Sandstone Tile Cleaning Archives - North Cumbria Tile Doctor

Aldous Red Sandstone Floor Restored Greystoke

Aldous Red Sandstone Floor Milled Back to Health in Greystoke

The customer at this 200-year-old property near Greystoke asked if we could do anything for their old Stone floor as a new Kitchen was to be fitted and a decision had to be made to either rip up the old floor or have it restored.

Aldous Red Sandstone Floor Before Renovation Greystoke

The stone was Aldous Red Sandstone which if you have read our website is something we are quite familiar with. One thing we have learned from restoring these floors over the years is that they are very forgiving and the best way to renovate them is to grind off the old and often badly stained surface. We call this process Milling and it involves applying different grades of coarse diamond pads, the result is a fresh new surface that smoother and much easier to maintain. We can also re-point the mortar which is often past its best on these old stone floors.

Having discussed my recommendation, they agreed to go ahead, and we set a date in the diary for the work to start.

Milling Aldous Red Sandstone

Milling involves the application of several coarse grades of hard diamond pads to the stone using water to lubricate the process, the water also helps make the removal of the soil easier and reduces dust. I followed our usual method of starting with a very coarse 50-grit pad and then moved up to 100 and then 200-grit milling pads rinsing and extracting the soiling in-between each pad with a wet vacuum. These 17-inch pads fit a rotary floor buffer that has weight added to ensure maximum traction between the pad and the stone floor.

Once done the next step was to rake out the loose mortar between the slabs, cleanup the area and then repoint with a breathable pointing mix in Light Grey. That was left to set and the floor was given a light clean with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to remove any dust and get it ready for sealing.

Sealing a Red Sandstone Tiled Floor

We returned the following day and checked the floor was dry using the moisture meter, we don’t recommend applying a sealer to a damp floor as the sealer will not cure properly. All was well, so we then applied Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an oil based Breathable Colour enhancing sealer.

Using a breathable sealer on old stone floors like this is highly recommend as these floors rarely have a damp proof membrane installed and so it’s important to give moisture a way of rising through the floor naturally and evaporating rather than being trapped under the floor where it can eventually build up in the walls.

You can see from the photos that the work was transformational and have added new life to a 200-year-old floor which I’m sure will look even more stunning once the new kitchen has been fitted.

Aldous Red Sandstone Floor After Renovation Greystoke

For aftercare cleaning of a sealed floor, we recommend the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, it’s a mild but effective cleaning product that won’t impact the sealer.

Professional Restoration of an Aldous Red Sandstone Paved Floor in North Cumbria

Aldous Red Sandstone Floor Milled Back to Health in Greystoke Read More »

Flood Damaged Red Sandstone Hallway Renovation Penrith

Flood Damaged Red Sandstone Hallway Floor Renovated in Penrith

1 Comment / Penrith Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning / Heidi Taylor / Cumbria, Flood Damage, Flood Restoration, floor restoration, Grout Clean-up, Milling Pads, Milling Stone, Penrith, Pointing Sandstone, Red Sandston, Remove and Go, Stone Cleaning, Stone Sealing, X-Tra Seal

The customer from Penrith called us in to see if we could improve the appearance of their Red Sandstone hallway floor. Several weeks earlier it had been covered in mud and water from flooding. Once the flood waters had subsided the floor was given a general clean, but the stone looked terrible and completely washed out.

Flood Damaged Red Sandstone Hallway before Cleaning Penrith

Its important to let everything dry out before attempting any renovation work and this is especially the case with Stone and Clay tiles. When the floors this bad there’s no point trying to get a decent clean just by using chemicals alone, so we often offer a system we have perfected at Tile Doctor called “Milling”. We discussed the project in detail with the client and agreed a price and a time to complete the work.

Restoring Flood Damaged Red Sandstone

Milling pads are encrusted with very coarse industrial diamonds and allow you to cut deeper into the stone than the burnishing pads we use for polishing. We use them to remove a thin layer of stone from the floor to reveal new stone underneath.

Tile Doctor supply these pads in different sizes, types and grits and on this occasion, we used a 17 inch 200-grit milling pad fitted to a Numatic buffing machine running on low speed. Extra weight was added to the machine to improve the depth of clean and the process was lubricated with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go. The edges were then cleaned with a set of handheld Diamond Blocks which allow you to get right into the corners. Once the whole floor had been treated it was rinsed with water and the soiling extracted with a wet vacuum.

The Sandstone floor was then given an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up to remove stone resins and neutralise alkaline salts which can build up in the stone and present themselves as White Efflorescence later. The floor was then given a final rinse and dried as much as possible with the wet vacuum before allowing it to dry off overnight.

Sealing Red Sandstone Flooring

The stone floor was left to dry out for a full 24 hours and we called back on the 3rd day to apply a coat of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal, which is an oil-based sealer that improves colour and structure to the stone. This product is fully breathable and rated for external use and so will cope with any further dampness coming up from the ground.

The sealer really brought out the true red colour of the Sandstone and completely transformed its appearance. The customer has only lived in the house a short time and had no idea of what colour the stone should be as it was Grey when they moved in.

Re-Pointing Red Sandstone Flooring

It was quite rewarding to bring the stone back to life and to finish the renovation of the floor our attention turned to the pointing which had been compromised by the flooring and was in a bad state.

The old pointing was carefully knocked out and after cleaning up the floor was re-pointed using a modern breathable pointing product called VDW 800 which comes in four different colours, it’s very easy to apply, copes well with wide gaps and fully hardens in 48 hours.

Traditionally a Lime mortar was used for this but there are several draw backs with this as it never really sets, and if you mop or clean the floor then traces of White pointing stain the stone. This is very noticeable on darker stones and secondly, it’s difficult to work with and remove after it has dried.

Flood Damaged Red Sandstone Hallway after Renovation Penrith

All in all, the Sandstone floor responded very well to our restoration methods and sealer, needless to say the customer was very happy with the result. For aftercare cleaning of Sandstone flooring I recommend the use of Neutral Tile Cleaner which is gentle enough not to impact the sealer yet an effective floor cleaning product that can be used regularly.

Flood Damaged Red Sandstone Hallway after Renovation Penrith

Professional Restoration of a Red Sandstone Hallway Floor in North Cumbria

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Red Sandstone Floor Before After Restoration Keswick Cumbria

Red Sandstone Floor Pavers Restored in Keswick, Cumbria

1 Comment / Keswick Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Work History / Heidi Taylor / Cumbria, floor restoration, Keswick, Milling Stone, Red Sandstone Pavers, Stone Cleaning, Stone Sealing

We love working with Sandstone, it’s very satisfying as we usually get called in when it looks really horrible and grubby and after some work it ends up looking stunning. The floor in this property in the famous Lake District town of Keswick had been covered with carpet for many years, so when we uncovered it as you can see from the pictures, it was clearly in needed of major attention and a great candidate for restoration.

Red Sandstone Flagstones Before Renovation Keswick

When the floors this bad there’s no point trying to get a decent clean just by using chemicals alone, so we often offer a system we have perfected at Tile Doctor called “Milling”. We discussed the project in detail with the client and agreed a price and a time to complete the work.

Red Sandstone Flagstones Fireplace Hearth Before Renovation Keswick

Restoring the Appearance of Red Sandstone

Milling involves the application of several coarse grades of hard diamond pads to the stone using water to lubricate the process, the water also helps make the removal of the soil easier and reduces dust. On this occasion we used coarse 50, 100 and 200-grit milling pads applied in sequence with a weighted rotary floor machine, the floor is rinsed with water between each pad and the soil extracted using a wet vacuum.

We worked our way across the floor using this process. Not only does this give the stone the deepest clean it has ever had but it also cuts back the stone a few millimetres and takes off a lot of roughness leaving the finish a lot smoother, this makes the now Milled Stone a lot easier to maintain in the future as it has a much smoother texture and finish.

Loose grout is a common problem on these older floors, so the next step was to rake out any broken and loose grout between the slabs, clean-up and repoint to match the existing. Once that had set, we gave the floor another lighter clean with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean run along the recessed grout lines with a rush to clean them up. I was then satisfied the floor was a clean and it could be, the floor now needed to dry our before we applied the sealer.

Sealing a Red Sandstone Tiled Floor

We returned the following day and checked the floor was dry using the moisture meter, we don’t recommend applying a sealer to a damp floor as the sealer will not cure properly. All was well, so we then applied several coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow Sealer, this is a fully breathable, impregnating sealer that will protect the stone from staining whilst enhancing the natural red colour in the Sandstone.

Red Sandstone Flagstones Fireplace Hearth After Renovation Keswick

Red Sandstone Flagstones After Renovation Keswick

As you can imagine from the after pictures the customer was happy with the overall outcome and relieved that their decision to remove the carpet had worked out.

Professional Restoration of a Red Sandstone Paved Floor in North Cumbria

Red Sandstone Floor Pavers Restored in Keswick, Cumbria Read More »

Sandstone floor Before and After milling and sealing in Penrith

Milling, Cleaning and Sealing Sandstone tiles in Penrith

1 Comment / Penrith Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Work History / Heidi Taylor / kitchen, milling, North Cumbria, Penrith, sandstone tiles, tile cleaning, tile sealing

Here’s an interesting job that I recently completed down in Penrith, a small market town just under three miles from the Lake District National Park.

My client had a Sandstone tiled flagstone floor in her kitchen which had been continually sealed over its lifetime – but without removing the old sealer first. This is not advised, as it can lead to a severe problem where the layers of sealer become compacted on the surface. The result is a significant build-up of old sealer which is almost impossible to remove, even with some of the best and strongest products available.

Sandstone floor before milling in Penrith

This problem is particularly acute in Sandstone because, as a naturally porous stone, it has a high grab factor when it comes to polyurethane type wax sealers. As a result, it would take me a significant amount of work to reduce the problem as far as possible.

Milling Sandstone tiles

As no chemical products would prove effective in resolving the issue, I opted to use a milling technique using abrasive, coarse milling pads. The idea is that the milling pads penetrate beneath the many layers of old sealer and re-finish the stone. In order to validate the proposed solution I conducted an experiment in a test area under the dishwasher. The test proved satisfactory, and so my client was happy to extend the solution to the rest of the kitchen floor.

Sandstone floor during milling in Penrith

As you can see from the photos, the milling pads allowed me to get in deep where chemical products were simply unable to make a difference, giving the Sandstone tiles a much more refined look. As well as flattening a stone milling does strip a tile naked so it’s necessary to seal the stone after to enhance the natural colours and features as well as protect the stone going forward.

Cleaning and sealing Sandstone tiles

After spending all day milling the rest of the floor, it came time to give it a thorough clean to remove any remaining dirt and muck, especially along the grout lines. My choice of cleaner was Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, a high-alkaline cleaner which is used on most natural stone floors, including Sandstone, Granite, Limestone and Slate. The Pro-Clean was diluted with water and then scrubbed into the tile and grout.

After finishing the clean, I left for a few days as the floor needed at least 48 hours to dry completely before it could be sealed. Tiled floors must always be left to dry completely before being sealed because any excess moisture or residue can damage the performance of the sealer. When I returned, I applied three layers of Tile Doctor Colour Grow, an impregnating, colour intensifying sealer which is designed to provide durable surface protection from within, while also accentuating the natural shades and colours in the stone.

Sandstone floor after milling and sealing in Penrith

My client was very pleased with the results, and was amazed I was able to do anything to resolve the compacted sealer issue considering that the chemical products used previously were unsuccessful.