This Limestone tiled floor at a property in Basildon was installed twenty years prior and was now well overdue a deep clean and seal. The floor was quite large and extended from the kitchen into the adjacent dining room.
The sealer had done incredibly well to last this long but was now almost non-existent in the busier parts of the floor. This had left the Limestone vulnerable to ingrained dirt leaving it looking dull and unattractive.
To resolve this the tile and grout needed deep cleaning to remove all the ingrained dirt and then protected with a fresh durable sealer. I worked out a detailed quote for the floor which was accepted and a date scheduled.
Deep Cleaning Limestone Tile and Grout
To remove sealers, I usually use Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a strong alkaline stripper, however in this case I was able to remove what was left of the sealer with a strong dilution of Pro-Clean. This is another Tile Doctor product that is also a very good tile and grout cleaner.
I used the usual method of spraying the floor with Pro-Clean, leaving it to soak in for ten to fifteen minutes to give the product time to breakdown and digest the soils and remaining sealer. Next the floor was scrubbed with rotary machine fitted with a Black Pad running at 150 rpm. This action releases the soils from the floor into the solution where it could be extracted with a wet vacuum. The pads can struggle to reach into the recesses of the grout line so I follow up by scrubbing the grout with a stiff brush.
It was a large floor so the work was done in sections and then inspected afterwards and any stubborn marks spot cleaned until I was happy with the whole floor. The floor was then rinsed with water to remove any remnants and then dried with the wet vacuum.
Sealing a Limestone Tiled Floor in Basildon
The next step was to add a fresh sealer however for the best results the stone needs to be dry so before starting the next day it was checked with a damp meter. The readings were fine so the first coat of what would be two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal was applied. This sealer doesn’t contain any colour enhancer so it leaves the stone with invisible hardwearing protection and a very natural look.
Ultra-Seal is an impregnating sealer that soaks into the pores of the stone preventing dirt from residing there, keeping it on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.
With the dirt removed and a fresh sealer the floor looked brand new in fact the customer said that she didn’t think that it was going to look as good as that.
Regarding regular cleaning, I recommended using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a pH neutral cleaner. We recommend neutral cleaners for the sealing of sealed surfaces as stronger products erode the sealer.
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