Travertine Floor Cleaning Archives - South Essex Tile Doctor

Travertine Kitchen Floor Renovation Billericay

Travertine Kitchen Diner Floor Tile and Grout Renovated in Billericay

Earlier this year I was asked to visit a property in Billericay near Basildon to quote for renovating an extensive Travertine tiled floor. The Travertine floor has been laid 15 years prior in the large Kitchen, Utility and adjacent dining room and has not been maintained correctly leaving it vulnerable to ingrained dirt.

Travertine Kitchen Diner Floor Before Renovation Billericay

Natural stone floors look fantastic when first laid but will only remain so if the sealer is maintained. Natural stone and especially Travertine is porous and the sealer will prevent dirt from becoming ingrained in the stone keeping it on the surface where it’s easy to clean away. In this case the sealer had long since worn off and the Travertine was absorbing dirt leaving it looking permanently dirty despite cleaning.

After discussing the problems with the owner, I recommended deep cleaning the Travertine and Grout with an abrasive pad and alkaline cleaner and then sealing to protect the stone going forward. I worked out a plan for its renovation and provided them with a quote which was accepted and a date scheduled.

Deep Cleaning Travertine Tile and Grout

To deep clean the stone and grout it was sprayed with a 1:4 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was then let to soak into the floor for a good ten to fifteen minutes. This gives the Pro-Clean time to breakdown and digest the soils and any remaining old sealer. Next the floor was scrubbed with rotary machine fitted with a Black Pad to release the dirt from the floor into the solution where it could be extracted with a wet vacuum.

Pads can struggle to reach into the recesses of the grout line so this was also hand scrubbed using a pollybrush and more Pro-Clean to get it as clean as possible. This process sounds straightforward but it was a large floor with several sections to complete so it took all the first day to complete.

Before finishing for the day, the floor was inspected and any stubborn marks spot cleaned until I was happy with the whole floor. The floor was then rinsed with water to remove any remnants and then dried with the wet vacuum.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor in Billericay

I returned the next day and started by checking the floor was dry using a damp meter. The readings were fine so the first coat of what would be two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal was applied. This sealer doesn’t contain any colour enhancer so it leaves the stone with invisible hardwearing protection and a very natural look. The sealer ensures dirt can’t penetrate the pores of the stone thereby keeping it on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

Travertine Kitchen Diner Floor After Renovation Billericay

The transformation was quite dramatic and the customer was very pleased and shocked at how it had changed. Regarding regular cleaning, I recommended using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a pH neutral cleaner. It won’t strip the sealer like the previous products they had been using and should ensure the floor is kept in this condition for many years to come.

Professional Renovation of a Travertine Tile and Grout in South Essex

Travertine Kitchen Diner Floor Tile and Grout Renovated in Billericay Read More »

Dirty Travertine Kitchen Floor Tiles Renovated in Gidea Park Romford

These photographs are of a Travertine kitchen floor at a property in Gidea Park near Romford. The floor was approximately 20m2 and had been laid 20 years ago. Although it had been sealed the client had been cleaning the floor with the wrong products and that had stripped the sealer off the floor. As a result, dirt had become ingrained into the pores of the stone making it look very dirty.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Gidea Park Romford

My client was so unhappy with its appearance they were seriously considering taking the Travertine tiles up and replacing it with something more manageable, as they could never get it to look clean. You can imagine their relief after I visited and advised them that the floor could indeed be recovered.

After surveying the stone floor, I worked out a plan for its renovation and provided them with a quote which they were happy to go ahead with.

Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Kitchen

I started the cleaning with the grout lines which had darkened with accumulated dirt. To do this I applied a 4:1 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean along the grout lines and left it to soak in for ten minutes. The grout lines where then scrubbed by hand until their original colour returned. Although harder work, I find this method works better than using pads with a machine as the pads can struggle to reach into the recesses of the grout lines.

To get the ingrained dirt out of the stone and restore the beautiful appearance of the Travertine I used a set of Tile Doctor Burnishing pads. These are applied with a rotary buffing machine starting with the coarse 400-grit pad and worked into the stone with more Tile Doctor Pro-Clean.

Travertine Kitchen Floor During Cleaning Gidea Park Romford

After rinsing and extracting I then moved onto the 800 and 1500-grit pads, using only water this time for lubrication and rinsing and extracting after each pad. The last 3000-grit pad was applied with a little water sprayed onto the tiles to bring up a polish on the stone.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor

The floor was left to dry overnight, and I returned the next day to seal it using two coats of Tile Doctor Ultra-Seal sealer to give it a nice sheen. This will give the floor hardwearing protection by ensuring dirt remains on the surface where it is much easier to remove with regular cleaning.

Travertine Kitchen Floor After Renovation Gidea Park Romford

My client was very happy with her new floor and relieved that the new sealer would make it much easier to keep clean going forward. She also left a 5-star review and commented:

“GOOD JOB….PLEASED”

On the topic of cleaning, I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a pH neutral cleaner. It will not strip the sealer like the previous products she had been using and should ensure the floor is kept in this condition for many years to come. Obviously, we are on hand in the future if she has any further problems.

Source: Travertine Kitchen Tile Cleaning and Renovation Service in Gidea Park South Essex