiled Floor

The soiled solution was extracted with a wet vacuum and I followed up by giving the Quarry tiles an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Acid Gel. The Gel is applied to the tiles and then scrubbed in with a Black pad fitted to a rotary machine. This process removes old traces of cement and grout from the quarry tiles and further cleans them up. After this the floor was rinsed thoroughly and the soil extracted with a wet vacuum.

The next focus was on digging out the concrete areas mentioned earlier and then preparing the subfloor for tiling with self-levelling compound, which of course needs time to set. Once ready the replacement tiles were fixed in place making cuts as necessary and placing them to follow the original floor pattern. This may sound quite this sound straight forward, but this part of the job took some time to complete. The floor was left for a couple of days so the new tiles could set and the whole area could dry out before sealing.

Vinyl Covered Quarry Tiled Floor After Cleaning Cheam

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Hallway Floor

I returned later to seal all the Quarry tiles with Tile Doctor Colour Grow which brings out the deep Orange colours in the tiles whilst adding protection from staining and ingrained dirt. This sealer works by occupying the pores in the tile so dirt cannot become ingrained there. Four coats of sealer where applied across the whole floor leaving a nice matt finish that was consistent across the whole floor.

Vinyl Covered Quarry Tiled Floor After Sealing Cheam

Before leaving I discussed with the client the best way to maintain the floor in the future and recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a pH neutral cleaner. This is important as its gentle enough to use frequently and won’t strip off the newly applied sealer like many household floor cleaners will. Its supplied in concentrated form so a small amount of cleaner goes a long way.

The client was delighted with the results, they were very pleased to see the back of the tired Vinyl floor and pleased the floor now looked consistent throughout.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Hallway in South London

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Painted Quarry Tiled Porch Floor Restored in South Croydon

1 Comment / Croydon Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

I thought you might find this Quarry tiled floor restoration from a property in South Croydon interesting, especially considering the transformation that we were able to achieve. The Quarry Tiles were in a covered porch at the front of the property and the previous owners had painted them with red tile paint several times and they had also become stained from other decoration work. They were now in a neglected state and really needed to be stripped of paint and restored.

Quarry Tiled Porch Before Restoration South Croydon

Removing Paint from Quarry Tiles

To get the red paint off the Quarry tiles, Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU Remover was applied to the floor and left to dwell and soak into the tile and grout for about twenty minutes. HBU stands for Heavy Build-Up and is a strong product that utilised small Nano sized abrasive particles to remove floor coatings. There were a number of layers of paint that needed removing so a scouring pad was used to work the product into the floor.

Quarry Tiled Porch During Restoration South Croydon

As you can imagine that paint didn’t want to come off easily, so it took several attempts before the Quarry tiles were completely clean. After each application the floor was given a thorough rinse to remove any trace of product and the soil removed with a wet vacuum.

Grout Renovation with a Charcoal Grout Colourant

When we eventually cleaned everything off, we found the grout had absorbed the paint in places leaving a patchy appearance. Removing and replacing the grout would take a long time so I suggested to the owner that we Colour Seal the grout lines using a Charcoal Grey Grout Colourant. The colourant is basically painted onto the grout with a small brush and when it hardens it forms a protective barrier over the grout and would give a consistent appearance. The process is quite quick and given then grout lines had already been given a good scrub the colourant should achieve a good bond. The owner was happy to for us to proceed and I think you will agree we achieved a very good result.

Sealing Porch Quarry Tiles

The floor was left to dry out for a few days and we returned to finish the restoration by sealing the tiles in order to protect them from future staining and also make them easier to clean. I used an impregnating colour enhancing sealer called Tile Doctor Colour Grow for this purpose and I think you will agree the floor looks much improved.

My customer was delighted with the final result and left the following review on our website.

“My small hall floor proved to be a challenge but couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Very professional service throughout. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.
Helen B, South Croydon.”

Quarry Tiles Restored in South London

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Quarry Tiled Floor Before and After Renovation Coulsdon

Screed Covered Quarry Tiled Floor Renovated in Coulsdon

1 Comment / Purley Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

Pictures below of a Quarry Tiled floor that a customer had discovered when taking up the lino at her house in Coulsdon. Realising the floor was original and worth saving she contacted Tile Doctor and I popped round to take a look.

A lot of the tiles had been covered in a screed to provide a flat base for the Lino and that would need removing. In order to be sure what treatments would work to remove the screen and successfully restore the Quarry tiles without causing any damage I ran a couple of tests and everything seemed ok.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Renovation Coulsdon

We could both see the job wasn’t going to be easy and would take some days to complete so I worked out a price which was accepted and we agreed a date for the work to start.

Removing Screed from Quarry Tiles

The Quarry tiles in the WC hadn’t been covered in Lino so they would just need a good clean and seal so the main work would be in the Hallway and Kitchen. Fortunately my customer was having a lot of other work done in the house and was in the middle of stripping the walls so I didn’t need to worry too much about protecting the skirting boards etc.

Working in sections I soaked the screed in water and then carefully chipped away at it until it came loose, it was slow work but I could see the process was working as expected and eventually all the Quarry tiles were revealed. There was still a lot of cement from the screed stuck to the surface of the tile so after sweeping up the chippings I set to work applying a strong solution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up to the tiles and leaving it to soak in for a short while. Grout Clean-Up is an acidic product that we normally use for removing grout smears from the surface of tiles. The solution was scrubbed in and then rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Quarry Tiled Floor During Renovation Coulsdon

To get the tiles in the toilet clean I gave them a good scrub with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a reliable and effective Tile and Grout cleaner. Once clean they were rinsed with water and dried with the wet vacuum.

Sealing Quarry Tiles

I had timed my visit between working being carried out at the property so I was able to leave the floor for a few days so it could thoroughly dry out. I returned later to check the Quarry tiles were dry and completed the renovation by sealing the floor with Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is a water based sealer that works really well on Quarry tiles. Five coats of Seal and Go were needed to fully seal the tiles and the floor now looks transformed.

The owner was very satisfied with the improvements and before leaving I advised to cover the floor before starting the decorating work.

Old Quarry Tiles Restored in Coulsdon, Surrey

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Quarry Tiled Hallway Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Brixton

1 Comment / Clapham Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

These photographs are from a Quarry Tile Cleaning job we did for a lady in Brixton recently, as you can see from the early pictures they were not only dirty but there was also evidence of an old sealer and splashes of paint on them as well both of which would have to be removed first.

Cleaning Hallway Quarry Tiles

The first task we did on arrival was to disconnect her cooker and washing machine which were placed outside in the garden, this would allow us to get at all the tiled areas and also meant there was less to protect.

Working in small sections the next step was to pre-wet the floor tiles followed by adding a dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go combined 50/50 with Nanotech UltraClean, these two products combine to make a powerful cleaner/stripper that’s safe to use on tile. The cleaning solution was left to soak into the tile whilst we set up all of our equipment and added protective coverings to the kitchen units, walls and adjoining floors.

After about forty five minutes we re-wet the areas and hand scrubbed the tiles using scouring pads. This process was repeated covering small areas at a time until the kitchen was finished. We then used our scrubbing machine with a medium brush head fitted and thoroughly rinsed the floor to remove any trace of chemical.

We needed the floor dry for sealing so a couple of Turbo blowers we setup to force dry the floor and this took a couple of hours before my moisture meter told me that the floor was dry enough.

Sealing Hallway Quarry Tiles

After discussing sealer choices with the customer it was decided to seal the floor with Tile Doctor Colour Grow which provides a natural finish whilst lifting the natural colours in the tile. Two coats were sufficient and once it had dried we refitted the cooker and washing machine, put all the plinths back and removed all of our protective coverings.

The lady was really pleased with our work and left the following testimonial.

“Bill did a fantastic job on my kitchen floor, I can’t thank him enough. Mrs Scott, Brixton”

Quarry Tile Kitchen Floor Before and After

Quarry Tile Renovation in Brixton

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Quarry Tiled Hallway Floor Cleaned and Sealed in Wallington

Croydon Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

The owner of this house wanted her hallway quarry tiles renovating, someone had varnished them around 15 years previously and were now overdue a good clean and seal.

Cleaning Hallway Quarry Tiles

The first step was to scrub in a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. However this only managed to remove some of the varnish and so I next applied Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a much stronger product designed for stripping coatings from floors. The process I used was to apply Remove and Go in sections leaving it to dwell for a hour and then scrubbing it with a brush. I rinsed the floor down to reveal a few stubborn spots that needed some further work and then washed the floor down again before leaving it for the evening to dry.

Sealing Hallway Quarry Tiles

We returned the next day and began to seal the floor using six coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which leaves a nice deep low sheen on the tile surface as well as providing stain protection. The owner was extremely happy with the result and left the feedback below.

“Very professional, worked continuously. A joy to have 2 men working in the house who conversed quietly with no unpleasant language! A superb job done on our (more than 100 year old) quarry tile floor.”

Mrs Quested, Wallingon

Quarry Tile Renovation in Wallington

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Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned in Leatherhead

Epsom Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

Details below of a Quarry Tiled kitchen floor that were cleaned and sealed for a lady in Leatherhead. As you can see it was quite a large area and the quarry tiles were looking dull and tired, there was some staining to the grout.

Cleaning Kitchen Quarry Tiles

A solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied to the floor and left to soak for a short while before being scrubbed in with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. The grout also need attention, unfortunately we don’t have a machine that will get into the grout lines so this had to be manually scrubbed by hand using a grout brush, which as you can imagine took some time to do. The soiled cleaning solution was then removed using a wet vacuum and the floor thoroughly rinsed with water and then left to dry overnight.

Sealing Kitchen Quarry Tiles

When we returned the next day we could see there were some grout lines that we had missed the day before so we set about cleaning those up. Once we were happy with the floor it and it had managed to dry off we sealed the floor using six coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which provides surface stain protection to the quarry tile and grout and also leaves a nice deep low sheen on the tile surface. The lady was over the moon with the results and her husband was even happier because it meant he didn’t have to pay out for a new kitchen.

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor in Leatherhead

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Quarry Tile Floor Restoration at a School in Leatherhead

Epsom Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Work History / Daniel

This Quarry Tile floor was found under carpeting at a school in Leatherhead, Surrey during a refurbishment; you can see from the photograph what a terrible state it was in however the school was keen to keep the tiles and we were brought in to restore them.

Leatherhead Quarry Tiles before restoration

Cleaning Quarry Tiles

There was a lot of dirt on the tiles so a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied to the floor and left to soak in for around 20 minutes; Pro-Clean is a multipurpose alkaline cleaning product designed specifically for cleaning tile and stone. The floor was then scrubbed using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and then thoroughly rinsed with water which was removed using a wet vacuum. Once the Quarry tiles were dry it was possible to spot the areas in need of further attention and these were scrubbed by hand together with more Pro-Clean.

Sealing Quarry Tiles

Once happy with the floor it was left to dry off overnight and we came back the next day to seal it with six coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which will provide future surface stain protection and also leaves a nice deep low sheen. The builders working on the refurbishment couldn’t believe the finish, I must admit looking at the photographs it was quite a transformation.

Leatherhead Quarry Tiles after restoration

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled floor at a Leatherhead School

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