Stone Floor Renovation 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 »

Honed Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovated in Preston

Renovating a Large Stained Travertine Tiled Floor in Preston

This customer in Preston in Lancashire had just moved into a house with a large 60m2 Travertine tiled floor that was installed throughout most of the ground floor. Travertine is a lovely stone but the previous owner had not maintained the sealer on the tiles and as a result it now looked grubby and there was a lot of dirt ingrained in the tiles leaving black staining, especially in the Kitchen.

Honed Unfilled Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Renovation Preston

This is a common problem with all natural stone floors, some are hardier than others but without a protective barrier in place they will attract dirt as the sealer become worn off. The new owner was seriously considering having the tiles ripped up, fortunately however they came across our service and decided to try having them renovated first.

Deep Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Floor

To get the stone clean and bring back the beautiful appearance of the Travertine I used several diamond burnishing pads which are run over the tiles with water for lubrication. The first was a coarse 200-grit pad which is fitted to a rotary floor machine and buffed into the stone in a circular motion. This process generates a lot of slurry which is then rinsed off afterwards and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Honed Unfilled Travertine Kitchen Floor During Renovation Preston

This process was then repeated using finer burnishing pads and continued with a 400-grit, 800-grit and finally a 1500-grit, again each pad was run over the tiles several times and then the slurry extracted as before. It’s a completely abrasive process with no other products needed and the result is a sealer and dirt-free tile.

At this point I inspected the floor to see if the pads had been able to clean up the grout as well as the tile. Pads can struggle to reach down into the recess so I often find more work is needed on the grout. As suspected the Travertine had responded well to the treatment however it was clear the grout would need more work and was still stained black in places.

Normally use a grout cleaning product called Tile Doctor Pro-Clean for the grout but on this occasion, I felt something stronger would be needed. So, on this occasion I applied undiluted Tile Doctor Remove and Go along the grout lines and left it to soak in for ten minutes. It was then scrubbed in by hand, rinsed off and the soil remove with the wet vacuum. The grout cleaning had worked a treat and happy with the condition of the floor it was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

The next morning time was spent filling in holes (aka pitting) in the Travertine with colour matching grout before running over the whole floor with a very fine 3000-grit polishing pad to further bring up the appearance of the stone. This is done using a little water sprayed onto the tile a process we call a spray burnish.

Spray burnishing also leaves the floor dry and ready to be sealed. The owner wanted the Travertine to look as natural as possible so two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal were applied. This is an impregnating sealer which is recommended for use on polished stone and for use in kitchens.

Honed Unfilled Travertine Kitchen Floor After Renovation Preston

Before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning and how important it is to avoid the use of strong cleaning products (especially bleach) on Travertine, not only will it degrade the sealer but can also harm the stone. For the regular cleaning of sealed Travertine, I recommend using Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is a gentle but effective cleaner that also helps maintain the patina.

Professional Renovation of a Travertine Floor Tiles in Lancashire

Renovating a Large Stained Travertine Tiled Floor in Preston Read More »