Stone Cleaning

Black Limestone Floor Before After Renovation Worsley Salfords

Dull Black Limestone Floor Renovated in Worsley

The photographs below are of a large Black Limestone floor at a property in Worsley which as you can see was not looking its best. Black Limestone does have a bit of a bad reputation but we find that’s mainly when used externally, The UK weather tends to leach the Oil content out of the stone causing it to look grey and generally washed out. The good news is it’s a different story when used internally although it is acid sensitive so you need to avoid the use of acidic cleaning products like bleach based as it will damage the Stone.

Black Limestone Floor Before Renovation Worsley Black Limestone Floor Before Renovation Worsley

Restoring the Appearance of a Black Limestone Floor

To clean this Black Limestone floor a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go was applied and worked it in with a 200-Grit Milling pad. These pads have a coating of industrial diamonds which work well on stone. The pad is attached to a Buffing machine and the rough texture of the pad allows it to reach into the riven parts of the stone making for a deep clean. Once done the soiling was rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Black Limestone Floor During Renovation Worsley Black Limestone Floor During Renovation Worsley

Some pointing was missing on his floor so we topped this up and there was a bit of paint as well and we got this off using some Tile Doctor Oxy gel which worked a treat. It took about thirty minutes to break down the paint particles and then water was added and scrubbed and rinsed as before, then extracted with the wet vacuum.

Sealing Limestone Patio Tiles to Restore Colour

Black Limestone is one of those stones that can look very sorry for itself until its treated and then sealed, at which point it just comes to life and looks fantastic. I wouldn’t recommend this stone for wet areas including bathrooms, shower rooms etc and certainly not outside but inside say in a Kitchen, Conservatory, Hallway etc its works really well and it looks Great when it’s done properly.

Black Limestone Floor During Sealing Worsley

The sealer used on this occasion is called Tile Doctor X-Tra sealer, it’s a one coat oil-based resin sealer that is fully breathable. The oil content works especially well on Black stone as it replaces the oil content that been lost. The result was completely transformational and the new sealer really did put the colour and life back into the stone floor.

Black Limestone Floor After Renovation Worsley Black Limestone Floor After Renovation Worsley

As usual before leaving we took time to go through maintenance with the customers as its very important not to use any detergents, acids, or bleach cleaning products on this type of stone. They will upset the sealer and then the stone and before long it will all need doing again; as such we recommend the use of a Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which won’t upset the sealer or the oil content and will clean without issue.

 

Professional Restoration of a Black Limestone Floor in Salford’s

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Old Flagstone Kitchen Floor Before After Restoration Broadbottom

Flagstone Kitchen Floor Resurfaced in Broadbottom

The new owners of this lovely terraced house in the village of Broadbottom that was built circa 1900, inherited with it a lovely old flagstone floor in the Kitchen which was now in a rather bad state with ingrained dirt and stains.

Old Flagstone Floor Before Cleaning Broadbottom

I suspected that the White staining was due to alkaline salts, a problem more commonly known as efflorescence. However, I took a moisture reading of the floor with a damp meter and the readings were normal, so it may have been a historic damp problem that cause it. We are always wary of efflorescence issues when it comes to older properties as damp proof membranes which resolve this problem are a relatively modern invention.

Old Flagstone Floor Before Cleaning Broadbottom

After explaining the process, I worked out a quote which was accepted and booked a date in the diary for the work to commence, which would take place over two days.

Cleaning and Grouting a Flagstone Kitchen Floor

First the floor was in a terrible state and needed to be resurfaced if it was going to live up to its potential. To do this I used a 100 followed by a 200-grit coarse Diamond milling pads to grind off the top layer of ground in dirt, resurface the stone and reveal the beautiful stone beneath. These abrasive pads are run over the floor with a weighted floor buffer running on a nice slow speed and lubricated with water. The floor is rinsed with more water after each pad and then the soil extracted using a wet vacuum.

As the floor had quite a few areas where the grout had cracked and crumbled, I decided to rake this out and replaced it with a flexible grout using a colour sympathetic to the original. This and the milling made an immediate improvement to the overall appearance of the floor. The floor was then left to dry off overnight and I came back the next day to apply a sealer.

Sealing a Flagstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

The next day I checked the floors moisture level before sealing, all was well, so I applied a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This is an impregnating sealer that has a matt finish. Tile Doctor Colour Grow is also fully breathable so should cope well with any damp issues and allow moisture to rise through the stone and evaporate. This is important as otherwise moisture could become trapped under the floor where it could eventually cause problems in the walls.

Old Flagstone Floor After Sealing Broadbottom Old Flagstone Floor After Sealing Broadbottom

The customers were delighted with the outcome, the colour of the stone had really improved also Milling the surface of the floor makes it smoother so it would now be much easier for them to keep clean in future.

Old Flagstone Floor After Sealing Broadbottom

For aftercare I left them with a bottle of concentrated Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which once diluted is a pH neutral product that will not erode the newly applied sealer. Many household cleaners are too strong for sealed floor and will prematurely erode the sealer over time.

 

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