Hounslow Archives - South West London Tile Doctor

Limestone Tiled Shower Cubicle Renovation Isleworth

Stained Limestone Tiled Shower Cubicle Renovated at Isleworth Rental

Here we have a Limestone tiled shower cubicle with fifteen years of chemical damage and general grime at a rental property in the Hounslow borough of Isleworth. It had never been professionally cleaned since installation and previous tenants had used Viakal limescale remover.

Limestone Tiled Shower Cubicle Before Renovation Isleworth

Limescale removers like Viakal are acidic with a low pH and will etch natural stone such as Limestone so definitely not recommended. The product states to avoid use on natural stone on the label, which in this case was ignored.

Fortunately, there is a solution however it involves using various grades of diamond burnishing pads to cut back the stone to remove the damage and restore its appearance. I worked out a quote for renovating the stone and cleaning the grout which was equally stained. Happy to have found a solution and keen to have the shower cubicle ready for the next tenant I was asked to go ahead,

Shower Tile and Grout Cleaning

I started off by cleaning the grout with a wire brush and Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. Unfortunately, the grout was so bad it couldn’t get it consistently clean so decided to apply a grout colourant on it later.

Next attention turned to resurfacing the Limestone starting with the application of a 400-grit 6-inch pad fitted to a DeWalt machine. The pads are applied with water for lubrication and are designed to resurface the stone to remove the etching. I very quickly realised however the 400-grit wasn’t having the desired effect so I dropped down to a 200-grit pad, this also didn’t work so I went down to a 100-grit. This did the job and the Limestone started to show improvement.

The 100-grit pad was then run across the all the effected Limestone again using water for lubrication. Once done the tiles were rinsed with water to remove and the pad switched for a 200-grit. This process was then repeated working through increasingly finer pads of 400, 800 and then finally 1500-grit.

Once the whole shower was burnished in this was the remaining water was vacuumed away with a Hyundai wet vac and the shower left to dry with a fan in place. When I came back, I checked the results of the burnishing and realised there were still visible marks on some of the Limestone tiles and so repeated the process starting with the 400-grit pad and up; eventually after around 6-7 hours I had the desired finish.

Sealing Limestone Shower Tiles

A lot of water was used during the burnishing so I left the shower to dry overnight and added the finishing touches the following day. This included cutting out the silicone sealant and sealing the stone with Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal. I wanted to keep the stone light so decided against using a colour enhancer.

After allowing two hours for drying the last steps were to colour the grout using one of Tile Doctor’s Grout Colourants in a Limestone colour and then apply fresh silicone mastic around the edges.

Limestone Tiled Shower Cubicle After Renovation Isleworth

This was the hardest job I’ve done so far but the result was worth it. The shower cubicle looked like a new installation and my customer was very happy with the result; they had very low expectations and this far surpassed them.

Professional Stone Tiled Wet Room Renovation in Berkshire

Stained Limestone Tiled Shower Cubicle Renovated at Isleworth Rental Read More »

Grout Recolouring of a Ceramic Tiled Bathroom Floor in Lampton

This client from Lampton near Hounslow was unhappy with the appearance of the grout in their Ceramic tiled bathroom floor and wondered if anything could be done to improve it. The grout was originally white to match the wall tiles and over the years it had darkened. This is quite a common problem with grout, especially in conjunction with glazed ceramic tiles; the glaze makes the tile impervious to water resulting in dirt being washed into the grout lines during cleaning. The rough cementitious surface of the grout traps the dirt eventually causing it to darken.

Bathroom Floor Before Grout Colouring Lampton

I asked for some photographs, and we discussed the various options over the phone. I’m not a fan of replacing grout as it takes a long time, generates a lot of dust and you risk chipping the tiles in the process, also there is every chance the problem will come back. I therefore recommended cleaning the grout and then applying a Tile Doctor Grout Colourant in White.

Grout Colouring is much quicker than re-grouting and you have the additional advantage of the colourant forming a waterproof barrier over the grout thereby making it much easier to keep clean and protecting the grout underneath. The Tile Doctor range of grout colourants come in eleven different colours with White being the most popular.

I asked for some dimensions and the size of the tile. From that I was able to work out an accurate quote for doing the work including the replacement of mastic sealant where needed. Happy with my quote we agreed a date for the work to start which should take less than a day to complete.

Cleaning the grout in a Ceramic Tiled Bathroom

Work started by stripping out the silicone between the floor and wall tile, then cleaning up the grout with Tile Doctor Grout Colourant Pre-Treat cleaner. This is an acidic cleaning solution that is sprayed onto the grout and then scrubbed in. This cleans the grout joints, and the acidic nature of the cleaner helps prepare the grout to achieve a better bond with the colourant. Once done the grout was wiped with a wet sponge to remove the dirt and then dried ready for the colourant.

Sealing the grout in a Ceramic Tiled Bathroom

Once the grout was dry a White grout colourant was painted onto the grout using a small colourant applicator that screws onto the top of the bottle, wiping off any excess from the tile as I went.

With the grout colouring complete I ran a bead of fresh White silicone sealant around the perimeter of the floor and the job was complete. A fairly simple process but very effective and in this case, it transformed the appearance of the bathroom making it far more inviting.

Bathroom Floor After Grout Colouring Lampton

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