Burnishing Pads Archives - South West London Tile Doctor

Acid Stained Marble Floor Renovation Twickenham

Shine Restored to a Dull Marble Tiled Wet Room Floor in Twickenham

1 Comment / Work History / Daniel Connelly

I was asked to renovate a beautiful dark Marble tiled floor in the wet room of a property in Twickenham. My clients had the tiles installed ten years ago and had never had it professionally cleaned in that time, over the years they had maintained the stone poorly using general floor cleaning products.

Unfortunately, cleaning products with an acid base are not suitable for use on calcium-based stone like Marble, Limestone, Terrazzo and Travertine. The acid reduces the life of the sealer and can react with the calcium leaving stains and, in some cases, etching.

Acid Stained Marble Floor Before Renovation Twickenham

I was able to reassure the client that although the Marble looked beyond renovation it was not the case and that they could be restored to their original condition. They are not the only clients to have had this issue with polished stone and Tile Doctor has worked out a solution that can be used to restore their original polished appearance.

Relieved there was a solution I was asked to provide a quote which was accepted and a date for the work to start agreed.

Cleaning and Repairing a Marble Tiled Bathroom

To start we did a small test in the corner to be sure the renovation plan would be successful, although we have worked on many of these situations before, we still like to do a small verification test before starting any job.

All was well with the test, so the remedy was deployed to the whole floor. This begins with the application of a coarse 400-grit diamond burnishing pad to the floor worked in with water and a solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. This combination removes any remaining sealer and dirt from the marble as well as removing etching. A wet vacuum is then used to extract the slurry from the surface.

Acid Stained Marble Floor During Renovation Twickenham

Once satisfied the tile was ready for the next pad we then went to work with a medium 800-grit pad to deep clean and begin to hone the tile to restore its polished appearance using only water. After another rinse and extraction, we then moved onto the fine 1500-grit pad to bring the tile to a polished appearance again using water for lubrication.

The last pad is a super fine 3500-grit pad which is applied dry using only a small amount of water sprayed onto the tile to fully polish the marble. Our client didn’t want a high gloss, so we concentrated more on giving the tile a nice depth and low shine.

Sealing a Marble Tiled Bathroom

Once the Marble tiles had dried, they were sealed using Tile Doctor X-Tra seal, wiping small amounts into the tile at a time and then removing the excess with a clean cloth. This is especially important with oil-based sealers as too much oil left in the tile will make it sticky once dry and leave a light residue on the surface.

Acid Stained Marble Floor After Renovation Twickenham

X-Tra Seal is rated for external use which makes it a good choice for wet areas, it’s also an impregnator that soaks into the stone protecting it from within and ensuring contaminates remaining on the surface where they can be cleaned away.

Once complete the Marble had a very attractive low gloss finish that was protected and ready for anything they could throw at it…anything but acid-based cleaners! It’s important that if you do ever accidently use the wrong cleaner you immediately wash it away with plenty of clean water. This will neutralise the acid and hopefully save the floor. For a sealed and polished floor like this I recommend Tile Doctor Stone Soap which contains a patina enhancer.

Acid Stained Marble Floor After Renovation Twickenham

Professional Renovation of Marble Flooring in a South London Bathroom

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Grout-Stained Terrazzo Hallway Floor Renovated in Barnes

The pictures below come from a property in Barnes near Richmond upon Thames where a hallway floor had been laid with Terrazzo tiles. The tiles had been laid well but unfortunately the tiler had spread grout all over the tiles and not cleaned it off properly.

This is not uncommon when tiling a floor and is known in the trade as Grout Haze or Grout Smearing, the results in a haze over the tiles which detracts from their appearance. To make things even worse however, the tiler had then applied a sealer over the Terrazzo with the grout still on there. This locked in the hazy finish and left the tiles looking dull.

Terrazzo Floor Grout Haze Before Cleaning Barnes

Since that time the sealer had worn down and the floor had collected lots of ingrained dirt, leaving it darker and discoloured and subdued.

I was called in to renovate the floor and having surveyed the tiles I recommended burnishing the tiles with a set of Tile Doctor Burnishing Pads which are made from different grades of industrial diamonds. They clean the floor, removing staining such as the grout haze and build an attractive sheen on the Terrazzo. Once done I would re-seal the floor with a natural look sealer.

I worked out a quote which was accepted, and a date set for the work to start.

Cleaning a Terrazzo Tiled Hallway

Work started with the application of the first burnishing pad which is a coarse 400-grit and this is attached to a floor buffing machine that had an extra 55kg of weight added. The pad is run over each tile several times using only water for lubrication. The water turns black with the dirt released from the floor and after completing the whole floor it is rinsed away and extracted with a wet vacuum.

This process is then repeated with the finer pads of 800 and 1500 grit which start to build a polish onto the tile. After each pad is run over the floor the slurry is rinsed off and extracted as before. The last burnishing pad is a super fine 3500-grit, and this is applied dry with just a little water sprayed onto the tile to really bring up the shine.

Terrazzo Floor Grout Haze During Burnishing Barnes

Sealing a Terrazzo Tiled Hallway

The floor was left to dry off overnight and the next day I returned to seal it with Tile Doctor Ultra Seal which is a natural look almost invisible sealer that doesn’t alter the appearance of the tiles. It is an impregnating sealer that soaks into the tile, occupying the pores and thereby preventing dirt from residing there, thus keeping the dirt on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

Regarding cleaning, I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Stone Soap, it is a gentle but effective tile cleaner made to a special formula that helps maintain the patina on the tile. It’s important to use a product like this for cleaning a sealed floor as many of the products you find in supermarkets are simply too strong and will damage the sealer.

Terrazzo Floor Grout Haze After Renovation Barnes

The Terrazzo responded well to the burnishing and my client was very happy with the floor which had never looked like it should. As it turns out he is also the owner of three large independent cinemas in London with over 1000m2 Terrazzo spread across them and because of this job I’ve now been asked to go and do the same there too.

Professional Renovation of a Terrazzo Tiled Hallway in Southwest London

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Severe Mould Stained Marble Tiled Bathroom Restoration Twickenham

Mould-stained Marble Tiled Bathroom Restoration in Twickenham

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Twickenham Tile Cleaning / Daniel Connelly

As you can see from the photographs below this Marble tiled bathroom at a property in Twickenham had a very bad case severe case of mould staining. The client was trying to decide if the tiles were too far gone for restoration after letting a property for the past 4 years, the tenants unfortunately didn’t let him know the state of things.

Severe Mould Stained Marble Tiled Bathroom Before Cleaning Twickenham

Keen to have the problem resolved quickly I managed to move some things around called into the property the following day. I was confident that the mould could be removed however you do need to be careful with Marble as its acid sensitive, also I could see the tiles had a factory seal so proceeded with caution and was able to demonstrate that the problems could be rectified.

Severe Mould Stained Marble Tiled Bathroom Before Cleaning Twickenham

Happy with the proposed solution and keen to get the property back on the rental market I was immediately booked to return the following week.

Cleaning Mould from Marble Bathroom Tiles

Day one for this job was to remove all mould from the tiles. To do this I lightly rubbed Tile Doctor Acid-Gel into small sections of the tiles until I could see the clean surface and then immediately washed off with clean water, making sure I got every part of the tiles to avoid any runoff.

Work proceeded in this manner until all the tiles free of mould and dirt. With the mould staining removed I noticed some of the tiles were effected by grout haze which happens when the tiler fails to polish off all the grout during installation. It wasn’t part of the initial quote however I felt obliged to deal with it so more Acid Gel and elbow grease was applied until that was removed allowing the details of the Marble tiling to come through.

Next step was to treat the grout lines using a similar process with Acid Gel but for this I used a wire brush to remove surface staining leaving the grout clean and returning the grout lines to their original colour.

To bring up the appearance of the Marble tiling a six-inch 1500-grit burnishing pad fitted to a handheld machine was run over each tile several times using only water for lubrication. This was then followed with a very fine 3500-grit pad to bring up the polish.

Once I was happy that the finish on the Marble tiles was as good as it could get, I then re-inspected the grout and decided to replace some areas of grouting that had suffered deep staining. I used a coloured grout to match what was originally there.

Last step before leaving for the day was to strip out all the silicone sealant from the wall verticals and along the bath and allowed the joints to dry overnight.

Applying a Grout Colourant to Marble Bathroom Tiles

The next day I returned the next day to finish the project off starting with an inspection to ensure nothing had been missed. At this point I felt the grout could still be improve so all grout lines were coloured with a Tile Doctor Grout Colourant to ensure a consistent appearance. I was hoping to avoid this but I felt it was the best solution to bring the bathroom to an “as new” appearance. The colourant also acts as a barrier over the grout making it much easier to keep clean.

Last step was to apply new mould resistant silicone sealant to the verticals and along the bath which finished off the project nicely. They still had some work to do including painting the ceiling but from my point of view I was very happy with the way the Marble tile and grout had responded to the treatment.

Severe Mould Stained Marble Tiled Bathroom After Cleaning Twickenham

My work was done so I called the client who was keen to come over and look. To say they were shocked is an understatement, they were considering ripping all the tiles out and replacing but luckily, we saved them a small fortune. For aftercare I advised increasing the ventilation and using a mild cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Aqua Pro.

Severe Mould Stained Marble Tiled Bathroom After Cleaning Twickenham

Professional Restoration of a Marble Tiled Bathroom in Southwest London

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Dull Marble Kitchen Countertop Polishing Surbiton

Restoring the Polish to a Marble Kitchen Countertop in Surbiton

1 Comment / Marble Tile Cleaning, Surbiton Tile Cleaning / Daniel Connelly

Whilst I was working on a stone floor at a property in Surbiton I was asked if I could do anything about the Marble Countertops in the Kitchen. The Marble had almost completely lost its shine and the owner was keen to have those re-polished to finish the kitchen renovation.

Dull Marble Kitchen Countertop Before Polishing Surbiton

Fortunately, the methods and products we use to renovate stone floors can also be used to restore stone worktops as well. The only difference being we can’t use 17” floor buffers on worktops and countertops so for those we source smaller 6” pads.

The countertop had been worked on before by a different company previously but they had done a horrible job. Bu the time I was asked to look at it the Marble was very dull and covered in different marks, staining from acidic food and lots of etching.

Dull Marble Kitchen Countertop Before Polishing Surbiton

Polishing a Marble Kitchen Countertop

First thing we did was to cover the kitchen in drop cloth and grey blankets to stop the slurry that’s generated during polishing dripping onto the stone floor below.

I then worked through a set of Diamond encrusted Burnishing pads fitted to a handheld DeWalt machine. The pads are applied to the Marble in sequence from 400 to 1500 grit using water for lubrication and then the waste is extracted after each pad using a small Numatic wet vacuum. I inspected the stone after the first pass through the pads and decided it could be better so started again working my way back up through the pads. You can see from the photographs there was a lot of Marble worktop to cover so this did take some time.

Sealing a Marble Countertop

I then left the stone to dry overnight and returned the following day to finish the job starting with a damp test on an electronic moisture meter which showed the Marble was dry.

To bring up a deep shine on the Marble the countertop was given a final polish with a very fine 3000 grit pad using a little water sprayed onto the surface. This final pad adds a nice deep shine to the stone and although it leaves the surface dry, I left an air blower running for a while to make sure.

Later that day I applied a few very fine coats of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal and gave the surface another buff with a microfiber cloth. This sealer is an impregnator that soaks into the pores of the Marble preventing contaminants from becoming ingrained there and ensuring they remain on the surface where they can easily be cleaned away. Being an oil-based sealer, it really helped to bring out the beauty and colour of the Marble.

Dull Marble Kitchen Countertop After Polishing Surbiton

For the aftercare of stone worktops, we recommend the use of Stone Patina Spray which is a spray-and-buff cleaner that is designed to enhance the natural beauty and lustre of polished stone as it cleans.

Dull Marble Kitchen Countertop After Polishing Surbiton

Professional Restoration of a Marble Kitchen Worktop in South London

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Large Limestone Floor Cleaned, Polished and Sealed in Surbiton

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Surbiton Tile Cleaning / Daniel Connelly

This large Limestone tiled floor at a property in Surbiton had been recently maintained by a cleaning company who didn’t do a thorough job. They hadn’t done anything to improve the polish on the Limestone and unfortunately stripped off the original sealer during cleaning leaving it vulnerable to ingrained dirt.

Limestone Floor Before Cleaning Surbiton

The stone floor now looked very flat and lifeless and I was asked to do the job properly, including deep cleaning the grout, polishing the stone and finally replacing the sealer.

Stripping and Polishing Tumbled Limestone Tiles

I started work by focusing on the grout which had become darkened with dirt. For this I applied a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines, left it to soak in for a few minutes and then worked it in with a wire brush. This process turned the grout from Black back to White and the dirt was rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Limestone Floor During Cleaning Surbiton

Limestone Floor During Grout Cleaning Surbiton

The next step was to burnish the stone using a set of Diamond encrusted pads of increasing grits that range from a coarse 400-grit to a very fine 3000-grit. The pads are fitted to the rotary machine and are run across the whole floor lubricating with water which darkens as the dirt is lifted out of the stone. Each pad is moved slowly across the floor with the machine leaving small rings on each pass. The floor is then rinsed and all the slurry with a wet vacuum after each pad.

It was a large floor that extended from the hallway into the Kitchen so it took some time to cover every section thoroughly. I stopped one the 1500-grit pad had been applied and after another rinse and extraction left the floor to dry off overnight.

Sealing Limestone Tiles

I returned the next morning and set about sealing the floor with Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is an impregnating natural look sealer that soaks into the pores of the Limestone protecting it from within. The sealer will ensure any dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

I left the sealer to dry for an hour before polishing the floor with the last in the set of burnishing pads which is a 3000-grit pad. I covered every angle of light to make sure I’d left no smudges anywhere. This pad is applied with only a little water sprayed on to the stone as its run over the surface, this technique is known as a spray burnish and leaves the floor dry.

Limestone Floor After Polishing Surbiton

Before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning which for polished stone floors, I recommend Tile Doctor Stone Soap which not only cleans but also help maintain the patina on polished stone.

Limestone Floor After Polishing Surbiton

Professional Renovation of a Large Polished Limestone Floor in South London

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Acid Damaged Marble Tabletop Renovated in Putney

Restoring the Appearance of a Marble Coffee Tabletop in Putney

Marble Tile Cleaning / Daniel Connelly

The photographs below are from a client in Putney, and show what will happen to a Polished Marble tabletop if you try and clean it with Viakal. Marble is made from calcium and magnesium carbonate which makes it acid sensitive, Viakal on the other hand is an acid cleaner blended from Formic and Citric acids resulting in a pH level of 2.2. This product uses the acid to dissolve the calcium and magnesium deposits in Limescale.

Acid Etched Polished Marble Table Before Renovation Putney

To be fair to Viakal the label does state not to use it on natural stone, but who reads the label, certainly my clients cleaner hadn’t. The result was the acid had etched the lovely, polished Marble surface and it appeared to be ruined.

I was happy to re-assure my client that the etching could be removed, however, to do this the table would need to be burnished with a set of diamond pads of different grades. This process cuts into the stone with a coarse pad to remove the etching and then slowly builds back the polished appearance using finer grades of pad. The table was very heavy however so the work would need to be done on-site.

Polishing a Marble Tabletop

Due to the weight of the stone table, it couldn’t really be moved so my first job was to relocate nearby furniture, roll up the rug and cover everything in blankets and a drop cloth. The last thing I wanted was any other possessions getting splashed during the burnishing process.

When polishing Marble floor tiles, I would normally use large 17-inch diamond pads fitted to a rotary floor buffer, however that simply wouldn’t work on a table, so I ordered a set of 6-inch burnishing pads from Tile Doctor instead. These smaller pads fit nicely on a hand-held buffer that would be perfect for this situation.

The burnishing process involves working through the pads in sequence. I started with the coarse 100, 200 and then 400-grit pads applied with a little water, these coarse pads were able to remove the etching and ingrained dirt. The table was rinsed down and then the 800-grit medium pad was applied which is the first step in the polishing process. Again, this pad is applied with water to lubricate, and the table was rinsed down afterwards.

Acid Etched Polished Marble Table During Renovation Putney

The process was repeated with the 1500-grit fine pad and then the 3000-grit very fine pad to bring up a really nice shine to the Marble table, I should mention the last pad is applied dry with only a tiny amount of water sprayed onto the surface.

Sealing a Marble Table

The last step was to seal the stone to protect it going forward. I used Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal for this, it’s an oil-based impregnator and I figured the oil in the sealer would mask any marks that I wouldn’t be able to remove, however I actually ended up removing all the etching so the sealer just gave the stone a really nice colour and gloss.

Acid Etched Polished Marble Table After Renovation Putney

My customer was very pleased with the work and said that the table looked better than it ever had before. NB. For the aftercare cleaning of a polished Marble coffee table like this I recommend the use of Tile Doctor Stone Patina Spray which has been especially formulated for the regular cleaning of stone worktops.

Professional Restoration of a Marble Tabletop in South London

Restoring the Appearance of a Marble Coffee Tabletop in Putney Read More »