Allot of the restoration work we do involves quarry tiles, and we find allot of quarry and terracotta tiles in Hitchin, Welling, Letchworth and Stevenage. These tiles can be very charming in a period home and are really worth being looked after. Some of these quarry tiles are well over a hundred years old and true antiques.
In the job below ( pic) a small kitchen quarry tiled floor in Hitchin needed some TLC. The homeowner did not want fancy glossy waxes or anything that stood out too much. Instead with this one we simply removed any dirt and then finished it with products designed not to change the natural colour of the quarry tiles. Scroll down below to see a bit about how we cleaned this floor.
Applying wax remover to quarry tiles
With original quarry tiles In most situations you will find some type of old bees wax, oils or modern tile sealers and waxes present in your quarry tiles. These tiles are very porous and all types of things find their way deep into these tiles over the many years.
The best way to remove allot of this contamination is with a solvent based wax remover such as Wax Off . ( see in pic above) You can see how effortlessly it dissolved very tough oils, waxes and glues on these quarry tiles.
Its very simple to apply all you need to do is spread the product and give it time to work. Help it along by scrubbing with a stiff bristled brush and eventually all the wax, glues and whatever else will dissolve with this product.
After the this contamination is removed you are free to deep clean with acidic detergents and whatever other cleaning techniques you want to use.
Applying wax to quarry tiles
In this example the homeowner did not want to change the natural colour of their quarry tiles so we have applied impregnating sealers that do not change the colour and then opted for natural waxes that have less of a shine / sheen to them.
Applying a wax to quarry tiles is easily done with a micro fibre cloth. Decide if you want wax in the grout lines and apply a small amount per tile. Then work it in to the tile in a circular motion. Give the wax a few minutes to solidify a bit and then buff with a dry microfibre cloth. The buffing sets it off, hardens it and also conditions the surface look.
Our Services
We do this tile cleaning and stone refurb work around Hitchin, Letchworth, Welling , Stevenage and all of Hertfordshire. Give us a call if you want us to restore or give your tiles a bit of TLC!