Reclaimed Quarry Tiled Terrace Deep Cleaned with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean in Tavistock Dartmoor
A homeowner in Tavistock reached out to us regarding a reclaimed Quarry tiled terrace they had laid the previous year. All the Quarry tiles were original and over 100 years old, they had come from several sources/properties due to the volume needed and in total covered an area of 120m2. As you would expect the condition of some tiles were showing their age better than others and many had signs of efflorescence which had since settled.
Intrigued I went over to the property to get a better understanding of the issues and conduct some tests before quoting. You never quite know what your dealing with when it comes to tiles like these with a long history so it’s always best to book a survey.
The test area came out well but I left it for a fortnight before contacting the owner back to ensure there we no other issues that had come to light since. All was well so I worked out a detailed quote which was accepted and a couple of dates were agreed; being outside the work would depend on having a good weather window.
Deep Cleaning a 120m2 Quarry Tiled Terrace
The process began with a mandatory alkaline clean to strip off soiling and remnants of old sealer. I understood that many of the reclaimed Quarry tiles had been used internally so will most likely have been sealed at some point. For this clean I used Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted 1:5 solution to water. The solution was sprayed onto the tiles, left to soak in for fifteen minutes and then scrubbed in with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine. This action pulled the dirt out of the tiles into the solution turning it black at which point it was extracted with a wet vacuum and the process repeated.
After this I treated the tiles to an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up diluted 1:3 with water. Again, this was left onto the tiles for fifteen minutes to soften contaminates such as old stubborn grout haze and cement stains before being worked in with a black pad and more water.
The above process was done in sections and once complete the whole area was rinsed with water to remove any trace of products and then dried with a wet vacuum.
Sealing External Reclaimed Quarry Tiles
The weather held so the Terrace was left to dry out and I returned later to finish the work with the application of a sealer. To seal external areas like this Terrace I like to apply Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an effective interior and exterior sealer. It’s an oil-based product which gives the Quarry tiles a lovely satin appearance and really brings out the depth of red colour in the tiles.
The work completely restored the appearance of the reclaimed Quarry Tiles and with the Terrace transformed and ready for summer my client was very happy to see their decision to use reclaimed tiles that suited the period property had paid off.
For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. This is a pH neutral product which is gentle enough for daily use. It won’t compromise the newly applied sealer which can be a problem with the stronger bleach-based products you find in supermarket products.
Source: Quarry Tile Cleaning Products and Services in Tavistock Dartmoor