A customer from Oldham contacted us looking for a solution to their very dirty flagstone kitchen floor. They hadn’t lived in the property long and it seems the previous owner had neglected it completely. They had contacted several different stone restoration companies and had received varying advice and quotes that ranged from £500 to £3000. Some companies had said it was a lost cause and others recommended sandblasting. They hired one firm to do the work and were disappointed with the result, as I would have been given the photographs on this page. They had nearly given up but after finding us on-line decided to have one last attempt at having it renovated.
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I went over to inspect the flagstones and recommended a process we call milling which has proved to be very effective in resurfacing stone floors in the past. It uses very coarse diamond encrusted floor pads which grind away the top layer of stone and unlike sand blasting doesn’t make a huge mess. I ran a small test whilst I was at the property and it was immediately obvious this solution would be effective. Another advantage of milling the floor in this way was that the stone would end up being smooth to the touch and not rough as before.
It was a large job so I asked my neighbouring Tile Doctor Russell Taylor from North Lancaster Tile Doctor to work with me on the floor for the first day, this would ensure my customer wouldn’t be overly inconvenienced and without the use of their kitchen for a long time.
Resurfacing a Flagstone Kitchen Floor in Oldham
On the first day the kitchen was prepped which included removing the kickboards underneath the units for better access. Once this was done the milling process began using a 50-grit DRB milling pad followed by 100-grit DRB and 200-grit DRB pads. The pads are fitted to a weighted floor buffer and run over the floor using water to lubricate the process. After each pad the floor is rinsed with water and the slurry removed with a wet vacuum.
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After the first day it was clear the floor was rapidly improving, the customer emailed me that evening thanking me for the improvement, and we weren’t even finished yet.
“Ahh fabulous. Honestly, we can’t thank you enough for the work you’ve done. We are completely over the moon with it – thank you so much 🙂 “
I returned the following day to further improve and smooth the flagstone surface with softer pads of 200 and 400-grit. Again, the floor was rinsed with water and then the soil extracted with a wet vacuum.
On day three an area of damaged grout was cut out using an angle grinder and then repointed with a matching flexible grout. Using a light grey grout complemented the renovation of the floor.
Sealing a Flagstone Tiled Kitchen Floor
For the sealer to cure effectively the stone floor needs to be bone dry so before sealing we always take several moisture readings with a damp meter before applying a sealer. In most cases we can seal the next day however when dealing with old floors that don’t have a damp-proof membrane under the floor you can never be sure.
Unfortunately, there was too much moisture in some of the floor when I returned the following day, so I left it for another day. Fortunately, by day five the moisture readings had settled and so I proceeded to seal the whole floor with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is a penetrating sealer that works by occupying the pores in the stone so dirt cannot become ingrained there. Ultra-Seal doesn’t change the look of the stone leaving it with a very natural appearance.
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The pictures speak for themselves and the customer who finally has the floor they wanted was over the moon with the result!
Never use a strong cleaning product or a steam cleaner for the regular cleaning of sealed tiles as this will reduce the life of the sealer. We recommend using a specialist cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner or Stone Soap for the regular cleaning of sealed surfaces, if you do use another product always read the label first, most supermarket tile cleaners are only suitable for use on Ceramic or Vinyl tiles.