We are busy cleaning these attractive cement encaustic tiles in North London  They are a fairly standard design and not too dirty, stained or far gone.  The client in this case was very good by ensuring the tiles where adequately sealed after installation . We found the dirt had not penetrated the sealers he applied and so when these where stripped off the tiles where nice and clean underneath . Believe me this is not always the case with cement encaustic tiles!!

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As you can see in the pic above the cleaning result was quite effective. We have some tried and tested methods for cleaning and restoring these tiles when they have become too damaged and stained. This one above was a near perfect result as hallway tiles get less traffic etc, however in the case of shower rooms and high traffic areas with much staining we do struggle to get them perfect.

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Quarry tile floor clean and wax in Radlett

This quarry tiled floor is being restored in Radlett Hertfordshire WD 7. Gills Hill.

This is the original floor for this house built in 1910 and the owners have introduced new quarry tiles on the upper lever to meet up with the original quarry tiles.

If its one thing that is certain, it’s the fact that many builders love trashing quarry tiles. They dont cover them up at all and literally cover them in plaster, cement, paint and whatever else they are working with!

Luckily we are able to deep clean quarry tiles removing the toughest dirt and stains. Quarry tiles are pretty resistant to chemicals so we are quite free to use whatever we need to remove a particular stain or something that shouldn’t be there. This includes acidic detergents which helps us remove cement residue and old plaster that has been left on the tiles.

With this original quarry tile floor we applied a natural bees wax finish . This area of the house did not have heating and was subject to rising damp and bees wax is permeable allowing the tiles to breath properly so that moisture vapour and salts etc are able to rise to the surface of the wax finish.

This whole job was relatively quick and we cleaned it all in a day. We then sealed and applied the wax in about 4 hours the following day when the tiles had dried

We are based in Hertfordshire so please drop us a line if you need this work done, and if you need more info on cleaning quarry tiles see our guide

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We are in the process of cleaning and restoring this grand Victorian tiled hallway in Radlett WD7. I was quite surprised to find this stunning design in Radlett as mostly I find this style of Victorian tile design closer to London. The encaustic tiles in the pattern are very nice and this one actually cleaned up very well with minimal damage to the screed as we find quite often.

Here you can see the hallway that has now been deep cleaned. However it has not been waxed or sealed so looks quite flat. At this stage the tiles are incredibly porous as all of the dirty old bees wax and oils have been stripped out. 

Here in the above pic you can see us repairing tiles that where broken or damaged. We will work our way through the floor replacing and marking work done with blue tape. This is the only way to prevent people from stepping on the wet tiles.

Colour matching and filling chips in Victorian floor tiles

We always spend a few hours going through all the tiles filling and colouring chips and cracks. We use specialist durable tile paints and ceramic waxes that work well on Victorian floor tiles. This process saves allot of money on the job as these tiles can be expensive to replace .

Hard wax or bees wax on Victorian floor tiles

In the above pic you can see the finished result where the tiles have been deep sealed, waxed and buffed. For this one we opted for a natural hard wax with bees wax mixed in it. Bees wax is permeable so allows things to breath and the homeowner mentioned damp issues present in the house. Other modern acrylic tile waxes that give the high shine look are a complete moisture barrier and will trap any rising vapours that will cause white patches in the wax. Bees wax and hard waxes are also easier to maintain.

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After the above we can begin the polishing process to close the pours and bring your marbles and limestones up to a good attractive shine should you require this look. We aim to work more in Beaconsfield , Gerrards Cross, Chesham and generally South Buckinghamshire

 Limestone tiled floor deep cleaned and polished in Buckinghamshire

With this limestone floor we applied chemical to the each tile and hand scrubbed everything and all grout lines first to get the dirt out of all the little nooks and crevices in the stone. This limestone was unfilled so it really did hold the dirt that was built up over the past decade. The dirt came out in a satisfying black sludge that was carefully rinsed from the stone.

In the pic above we completely cleaned and polished half the limestone to completion before moving the furniture to do the other half of the area. It really gave a good before and after effect and this client was over the moon :). This home owner was actually considering a new floor altogether but luckily with natural stone you can always remove layers of the surface to restore it!

Here you can see the general difference in the look of the room after the tiles have been professionally cleaned, honed, polished and sealed. Everything was a few shades lighter and the client actually said ” its like someone turned the lights on in my house”

 Properly sealing limestone tiles

Once cleaned natural stone tiles need to be properly sealed in order to keep them looking great for longer. Sealing limestone and marble is not a case of splashing some tile sealer onto it! It needs to be fully sealed with multiple coats where the sealer is machine buffed into the stone between coats. If the sealer is not conditioned with proper buffing you will not be able to get enough sealer into the stone as it will pool and saturate in more dense areas of the stone causing sticky patches. Buffing allows us to spread the sealer into the pours of the stone to achieve a good saturation level.

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