Pro-Clean Archives - Devon Tile Doctor

Viakal Damaged Marble Tiled Wet Room Restoration Dartmouth

Viakal Damaged Marble Tiled Wet Room Restored in Dartmouth

I received an enquiry from an upset customer in Dartmouth whose cleaner had used Viakal to clean their new Marble Tiled wet room. The tiled walls had been sprayed at chest height and then left to dwell for two hours resulting in it running down the wall to the lower half of marble tiling and onto the floor.

Viakal is an acid-based Limescale remover and should never be used on Acid Sensitive stone such as Marble or Limestone. This particular Marble was a dark green and the White etching (damaged areas) caused by the Viakal was very obvious.

Viakal Damaged Marble Tiled Wet Room Before Renovation Dartmouth

After getting in contact with the customer I assured them the chances of me being able to cut out the damage with diamond pads were high. Then after arranging a survey, I visited to carry out a test on both the wall and floor tiles. The tests showed that the floor tiles would need more work than anticipated due to the deeper etching that had occurred due to gravity. The tests showed promise however and I was able to demonstrate the polished appearance of the Marble could be restored.

After the customer had accepted my quote for this work, we booked in some dates for the work to be carried out.

Polishing Acid Etching out of Marble Tiling

I started by giving the Marble wall and floor tiles a clean using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean sprayed onto the walls. The solution was diluted with 5 parts water and left to soak in before scrubbing with a 6-inch black pad fitted to a hand-buffer. This action was needed to remove any sealer that may still be present.

To remove the acid etching I applied a set of diamond burnishing pads starting with a coarse 400-grit and working from top to bottom. Six-inch pads were used again and only water was applied during the process to provide lubrication. Once done slurry generated was rinsed away with more water.

This process was then repeated with the finer 800-grit, 1500grit and 3000-grit pads until the entirety of the walls had been burnished and given a lovely consistent polished appearance. The process was then repeated on the floor tiles using a rotary machine and larger seventeen-inch burnishing pads. Extra weight was added to the machine to assist with the removal of the deeper etching marks in the floor stones.

Viakal Damaged Marble Tiled Wet Room During Renovation Dartmouth

Once all the stone in the Wet Room had been fully burnished/polished and had dried, I returned the next day to seal.

Sealing Marble Wet Room Tiles

Having discussed the different sealer options on my initial visit we had selected to use Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal on the Marble. This is a hard-wearing oil-based sealer that’s externally rated so ideal for wet areas like this. It also enhanced the natural colours in the mineral rich Marble. After I had applied two thin coats (allowing approximately 1 hour drying time between coats) the excess was buffed off with a White buffing pad which further enhanced the polished appearance of the stone.

Viakal Damaged Marble Tiled Wet Room After Renovation Dartmouth

The customer was thrilled with the results and it meant that they could forget about needing to replace the stone and at the same time save themselves a lot of money and disruption.

I spent some time with them after explaining the properties of their Marble and educating them on which products to use (i.e. Stone Soap) and certainly NOT use when carrying out ongoing maintenance.

Viakal Damaged Marble Tiled Wet Room After Renovation Dartmouth

Professional Cleaning and Polishing of a Marble Tiled Kitchen Floor in Devon

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Renovating Discoloured Encaustic Floor Tiles in a Honiton Hotel Bathroom

This enquiry came from a prestigious hotel outside Honiton (North of Sidmouth), they were concerned about the appearance of the Black and White floor tiles in one of their luxury bathrooms.

I visited the hotel to survey the floor tiles and could see the tiles were Encaustic and heavily soiled as described. Unlike Ceramic tiles encaustic’s need to be sealed to prevent the build-up of dirt becoming ingrained in the tile. In this case the sealer had worn off with wear and probably the use of strong cleaning products, without the sealer in place the tiles had become discoloured.

Encaustic Shower Room Floor Tiles Before Cleaning Honiton

I knew the problem could be resolved and so informed the manager there would be no need to pull the floor up and replace just before the season was about to start. She was very relieved to hear this and pleased that we could resolve the problem relatively easily and quickly.

Deep Cleaning Encaustic Floor Tiles

To restore the appearance of the encaustic tiles I applied a set of Tile Doctor’s Diamond encrusted Burnishing Pads. Starting with the 400-grit pad fitted to a weighted rotary machine I cut the surface of the tile down whilst lubricating with water during the process. Just enough is removed to get past the staining allowing the original, uniform colours to come back up.

Rinsing and extracting with the wet vacuum after each pad I moved through the series of pads onto the 800 and 1500-grit pads again using water to lubricate. It was then time for a light clean using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to lift out all the remaining slurry and dirt in and around the tiles and joints.

I then put several fan’s on to assist the floor drying before using a spray burnish technique to finish the floor. This is where a small amount of water is sprayed onto the tiles and then a very fine 3000-grit polishing diamond pad fitted to a rotary machine is run over the floor. This process helps reinstate a good level of sheen to the tiles.

Sealing an Encaustic Tiled Shower Room Floor

The following day I returned to seal the tiles first checking the floor had completely dried out. To do this I take several moisture readings using a damp meter. The readings were fine so I was satisfied the tiles were ready to accept a sealer.

To seal Encaustic tiles, I selected Tile Doctors robust colour enhancing sealer called Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal. This will be particularly good for high traffic use and will stand up to the wear and tear in a hotel bathroom.

Encaustic Shower Room Floor Tiles After Cleaning Honiton

The hotel manager was extremely happy with the results and even more so with the fact the hotel doesn’t need to replace the floor at large cost and has insisted she book me back in periodically to work through the other bathrooms/shower-rooms which are all also tiled with encaustic tiles. I also took time to advise the use of Neutral Tile cleaner for the regular cleaning of the encaustic floor tiles, it’s an effective but mild tile cleaner that’s safe to use on sealed tiles.

As much of our business comes from recommendations and repeat clients, this type of work is invaluable to us, we were delighted we could help, now they are ready for the busy holiday season.

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