Victorian Hallway Floor Tile Deep Clean & Seal, Stirling

Victorian Hallway Floor Tile Deep Clean & Seal, Stirling

This geometric Victorian tiled hallway at a property in Stirling was in need of some much-needed maintenance. The property is located in a predominately ‘Victorian’ built housing area of the city, just off the town centre. The owners of the property really appreciated the original features of their property in including the original (130-year-old) hallway floor feature; indeed, the house was a delight to behold with the many original features, preserved and still intact.

I was asked to come and survey the floor and quote on its renovation. In discussion with the customer, I ascertained that he had previously, on two occasions, sealed the floor himself, but it was now showing signs of wear and tear of the previous seal, and in addition, due to its age, a few chips and cracks.

Victorian Tiled Hallway

During the survey stage, I carried out a demonstration clean in their small vestibule area in order to show how dirty the floor had become. In addition, I inspected the floor and found there were a few cracked, worn and damaged tiles, which was only to be expected of a 130-year-old original Victorian floor but would not affect the aesthetic outcome. Moreover, there were signs of the previous seal showing as a ‘milky’ type substance and some small patches of what appeared to be efflorescence (crystalline salt deposits).  The floor tiles needed a deep clean and seal to bring back some life into the ‘old floor’.  I was confident I could rejuvenate the floor and in further discussions, we established that they would like a high sheen on the floor. With this in mind, I sent, within a day, my quotation that detailed the work and material to be used over 2 days. Within a short time period, the customers had accepted my quote and we set our diaries to a mutually agreeable start date.

Demonstration Clean

Victorian Hallway Floor Tile Deep Clean & Seal, Stirling

On the day of the restoration, I first started by applying protective sheeting to the threshold edges and skirting areas as these would be exposed to the splashes of strong alkaline stripper that I would use.  This was followed up with a thorough vacuum of the hallway floor.

This was followed by spraying the tiles with a strong dilution of a professional alkaline stripper that would after a short dwell time begins to eat into any old sealants/coatings on the floor.

 After the required dwell period, I utilised my professional cleaning machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad.  All the resulting slurry was extracted with the use of a wet & dry vacuum.

 On completion of this phase, the floor was cleaned with a neutral cleaner in order to ‘neutralise’ the remnants of the alkaline stripper I had used. In addition, the floor was rinsed using a mildly acidic rinse (this helps to eliminate any reside efflorescence) and once again, followed with a fresh clean water rinse.

Cleaning With Specialist Machine

On completion of the cleaning phase, I deployed two air-pod driers to dry off the floor overnight.

 Note: These originals Victorian floors, due to their age will not have a waterproof membrane below them as do modern floors, and they, therefore, require to ‘breath’ and expel moisture rising up from below that is consistently percolating up through these type of tiles. This issue requires careful consideration when cleaning and sealing this beautiful original tile floor.

   Sealing A Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor, Stirling

On my return the next day, I checked the tiles were dry by the use of a moisture meter. This detail is critically important (particularly for this type of original Victorian tiles) as to apply a sealer to damp tiles will lead to a patchy and ineffective seal. I was happy that the moisture reading was within tolerance levels for the water-based seal that I had decided to apply.

To begin, the floor was re-vacuumed; a single base coat of a water-based acrylic (topical) professional sealer was then applied to a small area and left to dry for 30 minutes. On my return, I inspected the seal and having ascertained that it had been effective: although I realised that being a porous stone, the floor would require a few coats of sealant. 

This particular sealer is a water-based is specially developed to protect the tile from within the stone’s pores in the clay tile and does not impede water evaporation. This sealer leaves a high sheen (almost gloss) finish which the client had requested.  This level of shine took the application of 6 coats of sealant due to the nature and porosity of the stone. Notwithstanding the time taken to achieve this, in the end, the required sheen level was achieved to which the customer wanted and, in addition, will provide long-lasting protection to the tiles.

Sealing A Victorian Tiled Floor

Victorian Hallway Floor Tile After Restoration, Stirling

The floor was greatly improved, and the client was delighted with the transformation and added that it (sealer) had given it “that lift” what they had been seeking. The geometric pattern and colours were now much more pronounced and prominent, and the hallway looked that much more inviting to both the client and visitors.

Victorian Tiled Floor Stripped, Cleaned & Sealed

I  had received an email from the customer the next day saying:

"Tom,

Hall looks brilliant this morning, just the appearance we were hoping for.

Thanks for all your efforts".

Regards

Tom

Acleanerplace Cleaning Services

Restoring The Appearance Of A Porcelain Ceramic Tiled Kitchen Floor, Bridge Of Allan, Stirlingshire

Restoring The Appearance Of A Porcelain Ceramic Tiled Kitchen Floor, Bridge Of Allan,  Stirlingshire

The customer contacted me to see if I could clean the porcelain ceramic (riven) tiles and grout in her ground kitchen and extended ground floor area of here large c. 1850 built home. Initially, I visited to conduct a demonstration clean in an area, and as you can see (below) there was a remarkable difference to the floor.

Demonstration Clean Patch

The customer also had two very large dogs that had free access to the ground floor areas which we agreed was contributing to the appearance of the one-year-old floor. Notwithstanding, riven type ceramic can very easily, as was the case here, trap dirt and grease more than their flatter counterparts.  Moreover, I gleaned that she had been using ‘shop bought’ cleaning products in an attempt to keep the floor clean.

Being as the demonstration went well the customer was keen to book a date for me to come back and clean the 58m2 area.  I agree that a deep clean would be the order to start with! I explained that as they were ceramic tiles, they did not require a seal (as would be the case on other types of kitchen tiled floors), although the grout lines would benefit from being sealed as these areas are the porous ‘weak spot’ of tiled floors. The client was happy that I would return a carry out a deep clean of the floor and assess the state of the grout and we scheduled the work in which would take a single day to complete.

Cleaning Of The Porcelain Ceramic Tiled Floor

On arrival on the day of the clean, an initial inspection of the 58m2 area was carried out to establish and additional problems since the demonstration clean.

 Having set up my equipment and established that the dogs were well out of the area, I took most of that day. I worked in small 5m2 areas by first spraying the floor with a high (professional grade) cleaner, allowing this to dwell on the tile surface for between 5-10 minutes.  I then went over the treated areas with my professional rotary and edging machines fitted with black scrubbing pads.

Ceramic Floor cleaning equipment

 After this a wet and vac machine was used to extract all the dirty water produced by the cleaning product; this was the followed-up a grout brush scrubbed along the grout lines and then by a wet mop rinsing in order to help ‘neutralise’ the alkaline cleaner and helps determine if the area, just cleaned,  is of a satisfactory standard.

As I worked my way across the large floor area in sections, I left an air blower in place over the completed section to quicken the drying process. This process was repeated throughout the large area until I was able to exit the ground floor by the rear external door.

Once dry the floor was inspected before we allowed the customer to view it. As mentioned, there was no need to seal the floor as ceramic tiles will not accept a sealer, however, the inspection did highlight the difference in some areas of grout that were discoloured. I highlighted this to the customer who will now consider having the grout lines re-coloured in the future.

Ceramic Floor Before Clean

Ceramic Floor After Clean

  

The customer, having inspected the floor, was over-the-moon with the difference that I had achieved, so much so that she has booked me to come back on a regular (6 Monthly) basis to and clean the floor.

If you are considering or having problems with the maintenance of your tiled floor, then get in touch with Acleanerplace Cleaning Services and a floor technician will only be too happy to visit and survey your floor. Acleanerplace Cleaning Services operate thought out the Forth Valley area of Scotland providing a variety of specialist cleaning services.