Sealing Slate

Black Slate Floor Renovation Glenridding Ullswater

Black Slate Floor Renovated in Glenridding Ullswater

I thought I would share the details of this Black Slate floor renovation we recently completed in Glenridding in Ullswater. Slate is a popular choice for flooring in the Lake District due to its abundance in the area so I’m sure it will be relief to some to know that it can be restored regardless of the state it gets into.

Black Slate Floor Before Renovation Ullswater Black Slate Floor Before Renovation Ullswater

This House was actually an old Miners Cottage based in the Valley of Glenridding and the Black Slate was actually from the mine itself. After nearly two hundred years of use the old floor was still in good structural condition although the pointing had perished in many areas and needed replacing

Unless it’s being completely removed, I always recommend putting old floors like this back into use. Reason being the lack of a damp proof membrane which if in place would prevent moisture rising through the floor; old floors like these don’t have a DPM so its best to maintain them and let them breathe so moisture can evaporate at the surface. Cover them up and you risk damp building up under the floor where it can reach out to the walls.

Re-Pointing Black Slate Flagstones in the Lake District

The first step of the renovation was to knock out the remaining pointing with an 8lb Titan hammer drill fitted with a chisel attachment. The debris was cleared and new pointing applied. For this I like to use a product called VDW800, we don’t sell it at Tile Doctor but its easily sourced on-line. and for my money it’s the best pointing product on the market. It can be used inside or outside, it’s totally waterproof but it’s also breathable, flexible and comes in four different colours.

Black Slate Floor During Renovation Ullswater

Unlike Lime pointing this product fully hardens after twenty four to forty eight hours (depending on temperature) and it doesn’t wash out. Once the pointing was completed, we left it to dry overnight.

Next, we gave the floor a general clean with Tile Doctor Remove and Go which was sprayed onto the stone floor and then after about ten minutes worked in with a Black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. This is good for softening up paint and old sealers so they can be rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Black Slate Floor During Renovation Ullswater

Deep Cleaning Black Slate Flagstones

The next day our attention turned to the Slate flagstones which had been stained by all types of material that had accumulated over the years; this included paint, old sealer, and bits of Varnish to name a few, you name it this floor had it.

To renovate stone when it’s this bad they only option is to use a technique we call Milling that uses very abrasive “Milling Pads” encrusted with industrial diamonds to grind off the surface to reveal new stone underneath. It also makes the stone much more smoother to walk on and as a result easier to clean going forwards. A further benefit is a smoother stone requires less sealer. The milled floor combined with the new pointing should result is an almost new floor.

The great thing about offering this service is that the customer retains the look and feel of the original floor which in this case ran from the front room, passage, and Kitchen area.

The milling pads are applied using a floor buffer which is weighted to ensure a strong contact with the stone. It does generate a lot of dust though so we use water to contain the dust and help with lubrication. Once done the floor is rinsed with more water and the resultant slurry extracted with a wet vacuum.

The next step is to apply a sealer however the Slate needed to be completely dry before we could do that so it was left to dry out for a few days.

Black Slate Floor Renovation Ullswater

Sealing a Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor

Once the Stone had dried sufficiently (they never dry fully in old buildings without a DPM) the weather had changed for the worse and we had a full blizzard has arrived with snow and ice etc. It wasn’t ideal for sealing but the sealer we had chosen to use on this occasion copes well with damp due to it having an oil base and is rated for external use.

Black Slate Floor Renovation Ullswater

The sealer used is called Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal and is excellent on Black Stone as all Black Stones get their colour from the oil content inside the stone. The sealer fills up the pores in the stone resulting in a lovely dark sheen. The only disadvantage is its quite an expensive product however only one coat was needed and, on this occasion, it was the only sealer I would have recommended for this floor.

Black Slate Floor Renovation Ullswater

Once complete the floor looked completely transformed and should look great from many years to come. Assuming they and future owners of the property look after the floor it should never need Milling again just a deep clean and fresh seal ever five to seven years.

Black Slate Floor After Renovation Ullswater Black Slate Floor After Renovation Ullswater

On the subject of maintenance, we took time to discuss after care cleaning before leaving and informed them to stay clear of using a steamer as this will damage the sealer. To clean this floor I recommended they use Tile Doctor Neutral Clean which is a mild but effective specialist tile cleaner that’s Ph neutral and comes in a concentrate so a little goes a long way. Naturally there are many tile cleaning products available in the market but you do need to careful as many are bleach bases and can harm the sealer, even washing up liquid which is a very good degreaser will damage a stone sealer.

Black Slate Floor After Renovation Ullswater

 

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Semi Riven Green Slate Renovation Keswick

Semi Riven Green Slate Floor in Keswick

The owner of this property in Keswick requested a visit to take a look at their Green Slate kitchen floor. The Slate tile was the Semi Riven variety which works well in a Kitchen due to the rough surface being anti-slip however that rough surface can also trap dirt.

Some areas needed a deep clean and other areas were still in good order but because the client was not sure of which sealer, they had used in the past it would be necessary to treat all three floors with the same process and strip off the original sealer first. All were interconnected and if we only covered one room and not the next there would be a difference in the finish between the floor areas.

Semi Riven Green Slate Before Cleaning Keswick

Although the Green Slate floor was the main issue, I noticed that they had a small Quarry tiled hallway at the front of the property which looked tired, so I offered to renovate that as well. The process for cleaning and sealing Quarry tiles is virtually the same as Slate so it made sense.

Quarry Tiled Hall Floor Before Cleaning Keswick

Cleaning a Semi Riven Green Slate Tiled Kitchen Diner Floor

Before we do any work at all you will notice on one of the pictures that we apply a thin coat of clear silicone to the bottom of the units where it meets the slate, this stops water getting underneath and causing a capillary action forming and blowing the wood, or in this case MDF which is very absorbent more so than standard wood and will blow within 10 to 15 minutes of water being left to stand underneath it. Using the silicone stops this problem completely (assuming no gaps have been left for water to seep into).

Semi Riven Green Slate Before Cleaning Keswick

Working in three separate zones I started by removing the original sealer with the application of a medium dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go. This product is a sealer and coatings remover. My method was to let the solution soak into the tiles for about ten minutes and then work it in using a coarse 200-grit milling pad fitted to a rotary buffer. These pads really get into the rough surface of the slate stripping off the old sealer and getting the tile clean at the same time. The slurry generated was rinsed away with water and then extracted with a wet vacuum.

Next the Slate was treated to an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up. This process removes mineral deposits including old grout smears and really shows the tile at its best. The acidic nature of the product will also serve to neutralise the alkalinity in the tile caused by the application of Remove and Go earlier. Additionally Remove and Go is designed to strip off sealers, so I didn’t want any trace of it hanging around in the pores of the stone.

After a thorough rinse and extraction, the floor was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Semi Riven Green Slate Tiled Kitchen Diner Floor

I came back the next day to apply a fresh sealer to the floor checking first it was dry by taking a few moisture readings with a damp meter. Slate and Quarry tiles are porous, as it’s the top layer of Grout and without a sealer in place dirt can become lodged in the pores making it very difficult to lean.

The moisture readings confirmed the floor was dry enough to be sealed however my client was still unsure of the finish they wanted so before starting different sealers were applied on different parts of the floor so they could get an idea of how it would look.

Semi Riven Green Slate After Cleaning Keswick Semi Riven Green Slate After Cleaning Keswick

After reviewing the results Tile Doctor Colour Grow was chosen, it’s a matt effect sealer which lifts the overall finish of the stone by enhancing its natural colours, it also worked well on the Quarry tiles and will provide many years of protection.

Quarry Tiled Hall Floor After Cleaning Keswick

The client was very happy with the finished floor and especially how improved the grout looked which was an additional bonus. Before leaving I took time to explain how to maintain the floors going forward for which I always recommend a mild tile cleaner such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. Many of the products you find in supermarkets are simply too strong for cleaning a sealed floor and will strip the sealer off prematurely.

 

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