Marble Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Marble tiles carried out in South Yorkshire

Cleaning and Polishing Marble tiles

Marble is reputed in the international market for its premium quality, toughness and durability. It is often the preferred choice for interior and exterior in both commercial and domestic situations for flooring, wall cladding, paving, facades of buildings, pavements and landscaping.

One of the main issues with polished Marble is the polish starts to wear down with use and eventually becomes dull. Another issue we see is acid etching where strong unsuitable cleaning products used on the stone etch the surface and ruin its appearance. To resolve both these problems the stone needs to be re-polished with diamond encrusted burnishing pads of different grits to hone the stone and bring back that deep shine. If this sounds familiar you should talk to us about our annual maintenance program where we visit you once a year to clean, polish and seal your floor thus keeping it in top condition.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.


Mouldy Tile Wetroom Renovated in Doncaster

Revamping a Mouldy Tiled Wetroom in Doncaster

This wet room in Doncaster had become so mouldy and dirty the owners didn’t know what to do with it. The Limestone and Marble Mosaics on the floor and the Ceramic wall tile and Grout throughout the bathroom had become so badly affected with mould, nothing they could buy from could resolve it.

Mouldy Tiled Wetroom Doncaster Before Cleaning

Following my site visit I was confident the room could be cleaned up (in-fact I have seen worse), I explained what we could do to restore and revamp the wet room and they were happy to go ahead with my quote.

Mouldy Tiled Wetroom Doncaster Before Cleaning

Deep Cleaning Mouldy Textured Ceramic Wetroom Wall Tiles

First, I opened windows to maximise ventilation and then working top down I set about tackling the Ceramic wall tile and grout by spraying on a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. Spraying on the solution mixes it with air making it lighter and easier to stick to the wall where it can soak in and get to work breaking down the mould.

After about fifteen minutes it was scrubbed into the tile and specifically the grout joints where it was needed most. This action releases grime and other contamination from the grout. The room needed a series of different treatments due to the different tiles and areas of mould, so I followed that up with Tile Doctor Duo Clean. This is a bleach-based cleaner which is brilliant at tackling mould and getting the grout back to its original colour.

Mouldy Tiled Wetroom Doncaster During Cleaning

The Ceramic tile in this bathroom has a textured surface which traps dirt so to get them clean I also used Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel. Being a Gel is easily sticks to the vertical surface allowing for longer dwell times which allows the product to dissolve the dirt and make it easier to remove.

Deep Cleaning Mouldy Limestone and Marble Mosaic Wetroom Floor Tiles

With the walls looking much clear for my efforts I turned my attention to the Mosaic floor tiles. For these I went straight in with a cocktail combination of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and Duo Clean cleaners which I knew from cleaning the wall tiles would have the right impact.

I was also able to use a buffing machine fitted with a poly brush attachment and running at medium speed to do most of the scrubbing. The grout lines were green with mould, and I was able to get this process to return the Mosaics and grout lines back to their original state.

Mouldy Tiled Wetroom Doncaster During Cleaning Mouldy Tiled Wetroom Doncaster During Cleaning

The slurry was removed with a wet vacuum and rinsed thoroughly with water. It took many hours and repeated scrubbing to get the room looking like it should. I was then able to finally leave for the day and allow the wet room to dry out overnight.

Sealing Wet Room Floor and Wall Tiles

I returned the following morning and started by removing all the old silicone from the corners of the room, much of it had become stained and difficult to get clean so replacement was the best option. The waste was removed and replaced with a new bead of mould resistant silicone colour matched to suit the tiles.

The Mosaics has fully dried by this point, so I was then able to apply a sealer to floor to seal in the Marble and Limestone floor Mosaics and grout. I used a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow for this, it’s a breathable impregnating sealer that’s suitable for wet rooms. For the wall tile and grout, I used an aerosol sealer which will help protect the walls from getting mouldy and dirty again.

Mouldy Tiled Wetroom Doncaster After Cleaning

Once I had finished, I educated the owners on how to keep up the cleaning of the room supplying them with a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Aqua-Pro shower tile Cleaner. This is much better than any supermarket cleaner as it is pH neutral and will ensure that the newly applied sealant will not be prematurely affected. Hopefully, this will ensure it never gets quite so bad in the future however improved ventilation is the real key to solving that problem. They were very satisfied with the work we carried out and as you can see from the photographs on this page, the wet room has been transformed.

 

Professional Renovation of a Mouldy Tiled Wetroom in South Yorkshire

Revamping a Mouldy Tiled Wetroom in Doncaster Read More »

Marble Bathroom Tiles Before and After Cleaning Endcliffe Sheffield

Regrouting a Marble Tiled Wet Room in Endcliffe Sheffield

The owner of this house in the village of Endcliffe Sheffield was unhappy about the state of their Marble wet room and called me in to do something about it. The main issue was that mould had built-up across the bathroom especially on the grout and silicone sealant, the Marble tiles were also looking dull and needed sprucing up.

Marble Bathroom Tiles Before Cleaning Endcliffe Sheffield

Dealing with Mould in a Wet Room

Mould thrives in moist warm conditions and without adequate ventilation it will start to take hold. Often in cases like this we advise clients to improve the power of their extractor fan or leave a window and a door open after a shower, in this case however the wet room had no windows. Another option you can try is to run the shower cold for a few minutes after you have used it, this decreases the temperature and removes moisture from the air. That tip is easily forgotten when your in a hurry so regular cleaning with Tile Doctor Duo-Clean which is a tile cleaner and mould remover should allow you to keep on top of the problem.

Marble Bathroom Tiles Before Cleaning Endcliffe Sheffield Marble Bathroom Tiles Before Cleaning Endcliffe Sheffield

In this case the Mould had really taken a hold and I knew form experience that scrubbing with a powerful cleaner like Duo Clean was unlikely to get the grout back to the pristine condition the customer wanted so I decided to strip out all the affected grout and silicone and replace with new. It took some time but I have a special electric grout removal tool that comes in handy for these situations and so it wasn’t long before I had removed the worse of it. This was followed by carefully removing the silicone sealant that ran between the shower tray and Marble wall tiles with a sharp knife.

Polishing Marble Wall and Floor Tiles

Next, I turned my attention to the Marble tiles which had lost their shine and become dull. Marble is hard stone and to get the best out of it we find its best to burnish them with a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads that remove the dirt and slowly bring back the polished appearance. Normally when we talk about burnishing it’s in relation to stone floor tiles however these pads also come in small six-inch size as well which will fit a hand buffer or Angle Grinder.

Marble Bathroom Tiles During Cleaning Endcliffe Sheffield

Like floor burnishing the pads are applied in sequence starting with the coarse 400-grit pad and moving up through the 800, 1500 and finally the very fine 3,000-grit pad. The lower grit pads need to be lubricated with water and you rinse between each pad with water to remove the slurry that is generated.

Finishing the Marble Wet Room Renovation

With the Marble tiles now looking good it was time to protect them from future staining by sealing them with two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal which is a premium sealer that leaves a natural look that doesn’t darken the colour of the stone.

I left the re-grouting to last as its easier to remove grout from a sealed tile and then finished by putting back the silicone strip, both the grout and the silicone we chosen for their anti-mould formula and before leaving I gave some advice on how to keep on top of the mould problem going forward.

Marble Bathroom Tiles After Cleaning Endcliffe Sheffield

My client was delighted with the result and relieved that they would no longer feel embarrassed when visitors ask to use the bathroom.

Marble Bathroom Tiles After Cleaning Endcliffe Sheffield

 
 

Dealing with Mould in a Marble Tiled Wet Room in Yorkshire

Regrouting a Marble Tiled Wet Room in Endcliffe Sheffield Read More »

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South Yorkshire Tile Doctor

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