Longbenton Tile Cleaning Archives - Tyneside Tile Doctor

Brown Stained Limestone Fireplace Cleaning Jesmond

Removing Stains from a Recently Installed Limestone Fireplace in Jesmond

A homeowner from Jesmond in Newcastle had a newly installed Limestone Fireplace which had become badly stained by the installers during installation. They had attempted to clean the dust off but made rather a mess of it leaving brown staining all over the contemporary limestone hearth, there was also glue staining where the stone sections had been glued together and the glue had been allowed to run off marking the stone and then wiped off.

Brown Stained Limestone Fireplace Before Cleaning Jesmond

I asked for some photos of the staining to be emailed over and explained that I was confident the staining could be removed and the fireplace returned to its original condition. As expected, the photos indicated the problem, and I was able to provide a quote without making a site visit. The client was happy with my proposal and quotation, and we booked in a date for the work to be carried out.

Cleaning a Limestone Fireplace

I first protected the surrounding areas, wallpaper, carpet and skirting boards, gave the hearth a light vacuum and set up to carry out the work.

My first cleaning task was to spray the stained areas with a Tile Doctor product called Reduxa. This was left to soak in before using a heat gun set at 400 degrees to gently heat up the treated area. This causes the stain to evaporate out with the Reduxa and may need to be repeated several times until the stain had gone completely. There were several areas that need treating like this so the process was repeated on all the stains.

Brown Stained Limestone Fireplace Before Reduxa Cleaning Jesmond

Brown Stained Limestone Fireplace During Reduxa Cleaning Jesmond

Next there were several areas of glue staining which needed deep cleaning which was removed using handheld diamond blocks of different grits and a little water.

Sealing a Limestone Tiled Fireplace

Once I was happy the limestone was clean, dry and free of all staining it was sealed with a coat of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is an invisible impregnator that will protect the limestone from spills. Impregnators soak into the stone occupying the pores so that dirt etc cannot reside there, this ensures it stays on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

Brown Stained Limestone Fireplace After Cleaning Jesmond

I then tidied leaving the area clean and tidy and the fireplace looking the way it should have done following installation. I then showed the client and he was over the moon that the stains were gone.

On the topic of aftercare cleaning, I recommended using of Neutral Tile Cleaner decanted into a spray bottle with water. This can then be sprayed on and wiped off, being of neutral ph it won’t impact the sealer which should last for many years.

Professional Renovation of a Limestone Fireplace in Newcastle

Removing Stains from a Recently Installed Limestone Fireplace in Jesmond Read More »

Emperador Marble Pool Surround Renovation Longbenton

Emperador Marble Pool Surround Repaired and Polished in Longbenton

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Longbenton Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning / Spencer Morgan

I thought I would share this job with you as its surprising some of the jobs I get to do as a Tile Doctor. In this case I was asked to visit a newly purchased property in North of Longbenton that had a rather spectacular swimming pool with a Marble tiled surround.

Marble Swimming Pool Tiles Before Cleaning Longbenton

The customer wanted to improve the look of the pool tiles which hadn’t been maintained for a while and had watermarks from the pool and a few of the tiles were scratched and cracked.

I arranged a time to pop over and visit the property so I could survey the condition of the Marble tiles and work out what would be needed to restore their appearance. On the most part I could see they still had a shine but were looking a little dull and in need of a polish which should also remove the scratches.

Marble Swimming Pool Tiles Before Cleaning Longbenton

The rich brown tones and distinct white veins in the Marble resembled a Spanish stone known as “Emperador Dark Marble” which is very expensive and can be polished to a high shine.

I was confident the Marble could be renovated to a high standard and the faded colours restored. Keen to have the work done I worked out a detailed quotation which was accepted and a date scheduled.

Deep Cleaning Emperador Marble Swimming Pool Tiles

The first job was to give the entire floor a good clean including the grout lines. For this a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was brushed onto the floor, left to dwell and then agitated with a red buffing pad fitted to a rotary machine. This removed all the dirt trapped in the grout and the tiles bringing it to the surface where it was caught in the cleaning solution. The solution turns into a dark slurry during the process before being rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum leaving the area clean.

Marble Swimming Pool Tiles During Cleaning Longbenton

Naturally you have to be careful when working near the edge of the pool and ensure that none of the solution gets into the pool water. Fortunately, the pool had a hard cover fitted so only a small amount of protection was required near the water’s edge.

The next step was to repair the cracks using a resin filler which is carefully colour matched to the colour of the Marble. The next step of polishing would ensure that the excess resin is smoothed down and undetectable from the surrounding stone.

Polishing Emperador Marble Tiles to a High Shine

Then it was onto polishing the Marble with a set of Tile Doctors Diamond burnishing pads. You start with the application of a coarse 400-grit pad, then move onto medium 800-grit pad, fine 1500-grit pad and finishing with the extra fine 3500-grit pad.

The pads are fitted to a rotary floor buffer and are run over each tile using water for lubrication. The floor is rinsed between the application of each pad with the fine slurry that is generated extracted with the wet vacuum.

The last step was to add a durable finish to the Marble using Tile Doctor Shine Powder with a horsehair pad. This really made the tiles pop with a very deep shine. Following that the floor was rinsed and left to dry.

Marble Swimming Pool Tiles After Renovation Longbenton

With a swimming pool area, a sealer is not advisable as the chlorine will eat into it quickly and take it away, so I used a Stone Soap which seals the floor naturally and if used with a regular cleaning schedule it will protect the floor and keep the floor sealed going forward.

Professional Renovation of a Faded Marble Tiles in Tyne and Wear

Emperador Marble Pool Surround Repaired and Polished in Longbenton Read More »

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Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Encaustic Cement Tile Cleaning, Fireplace Cleaning, Flagstone Tile Cleaning, Gateshead Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Hebburn Tile Cleaning, Jarrow Tile Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Longbenton Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Newcastle upon Tyne Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Ryton Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, South Shields Tile Cleaning, Sunderland Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Tynemouth Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Vinyl Tile Cleaning, Wallsend Tile Cleaning, Washington Tile Cleaning, Whickham Tile Cleaning, Whitley Bay Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Spencer Morgan

Tyneside Tile Doctor

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