Damp Floor Archives - Tile Doctor Lancashire

Red And Black Victorian Tiled Floor Dorchester Pattern Restoration Lancaster

Dorchester Pattern Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restoration in Lancaster

This is a Red and Black Victorian tiled floor laid in a Dorchester pattern at a property in Lancaster. The owner has only just bought the property which dates to the 1890s and this floor had previously been covered in carpet which had started to smell and leave a pungent aroma in the air.

Red And Black Victorian Tiled Floor Dorchester Pattern Before Cleaning Lancaster

Once the carpet had been removed and the Victorian floor allowed to breathe and dry out the smell disappeared. This is the right course of action with old floors which were laid without a damp proof membrane, floors of this age need to breathe and allow moisture to rise through the tile and evaporate at the surface, carpets and underlay prevent this.

The damp issues had resulted in efflorescent salts being deposited on the surface of some of the tiles and this is an important consideration when cleaning the floor. Salts and damp go together, so the more water we use the more salts will come through after the floor has been cleaned. Additionally using an alkaline cleaner such as Tile Doctor Pro Clean or Remove and Go this will further increase the alkalinity of the floor and cause yet more salt issues so a different approach is required.

Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Naturally I didn’t want to exacerbate the moisture problems by using liquid products to clean the floor, so I used a low, moisture cleaning technique. This involves applying Tile Doctor Acid Gel as the main cleaning agent and working it in with a 200-grit milling pad fitted to a rotary machine. The gel keeps the moisture level low, and it is a very effective cleaning product and being an acid will neutralise the salts in the floor and keep the pH level at the correct balance. Once done the floor was briefly rinsed with water and all the soils extracted with a wet vacuum.

Red And Black Victorian Tiled Floor Dorchester Pattern During Cleaning Lancaster

The floor was left to dry off overnight then I called back the following day to see how it had faired. There were some areas where efflorescent salts had appeared, so I spot treated these areas with more Acid Gel and then scrubbed and rinsed with water using the wet vacuum again to remove as much moisture as possible. You will see on the photos how soft the salt was and I was able to scrape it off without too much difficulty, however if left untreated this salt would harden into a crystalline structure and become more difficult to remove.

Red And Black Victorian Tiled Floor Dorchester Pattern Efflorescencent Salt Removal Lancaster

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

To make sure the sealer would cope with the damp floor I applied a thin coat of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal to several areas before leaving. The decision on which type of sealer to apply was influenced by the damp issues as the moisture needs to be able to evaporate at the surface, so it is important to select a fully breathable sealer.

Red And Black Victorian Tiled Floor Dorchester Pattern After Cleaning Lancaster

I called back the following day and the floor was more settled, and the sealer had fully cured, the client gave his thumbs up and we continued sealing the floor with one coat of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is fully breathable.

Once completed the floor was transformed and worked well with other period features in the property. For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of a Neutral PH cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Clean.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Lancashire

Dorchester Pattern Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restoration in Lancaster Read More »

Flagstone Floor Restoration Lytham St Annes

Original Flagstone Tiled Floor Restoration in Lytham St Annes

The client said when he moved into this house in Lytham St Annes late last year that this room had a really bad smell of damp. The Flagstone floor was covered in carpet and he had the impression that the previous owner’s cat had been known to use it as place to pee!

Flagstone Floor Before Restoration Lytham St Annes

The smell was rank and probably bad for your health so he decided to remove the carpet and the thick underlay underneath. Under that there was some old Vinyl flooring which all came out to reveal the original flagstone floor. As you can see from the pictures it was in a poor state covered in red and white paint, bits of bitumen here and there and the pointing had been lost in several areas of the floor. Additionally, all those layers over the stone would have prevented any moisture from naturally evaporating at the surface thereby resulting in damp.

The client had seen what we could do on our website and sent us some pictures of his floor which covered approximately 16m2. I priced for milling the flagstone as a deep clean would not resolve the shaling issues on its own and only a good mill of the stone would do that. Also, it needed all the pointing that was still in place knocking out and new flexible breathable pointing put back in place.

Cleaning and Repairing a Flagstone Tiled Hallway Floor

Milling stone is not a low-cost option, but it is a lot more cost effective than pulling up the whole floor and putting in a modern subfloor. Milling involves using a weighted buffing machine fitted with different grits and grades of coarse Diamond encrusted pads which cut into the surface of the stone to reveal new stone underneath, you then apply finer pads to hone and refine the surface.

In this case I used a set of Tile Doctor Milling Pads applied in sequence starting with 50-grit, 100-grit and then 200-grit. Water is used to lubricate the process and keep the dust down, it’s also important to rinse the stone off after each pad and extract the slurry that is generated with a wet vacuum.

The floor was then cleaned with Tile Doctor Remove and Go allowing the product to soak in for ten minutes to loosen deep seated paint staining. The Tile Doctor Remove and Go was then worked in with another 200-grit pad before another rinse and extract again with the wet vacuum.

Older floors like this were installed before the invention of the damp proof membrane so moisture is always a concern. To counter any issues that might develop later such as Efflorescence the last step in the cleaning process was to give the floor an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up, this neutralises any latent salts trapped in the subfloor.

Sealing a Flagstone Tiled Hallway Floor

The milling, re-pointing and cleaning work took two days and we returned for a third day to apply a breathable sealer called Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal. This product is fully breathable and a great choice for any floors where damp can be a problem as it will allow for moisture to rise through the stone and evaporate at the surface. Being oil-based it also adds character to natural stone and adds an appealing low satin finish.

Flagstone Floor After Restoration Lytham St Annes

The whole process completely transformed the appearance of the flagstone floor and really suits the property which was a late Victorian four-story house with a basement. Original features like this are very sought after so it makes sense to restore them as it will add value.

An additional advantage of the milling process is it also reduces the roughness of the stone surface makes it smoother and easier to clean. On the topic of cleaning its worth mentioning that you should never use a strong bleach-based tile cleaning product on a sealed floor as it will erode the sealer prematurely. For a floor like this you need to use a product like Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is a mild but effective cleaning product designed for use on sealed tile and stone.

Professional Restoration of a Flagstone Floor in Lancashire

Original Flagstone Tiled Floor Restoration in Lytham St Annes Read More »