Achieving a Natural Look on Limestone Tiling with Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal

I seem to get a lot of requests for cleaning Limestone tiled floors lately such as this example from a property in the Chesterton suburb of Cambridge. The Limestone tiles had been installed in the kitchen and adjacent dining room and it had been some time since it was last maintained. The sealer on the tiles was starting to fail making it difficult to clean and the grout had become dark with ingrained dirt.

Eager to restore the appearance of the floor I was asked to quote for deep cleaning the Limestone and Grout on both floors and then add protection with a fresh seal. I work on stone floors all the time so it didn’t take me long to come up with a renovation plan and send over a detailed quote that included all the products needed to do the job.

The quote was accepted and a date set for the work to start which would take two days.

Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

To get the Limestone tiles clean and free of any remaining sealer I sprayed the floor with Tile Doctor Remove & Go and left this to soak in for ten minutes. This product was chosen as it’s a combination cleaner and coatings remover that’s sage to use on tile and grout. It’s important to remove all the old sealer before applying a new sealer as otherwise you end up creating different layer of sealer on top of the existing which will darken the stone and result in an inconsistent appearance.

The floor was then scrubbed with a 1500-grit burnishing pad fitted to a rotary machine and a grout brush was run along the grout lines with more Tile Doctor Remove & Go. The soiling was then extracted using our van mounted machine that uses a spinner tool to deploy hot pressured water onto the floor and then extract it back to a tank on the van using a powerful vacuum. This does a great job of further cleaning the floor and removing the waste.

The floor was then inspected, and stubborn staining spot cleaned with more Tile Doctor Remove and Go and hand scrubbing where needed. After another rinse with the van mounted machine, the floor was left to dry overnight.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen Floor

The next morning the floor was checked for moisture using a damp meter to confirm it had dried. All was well so a fresh coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal was applied which will protect the Limestone tile and the Grout. This product is an invisible natural look sealer that doesn’t affect the appearance of the stone leaving it with a natural look. The last step was to buff any excess sealer off the floor with a white pad fitted to the floor buffer.

The Limestone tile and especially the grout look so much cleaner and fresher after the work and the new sealer will ensure both remain that way for some years to come. My client was happy and left the following 5-star review:“Tom was friendly and professional and did a very good job”

For aftercare cleaning I recommend the use of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is ideal for maintaining premium stone floors and includes a patina enhancing formula.

Source: Stone Cleaning and Renovation Products and Services in Chesterton near Cambridge