Oxy-Gel Archives - Tile Doctor Lancashire

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

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 »

Quarry Tiled Floor Renovation Caton Lancaster

Black and Red Dorchester Pattern Quarry Tiled Floor Renovation Caton

A first glance you might not notice much improvement in this Quarry tiled floor that we recently worked on at a Victorian house in Caton near Lancaster. However, look closer and you will see that a pattern has been worn into the tiles from a previous covering most likely carpet underlay.

The sealer on the floor was also due to be replaced so having surveyed the floor on my initial visit I worked out a plan to renovate the Quarry tiles which would include deep cleaning the tile and grout, removing the underlay patterning, and then re-sealing the tiles to keep them protected.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Caton Lancaster

Deep Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Floor

To start neat Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel was applied to the floor and left to soak in for twenty minutes giving it time to break down soils etc. Then a 200-grit Diamond burnishing pad was attached to floor buffing machine which was a heavily weighted for extra grip and run a few times over the tiles. These pads are very aggressive and ideal for cleaning off the pattern left by the carpet underlay.

Oxy-Gel was chosen for this as being in Gel form its more manageable and holds itself against the clay Quarry tile for longer allowing the product work to a much harder, whereas a liquid cleaner generally soaks away into the clay and underneath meaning you need to use more water to remove it later resulting in longer drying times.

After the gel has been scrubbed into the tiles (no water needed at this stage) a wet vacuum Is used to remove the soiling generated during the process. After this initial clean a small amount of water is added to the floor and we go over with the same 200-grit diamond pad extracting the water off the tiles within five minutes of it being applied.

With the Oxy-Gel removed the floor was given and acid rinse using Tile Doctor Acid Gel using the same process as before but this time using a Black scrubbing pad and only allowing it to dwell for 10 minutes. Acidic products are quicker acting on clay and so need less dwell time for it to work. Water was then added and after brushing it in to the floor it was removed using the wet vacuum within five minutes. I sometimes do this job twice as this is the last of the deep cleaning process and will ensure the tiles are free from any debris and dirt before we allow the clay tiles to dry out before sealing.

Before finishing for the day, I took time to apply matching grout where it was missing which was mainly around the edges and sponged off the excess. With this done the floor was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing Quarry Tiles

The next day we conducted a damp test, but despite the use of Gel cleaning products it was still too damp to seal. My client however wanted to seal how the tiles would look with the sealer we were planning to use which was Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal, so to do this three tiles were force dried using an Air blower and a Heat Gun.

With the sealer approved the floor was left for two days so it could fully dry out, the damp test showed a much better reading and we were able to crack on applying the sealer to the whole floor. Only one coat of X-Tra Seal was needed, it’s a thick Oil based product that soaks into the pores of the tile protecting it from within, it also fully breathable so ideal for old floors like this one that don’t have a damp proof membrane. Lastly it contains a colour enhancing formula that in this case improved the deep Red and dark Black colours in the tile.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Cleaning Sealing Caton Lancaster

Lastly for aftercare I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a gentle but effective tile and grout cleaning product. You have to be careful when choosing an cleaning product for use on sealed tiles as many are bleach based and simply too strong.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Lobby in Lancashire

Black and Red Dorchester Pattern Quarry Tiled Floor Renovation Caton 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

1 Comment / Lytham St Annes Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / Russell Taylor

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.

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.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Flooring in Lancashire

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