Making Quick Work of Cleaning Limestone Kitchen Flooring with a Silicone Carbide Brush in Whitley Bay
I was called by a lady from Whitley Bay who had a Limestone floor installed in her kitchen a few years back, since then it had become very dirty very quickly and looked very dirty. It was now proving very hard to keep clean and looked permanently grubby.
I went over to survey the floor and quickly diagnosed that the sealer which protects the pores of the stone from dirt had worn away leaving it vulnerable. Once dirt becomes ingrained into the stone it becomes very difficult to clean. To give her an idea of how well the tiles could look I deep cleaned a tile in the middle of the floor along with the adjacent grout. The difference was remarkable, especially the grout which really came up and it demonstrated just how dirty the floor was.
Impressed with the difference, I was asked to work out a quote to deep clean the Limestone tiles and grout and then to seal it with a durable impregnator. Happy with the plan, the quote and start date was agreed.
Cleaning a Limestone Tiled Kitchen in Whitley Bay
Work started with taping up the kicker boards and skirting, as I didn’t want any of the water I’d be using to clean to seep into the underneath and damage them. Kicker boards are usually made of MDF and this is easily damaged by water ingress.
The floor was then given a good vacuum before running over the tiles with a Silicone Carbide Brush fitted to a rotary scrubber. The process was lubricated using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which on order to break down any remaining sealer and deep clean the stone of grease and ingrained dirt. This generates a lot of soiling which is rinsed off with more water and then extracted with a wet vacuum.
The grout lines were then scrubbed using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked in by hand with a stiff brush. The brush does clean the grout but can struggle to get into the recesses of the grout lines so I like to follow up by hand.
After another rinse and extraction with the wet vacuum the floor was left to dry overnight.
Sealing a Limestone Tiled Kitchen
Before applying the sealer, I checked the tiles were dry using a moisture meter in several areas. Applying sealer to a damp floor can result in a patchy appearance so I always check. In this case the floor had dried nicely overnight, and I was able to proceed.
The sealer chosen for this floor was Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnator that soaks into the pores of the limestone preventing dirt from residing there and ensuring dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away. A couple of coats later and the floor looked great with a subtle satin sheen. The colour enhancing formula of the sealer always did a nice job of bringing out the natural colours and tones in the stone.
The floor was transformed by the process and my client was over the moon with the finish. Before leaving I took time to provide some advice on how to maintain the tiles going forward and the importance of using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner for day-to-day cleaning.
Source: Professional Limestone Floor Cleaning Solutions and Services near Whitley Bay