Oldham Archives - South Lancashire Tile Doctor

Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Renovation Saddleworth

Cleaning Polishing and Sealing a Dull Travertine Kitchen Floor in Saddleworth

Late last year a landlord got in touch with us about the in a rental property they owned in Saddleworth. The client informed us that unfortunately the last tenant hadn’t maintained the floor very well and now it looked neglected and in need of renovation. Numerous cracks had also developed which wasn’t due to previous tenant but more likely due to poor installation by the tiler who hadn’t bedded the tiles in properly.

Travertine Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Saddleworth

My client was now considering selling the property and so naturally wanted the floor looking its best before putting it on the market. Happy to help I arranged a time to pop over and take a detailed look at the floor.

Travertine Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Saddleworth

After surveying the floor, I recommended giving it a deep restorative clean, polish and then applying a fresh sealer. I worked out a quote for this and included filling the many holes and cracks as far as possible all of which would make the floor aesthetically pleasing and easier to maintain.

My quote was accepted and I agreed to start the work at the earliest date possible.

Cleaning and Polishing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

To deep clean and renovate the floor I applied a set of Diamond burnishing pads fitted to a rotary floor machine and run over each tile three of four times. Using only water for lubrication this process starts with the application of a coarse 400-grit burnishing pad attached to the floor buffer. This produces a lot of slurry which was removed with a wet vacuum.

This left the Travertine clean, but rather raw from the coarse pad so to refine the appearance of the stone the next two burnishing pads were applied which are 800 and 1500-grit. These pads polish the stone and close the pores, restoring the natural sheen in the process. After each pad was applied the slurry was rinsed off the floor with water and extracted with the wet vacuum. Once complete the floor was left to dry off fully overnight.

Travertine Tiled Floor During Cleaning Saddleworth

The cracks and pits in the travertine were then filled using a special resin filler that was then rubbed down to get it as smooth as possible. The floor was then left to dry off overnight.

On day two work started with the application of the fourth diamond burnishing pad which is a fine 3000-grit. This pad further improves the polished appearance of the stone resulting in a satisfying sheen. This pad is applied with only a little water sprayed onto the floor as the pad is run over the stone leaving it completely dry.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen

The last step was to seal the floor with a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is a natural look impregnating sealer that doesn’t change the appearance of the stone. The sealer works by soaking into the stone occupying the pores and thereby ensuring dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

Travertine Tiled Floor After Renovation Saddleworth

The work really transformed the floor making it look much cleaner and inviting. My client was certainly happy and took the time to leave the following feedback:

Kevin did a lovely job restoring my Travertine floor. Kevin was great to do business with and he achieved what he set out to achieve. I’ll definitely be contacting him again to organise maintenance requirements in the future.

For the care and maintenance of polished sealed floors I recommend the use of Tile Doctor’s Stone Soap which is a gentle but effective cleaning product that won’t impact the sealer and contains a patina enhancer that will help maintain the polished appearance.

Travertine Tiled Floor After Renovation Saddleworth

Professional Restoration of a Travertine Tiled Kitchen in South Lancashire

Cleaning Polishing and Sealing a Dull Travertine Kitchen Floor in Saddleworth Read More »

Cleaning Student Shower Cubicle Tile and Grout at Oldham University

Earlier in the year we were contacted by the facilities manager of one of the student apartment blocks in Oldham which provides accommodation for the students of Oldham University. They were looking for a firm to revamp the student en-suite bathrooms during the summer recess. The building has 270 apartments and we had been asked to quote for the renewal of the ceramic tile and grout of around 45 shower cubicles (possibly more) which were judged to be in a bad state and beyond the ability of their in-house cleaning team.

The University runs degree courses from Accounting to Sports Coaching and as you can image Students are not known for their cleanliness so we knew we would have our work cut out completing the assignment on time.

Several companies competing for the work however after successfully demonstrating what we can do with a patch test in one of the bathrooms and comparing of quotes I’m pleased to say the facilities company awarded us the contract!

Student Shower Cubicle Before Cleaning in Oldham

Tile and Grout Cleaning

We returned in the summer and facing a time limit to complete the work we worked out a system whereby we would spray the Tile and Grout down with Tile Doctor Duo-Clean, let it soak in for about ten minutes and then scrubbed it in by hand with a stiff brush. Duo Clean is an effective double action grout cleaner and mould remover that can remove mould and blackspot from grout and silicone. It’s really useful for cleaning shower tiles as the spay attachment mixes the product with air as its spayed onto the surface allowing it to stick to vertical surfaces more easily. Once the tile and grout was clean it was rinsed off with water and stubborn areas re-treated until clean.

Duo Clean is effective at dealing with Mould on Silicone in most situations however some of the silicon sealant was beyond cleaning so in these cases the old Silicone was stripped out and replaced with new.

We were able to clean all the shower tile and grout using this process however I had brought a long a few Grout Colouring kits as a back-up solution just in case. Once the grout is clean the colourant is painted on using a small brush and makes a huge difference to the look of a shower. There also inexpensive and provide a barrier over the grout so it keeps its appearance for longer.

There were a lot of bathrooms to cover so once the cubicle was spotless we immediately moved onto the next one completing the whole project three days ahead of the due date.

Student Shower Cubicle After Cleaning in Oldham

The facilities manager was delighted with results and timing of our work and it just goes to show that using the right cleaning products can save you time and money compared to the alternative of re-grouting.

Oldham