colour grow

Terrazzo Floor Renovation Beziers France

Renovating a Large Terrazzo Tiled Floor in Béziers France

The English owner of a French Chateau contacted Tile Doctor about the hard floors at their property in Béziers in the South of France. There were several floors at the property including Terrazzo, Limestone and Black and White Encaustic tiles all around a hundred years old and in a bad state of repair. There was a lot to cover so for this post we will focus on the Terrazzo flooring.

Terrazzo Floor Before Renovation Beziers France

We have been known to carry out tile renovation work in other counties so we were more than happy to consider a visit to the South of France and help bring the floors back to life. Previous overseas projects have included a hotel restaurant in Addis Ababa, holiday cottages in Ireland and a villa in France.

Luckily for us the customer had invested in some machinery that he had found on eBay but he didn’t have the technical knowledge to do the work and so had decided to seek help. Having discussed each of the floors in detail over the phone and with photographs sent via email I worked out a restoration plan for each floor.

We supplied the products he needed and we were flown down from Manchester to Béziers Cap d’Agde Airport where we were picked up by the client, (very Hollywood). If you have never been to Béziers before it’s well worth a visit, it’s a beautiful area, well laid out, with parks and rivers, an old 12th Century Monastery and the property had great views all around.

Tile Doctor Floor Renovation Bezier

Deep Cleaning and Filling Terrazzo Flooring in Béziers France

On arrival at the property work started with setting up the machinery and conducting some preliminary cleaning tests to work out the best approach. After that however our host insisted on showing us round Béziers, it was a Saturday afternoon and we were in the South of France so why not, they certainly know how to live properly down there.

Terrazzo Floor Before Renovation Beziers France Terrazzo Floor Before Renovation Beziers France

So, work started on the Sunday with the application of a 200-grit Milling pad and Oxy-Gel cleaning solution. I was concerned (due to some hairline cracks in the Terrazzo) that water would seep through into the rooms below (this was a big old townhouse set on four levels) so by using a gel-based product it would be easier to control and the moisture would be kept to a minimum.

Terrazzo Floor During Cleaning Oxy-Gel Beziers France

The resultant soiling was then extracted with a wet vacuum and attention moved to filling the cracks in the Terrazzo with a resin filler. Once the resin had cured the floor was cleaned again, this time with a 200-grit DRB Milling pad which contains diamond segments. The process was lubricated with water and progress was checked underneath several times to ensure the pad was working as expected.

Terrazzo Floor During Renovation Beziers France

Polishing a Terrazzo Floor in Béziers France

This work continued with increasingly finer diamond encrusted burnishing pads starting with a 400-grit Diamond burnishing pad and moving up to an 800-grit and finishing with a 1500-grit pad. Only water was used for lubrication and the soiling was extracted with a wet vacuum after each pad was applied. This method slowly improves the surface of the Terrazzo adding a long-lasting polished appearance.

The floor was left to dry overnight and the following day treated to a spray burnish using a very fine 3000 grit burnishing pad; the pad is applied dry to the floor with only a little amount of water which is sprayed onto the surface.

Sealing Terrazzo Flooring in Béziers France

This final 3000-grit pad leaves the floor dry and allows the floor to be sealed shortly afterwards. The sealer chosen for the Terrazzo was Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnator which works by soaking into the pores preventing dirt from residing there. Sealing the floors keeps the dirt and other contaminates on the surface where it can be easily removed.

Two coats of Colour Grow were applied and this brought out the lovely pink tones in the Terrazzo which together with the polished appearance really transformed the appearance of the floor.

Terrazzo Floor After Cleaning Beziers France

For aftercare cleaning I got the customer to purchase a five-litre bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner along with the other products. You must be careful what you clean sealed floors with as many products contain bleach and are simply too strong resulting in the premature degradation of the sealer.

We spent the whole week at the property and as well as working on the other floors did find time to do some more sightseeing before flying back the following weekend.

 

Professional Renovation of a Terrazzo Flooring in France

Renovating a Large Terrazzo Tiled Floor in Béziers France Read More »

Geometric Victorian Tiled Kitchen Floor Restored Clitheroe

1920 Geometric Victorian Floor Fully Restored in Clitheroe

This property in Clitheroe dates to the 1920’s and the current owner wanted to have original Victorian Tiles in the Kitchen restored in time for the installation of new units. You can see form the photographs that the old tiles were in quite a state with 100 years of grime and some parts of the floor were missing large sections of tiling altogether.

Geometric Victorain Tile Before Restoration Clitheroe

It was clearly going to be a big project with lots of tiling required however unphased by the complexity I was happy to do the work and looked forward to seeing it completed with a new kitchen fitted. The work would need to be completed in two parts starting with the reconstruction and initial cleaning of the floor and then returning after the new kitchen units had been fitted to finish the restoration.

Geometric Victorain Tile Before Restoration Clitheroe

Restoring a 1920’s Victorian Floor in Clitheroe Part 1

On our first visit to the property the tiles were given the first of what would be several deep cleans. This involved soaking the tiles in a strong concentration of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, leaving it to soak in for ten minutes and then working the solution into the floor using a 200-grit diamond encrusted burnishing pad fitted to a rotary buffer machine. The cleaning solution soon turned black with the dirt that was flushed out of the tile, this was then rinsed off and extracted with a wet vacuum.

The initial clean had to be repeated several times to get the tiles in a reasonable condition. Then with the initial clean completed attention was turned to the tiling work which involved relaying large sections of tiles that would be hidden by the new units to the other parts of the floor where there were none. The location of the new units had been marked out with black tape so we were able to identify where we could lift tiles from. Doing it this way rather than using replacements meant that the whole floor would be original and in keeping with the 100-year-old building.

Geometric Victorain Tile During Restoration Clitheroe

This work took several days and once complete the floor was left covered to protect it whilst the new kitchen was being fitted.

Restoring a 1920’s Victorian Floor in Clitheroe Part 2

On our return a few weeks later, it had become apparent that the design of the kitchen had changed slightly so more tiling work was needed to rectify the problem. Once done the second part of the clean was carried out with a focus on the White tiles which were proving very stubborn to get White again.

The customer wanted it perfect as did we, but I had stated from the outset that with tiles of this age and an unknown history it would be impossible to guarantee the outcome and this is more likely with White and the Sand coloured tiles which are more liable to staining. You will see on the after photos some of the White tiles are more off White in colour which I can assure you this isn’t due to a lack of effort on our part and when it comes to taking on old flooring like this one, there’s only so much cleaning we can do until you realised that this is the best it will get. Fact is you don’t know for sure how well these types of job are going to go until you get stuck in and sometimes even a small pre-test clean can be very misleading and this is what was proven to be the case here.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

With the cleaning completed the next step was to apply a sealer to the tiles to protect them from further staining and ingrained dirt. To do this a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow were applied. This product is a fully breathable sealer which restores the colour and allows for the floor to breathe, which is an absolutely necesity on an old floor like this one which will not have a damp proof membrane installed.

Geometric Victorain Tile After Restoration Clitheroe Geometric Victorain Tile After Restoration Clitheroe

As you can see from the photographs the Kitchen was completely transformed by the time we had finished. The customer was happy with the overall result and the White tiles although not perfect showed a lot of character befitting their age.

Geometric Victorain Tile After Restoration Clitheroe Geometric Victorain Tile After Restoration Clitheroe

For aftercare we always advise our customers to use Tile Doctor pH Neutral tile cleaner as it’s specially designed for cleaning sealed surfaces without damaging the sealer which can be the case with stronger bleach-based floor cleaning products you find in supermarkets many of which contain bleach and are simply too strong for use on a sealed floor.

 

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Lancashire

1920 Geometric Victorian Floor Fully Restored in Clitheroe Read More »

Red and Black Victorian Tiled Floor Renovated in Lytham St Annes Lancashire

Traditional Black and Red Victorian Floor Renovated in Lytham St Annes

This property in Lytham St Annes had a large area of Black and Red Victorian floor tiles in the front room, dining room and scullery. The building dates to 1870, so the floor is likely to be over 150 years old which is a true testament to how well Victorian’s made and constructed materials even with the most basic of methods compared to modern times.

Red and Black Victorian Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Lytham St Annes

After inspecting the floor, I could see some of the tiles had characterful chips and marks in them, in fact none of them were perfect but I was confident they would still respond well to a deep clean and fresh seal. Having agreed a price and having discussed sealer options a date was scheduled for the work to commence.

Red and Black Victorian Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Lytham St Annes

Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Scullery, Front and Dining Room Floor

I was wary that such an old floor as this would not have a damp proof membrane and because of the sandy nature of Lytham’s geology I suspect was laid directly onto a sand base. Using a lot of water on a floor like this can result in long drying times and could exacerbate efflorescence issues. I therefore opted for a low moisture cleaning method that uses gel-based products.

To start we applied neat Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel which is an alkaline cleaning product safe for use on tile and grout. After being scrubbed into each tile with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine the soiling was then removed using a wet vacuum. It’s necessary to add a little water at this point as it makes extraction with the vacuum easier.

Once done the process was quickly repeated using Tile Doctor Acid Gel to give the floor an acid rinse. This process serves to clean up the floor further, removing old grout smears and countering alkaline salts latent in the tile that may lead to efflorescence later. Using an acid-based product at this point also neutralises the ph level of the floor following the use of an alkaline cleaner earlier.

The floor was then left to dry off overnight and went through the sealing options with the client, these particular tiles were laid directly on a sand base which was quite common back in the 1800s in Lytham as it’s just a bed of sand in that area of the country.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Scullery, Front and Dining Room Floor

The next day we called back to seal the tiles and started by taking several moisture readings across the floors using a damp meter. The low moisture cleaning system method had worked and all the readings were with tolerance.

Three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow were then applied to the tiles allowing approximately thirty minutes between coats. Colour Grow was ideal for these tiles as its fully breathable and with a built-on colour enhancer it helped the red and black tiles stand out. A fully breathable sealer is necessary for a floor without a damp proof membrane as it will allow moisture from the sub floor to rise through the tile and evaporate at the surface, using a non-breathable product will result in moisture building up under the floor until it reaches out the walls potentially leading to rising damp.

Red and Black Victorian Tiled Floor After Cleaning Sealing Lytham St Annes

The floor was transformed by our efforts and before leaving I recommended that for regular cleaning, they use a ph neutral cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner, many of the tile cleaning products you find in supermarkets today are bleach based and simply too strong for the sealer.

Red and Black Victorian Tiled Floor After Cleaning Sealing Lytham St Annes

 

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Flooring in Lancashire

Traditional Black and Red Victorian Floor Renovated in Lytham St Annes Read More »

Flagstone Floor After Cleaning

Flagstone Floor in a Victorian House in Lancaster

Restoration of Flagstone Floor in the Kitchen

Details of an original Flagstone Floor cleaning job below from a Victorian House in the City of Lancaster, we often find flagstone floor tiles in kitchens and hallways and in this case they were in the hallway. You can see from the photographs below that the flagstone floor tiles were in a very bad state and it became clear that no amount of cleaning was really going to remove the decades of trapped dirt embedded in the pores of the Sandstone.

Flagstone Floor Before Cleaning Flagstone Floor Before Cleaning

Cleaning the Flagstone Floor

To get over this problem it was necessary to remove the top surface of the flagstone using a milling pad together with a small amount of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. The flagstones were then washed down with water which was then removed using a wet and dry vax machine. There was no damp proof course under the tiles so I left it to dry for a week before coming back to seal.

Flagstone Floor After Cleaning Flagstone Floor After Cleaning

Sealing and Restoration of Flagstone Floor

The milling process had opened up the pores in the sandstone flagstone floor tile so to seal it I used 1 coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow in order to bring out the colour in the stone and then topped this off wth a further 3 coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go.

Flagstone Floor Restoration in Lancaster

Flagstone Floor in a Victorian House in Lancaster Read More »

Scroll to Top