Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing

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

Cleaning and Renovating Limestone tiles

Limestone is a sedimentary stone, as such it’s generally very porous and acid sensitive and can be damaged through the use of even mildly acidic soaps, shampoos and body washes. Because of this we do not recommend it for use in wet rooms, shower cubicles or near swimming pools.

Like any stone Limestone needs to be sealed to prevent dirt becoming ingrained in its pores and many varieties including Blue Lias, Blue Moleanos, Jerusalem and White Moleanos to name a few can be polished to a high shine using a series of burnishing pads.

We have found that Black Limestone has become very popular in gardens where it contrasts well against green planting and looks fantastic when wet. One issue we find however is it easily upset by the use of acidic patio cleaners that leave the stone looking dull and lifeless. If this has affected you then not to worry we do have a way of restoring the beauty of the stone back to its original 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.


Cracked Limestone Floor Repaired and Polished in Hornchurch

I appreciate my photography is not the best but hopefully if you take a close look at the lower half of the picture below showing a dull Limestone floor tiles you can see a couple of long cracks in the tiles. The picture was taken at a house in Hornchurch which is in the East End of London; we had been asked round to see if we could repair the cracked tile and put some new life into the floor.

Limestone floor before cleaning in Hornchurch

Cleaning and Repairing a cracked Limestone floor

To begin I gave the floor a thorough clean using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked in with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine. I wanted the floor clean before I tacked the cracked tiles and this would also ensure any grit etc. would be removed from the floor before I started the polishing process. After cleaning the floor was rinsed with water and the soiled cleaning solution extracted using a wet vacuum. I should mention Pro-Clean is a versatile, alkaline cleaner recommended for cleaning natural stone floors such as Limestone. The crack was then filled using a special stone glue and hardener.

Polishing a Limestone tiled floor

Once the glue had hardened we started to restore the appearance of the Limestone using a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads which you apply in sequence from coarse to super fine with a little water for lubrication and a rinse with water in between. It takes a while to do but it does a great job of bringing back the polish on the tiles.

Once we were finished burnishing the next step was to apply Tile Doctor Shine Powder into the tiles, the shine powder is worked in using a white buffing pad attached to a rotary machine running on slow speed. It adds more depth to the polish and forms a very durable finish.

Sealing a Limestone tiled floor

Last step was to finish the floor by sealing it with Tile Doctor Colour Grow, Shine Powder works as a sealer too but Colour Grow gets deep into the pores of the stone protecting it from within and enhancing it’s natural colours.

Limestone floor after cleaning in Hornchurch

As you can image the owner of the property was very happy with the results and with the added protection of Shine Powder and Colour Grow it should stay that way for some time to come.
 
 

Cracked Limestone Floor Tile Repaired and Polished in Essex

Cracked Limestone Floor Repaired and Polished in Hornchurch Read More »

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South Essex Tile Doctor

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