Tile Doctor Pro-Clean - Professional Tile and Grout Cleaner - 1 litre

Product Information

Marble tiles can be tumbled in large drums to achieve an aged and softened effect, and this can look very nice providing that the stone is adequately maintained. After allowing the floor dry out overnight, I returned to apply two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow, which is a solvent-based, impregnating sealer designed to enhance the variety of natural colours and shades in the stone. It also protects the stone against daily exposure to chemical-based shampoo and soaps. Once the floor has been cleaned and dried apply Tile Doctor Seal & Go sealer with a paint-pad applicator and tray. terracotta tiles typically require between 6 and 8 coats of sealant, always allow to dry before applying the next coat. Maintenance Cleaning When the tiles arefully dry apply eitheronecoat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow to enhance the natural colours of darker Travertine’s. If however you area sealing a white or off-white Travertine and you not wish to darken the stone apply a single coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which provides a natural look finish. A second coat of sealer may be required if the stone is very porous.

I discussed with the client what could be done to clean the floor and demonstrated the products and technique I would use on a test patch. They were suitably impressed, and we agreed a price for the work and booked a time to complete the job. The job was scheduled for two days, one day to clean and the second to seal the floor. Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Hallway Floor Once the floor has been cleaned and dried apply Tile Doctor Seal & Go sealer with a paint-pad applicator and tray. Spanish or Mexican terracotta tiles are very porous and may require up to 8 or 9 coats of sealant, always allow to dry before applying the next coat. FRENCH, ITALIANOR SPANISH (semi hand-made) To begin the restoration, I applied both Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, which is a high alkaline cleaner, and Tile Doctor Remove and Go, which a heavy-duty stripper and remover, to the floor and scrubbed the products in using a scrubbing pad fitted to a professional rotary machine. You have to be careful when doing this sort of work as many modern kitchen floors are installed with an electric heating matt which is easily destroyed when lifting a tile. In this case there was no matt under the tile but to my surprise the was another tile so it was clear that the tiler had simply tiled over an existing tiled floor. I hear this is a popular thing to do as a tiled floor usually makes a good base. Stage 2 involved removing limescale deposits and improving the appearance of the stone by applying a combination of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up and Tile Doctor Acid Gel, again leaving it to soak into the stone for ten minutes before working it in. Limescale and other mineral deposits can build-up over time and leave a white deposit and make the patio look very dull. Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up is designed to remove light grout smears and mineral deposits such as limescale, when combined with Tile Doctor Acid Gel it is super effective. Finally, a low-pressure rinse and vacuum was then performed, removing all of the cleaning solution and dirt from the patio. By the end of stage 2 the Slate patio was already looking significantly improved. Sealing a Slate Tiled PatioOnce the floor was dry my next step normally would be to seal the tiles but most Porcelain tiles (including this variety) are not porous and therefore won’t accept a sealer Travertine tile is a natural stone material that has unique features and colouring that no other stone can offer. The distinctive design and natural patterns found within Travertine make it very popular as a flooring material and is often used as bathroom wall tiles and table tops. Travertine's durability makes it ideal for commercial and residential installations and it is often used externally. Floor Tile Cleaning

After an hour, the Colour Grow had dried and I began building up coats of acrylic seal ‘Seal & Go’. Terracotta is quite a porous material and the floor took six coats of Seal & Go before I had achieved the right level of sheen desired by the customer. For the aftercare of unpolished Limestone, I recommend Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is designed for the cleaning of sealed Tile and Stone. If using a different product always read the label first as many cleaners are too strong for use on sealed surfaces and will strip off the sealer over time. To get the grout lines really clean they had to be hand scrubbed using more Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a hand-held scrubbing brush. The rotary pads struggle to get into the recesses of the grout lines, so this really is the best method and I find you get a better finish with this extra effort. The resulting soiled cleaning solution was then pressure rinsed with water and the soil extracted with a wet-vacuum, leaving a completely clean floor that was now ready to be sealed using a new sealant. Sealing Tumbled Marble Tiles My customer was very happy with the transformation and with the summer just around the corner can now enjoy their freshly laid Limestone patio in all its glory. More importantly it is now sealed and protected against future elements.On these tiles, we used a 50:50 combination of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed with Tile Doctor Remove and Go. This combination of products works very well to break down old sealers and also to clean the general soil away from the tile. As usual it was left to soak into the tiles for ten minutes before using a heavy duty scrubbing machine to scrub the floor clean. This achieved a good result and the soil and products were then flushed away using our special flushing tool which fires a jet of water onto the tile whilst vacuuming at the same time (no mess!) to an external tank. Sealing Victorian Tiles The dryers had worked their magic so I was able to begin sealing the floor with Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an effective interior and exterior sealer. With the lobby being a high traffic area, I applied four coats to ensure a durable seal. The benefit of this sealer is it gave the floor a nice sheen really bringing out the depth of colour in the tiles, and with the newly applied grout the floor looked great. After scrubbing the floor was rinsed with a little water and the soil removed with a wet vacuum. Afterwards the floor was inspected, and any stubborn areas retreated with repeat of the process. After a final rinse, the floor was dried as much as possible with the wet vacuum. Sealing Encaustic Cement Tiles Now normally I would clean Encaustic Cement tiles with a set of burnishing pads and then seal with an impregnator like Tile Doctor Colour Grow. However, due to the damage caused by the DIY restoration I didn’t want to risk an abrasive cleaning process such as Burnishing on the tiles. After discussing the options, I recommend the best approach would be to deep clean the tiles with Tile Doctor Pro Clean which I was confident would improve their appearance. I would then seal the tiles to protect them from future damage whilst making the patterns much brighter and defined. We agreed a price and scheduled a date to start the work. Deep Cleaning Victorian Encaustic Cement Tiles

For architecturally specified sealers we recommend Tile Doctor Pro-Seal which is a water based impregnating sealer suitable for all types of honed stone including Travertine. Regular Maintenance of Travertine Clean the floor using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean Heavy Duty Tile and Grout Cleaner which ishighly effective against Wax Sealers, Grease, Grime and general dirt build up. If you have the use of a 150 RPM (or slightly higher) buffing machine restore the honed finish by burnishing the floor using a No.1 Red burishing pad to take off the old sealer and ground in dirt, add water to the area and then go over each tile with the pad 3 or 4 times, then remove the dirty water using a wet vaxand rinse the floor. Next take off the coarse pad and apply a No2 Blue burnishing pad andrepeat the process followed by the No.3 Yellow burnishing pad. Againremove the water with a wet Vax machine and then scrub the grout joints with Pro-Clean diluted 1:5 parts water. Leave to fully dry and then complete by applying a No. 4 Green burnishing pad and polish with a squirt of water. When fully polished protect the floor by applying a sealer as per instructions below.

The client was very happy with the result and felt they could now keep on top of keeping it clean and looking fresh moving forward. They could now remove the rugs too! If you require a free quotation to clean and seal your stone floors do get in touch.

This gives the floor a good mechanical scrub and works wonders releasing the ground-in dirt and soil from the tiles. The strong dilution of Pro-Clean will also remove any remaining sealers from the tile, however after sixteen years I doubted there would much trace of sealer left. Once done the floor was rinsed with water and all the soils removed with a wet vacuum. For a low sheen finish on internal floors apply Tile Doctor Seal & Go sealer using a paintpad applicator and tray. 4 to 5 coats of sealant may be required, always allow to dry before applying further coats. Extract the soiled cleaning solution using a wetvacuum and then neutralisethefloor by rinsing w As you can see from the pictures, the difference made it well worth doing. After a final rinse with water and extraction with the wet vacuum the floor was then left overnight to dry out. If you require advice on how to clean your old stone floor and tile grout to make it look like new and then how best to reseal it so it keeps looking new you have come to the right place.

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Hallway Floor

Now the floor has been properly sealed it will be far easier for the customer to keep them clean in future. For maximum longevity of the sealer I recommend maintenance cleaning with Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner. Don’t be tempted to use supermarket cleaning products without reading the label first, many are simply too strong for cleaning sealed surfaces and will strip off the sealer prematurely leaving the tiles unprotected. Following the clean, we low pressure rinsed the floor with water and vacuumed all the residue away, leaving the floor ready for sealing. The Limestone tiles and grout looked much better already after cleaning and it was left to dry overnight. Sealing a Limestone Tiled Hallway Floor The new sealer will protect against dirt from muddy wellies, boots, and pets, keeping the dirt on the surface where it can easily be removed using an everyday cleaning product like Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner. The best sealant we find for Terracotta is a topical sealer called Seal and Go that generally leaves a satin finish that coats the tiles to stop dirt and grime penetrating into the clay. An impregnating sealer (that generally leaves a matt finish) does not work particularly well with a soft clay such as Mexican Terracotta due to the high porosity of the clay. Tile Doctor recommends that Terracotta in particular requires a regular top up of sealer in high traffic areas once or twice a year. MEXICAN (hand-made) After sufficient scrubbing, we were satisfied that all of the soil was broken up, we then machine flushed and vacuumed the cleaning product and dirt away from the floor. As these tiles are factory sealed there is no need to apply a sealant.