Travertine Tile Cleaning Archives - South Lincolnshire Tile Doctor

Replacing the Sealer and Polishing a New Travertine Tiled Floor in Boston

A regular customer from Boston got in touch with us before Christmas to help with a Travertine floor they had laid in their front room. It turns out that they were so impressed with our previous work that they had decided to replace their lounge carpet with more Travertine.

Unfortunately, however the new travertine floor turned out dull and lack lustre despite the tiler putting a sealer on after fitting. Unhappy with the floor appearance I was asked if the floor could be re-finished to match their original Travertine floor that I had worked on previously.

Travertine Floor Before Cleaning Boston

I visited the property to survey the new floor and came up with a plan to strip off the current sealer, polish the stone and then re-seal with the same product that I used previously. They were happy for me to go ahead and we set a date for the work to start which would take two days.

Travertine Floor Before Cleaning Boston

Cleaning and Burnishing a Travertine Tiled Floor

I returned on the agreed date and spent the first day burnishing the new Travertine floor tiles with a set of burnishing pads of different grits. Work starts with a coarse 400-grit pad, attached to a rotary floor buffer. Using water to lubricate the process the pad is run over each tile several times removing the sealer and any remaining dirt in the process.

Afterwards the floor was rinsed using our Rotovac system which applies water under high pressure to the floor dislodging the soils and then extracts the dirty water off the floor at high speed. The burnishing process was then repeated with the finer 800-grit and 1500-grit pads which start building the polish on the stone.

After a final rinse the process was repeated using a very fine 3000-grit pad which is applied dry to the floor using only a little water sprayed onto the tile. This last pad is the final step in the polishing process and leaves a lovely, honed finish on the stone.

During the polishing however it became apparent that the Travertine tiles contained a lot more holes that the other floor. These holes or pits as they are often called are a natural feature of this stone however, they do trap dirt easily so I agreed to fill them. I use a flexible filler for this which is colour matched to the stone and then to go off, I also left a floor dryer system in place overnight to assist with this and further drying out the tiles.

Travertine Floor During Cleaning Boston

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor

Returning the following morning the floor was tested the flooring with a damp meter to make sure it was fully dry. All was well and it was ready to seal with our quality impregnating sealer Tile Doctor Colour Grow which protects the floor from within whilst enhancing the natural colours and tones in the stone. Three coats of sealer were used to ensure the tiles were fully sealed and the result proved to be a good match to their other Travertine floor.

Travertine Floor After Renovation Boston

The customer was over the moon with the results and I took time afterwards to remind them about the best way to maintain the floor. For polished stone floors like this one I recommended Tile Doctor Stone Soap which will help maintain the patina on both Travertine floors.

Travertine Floor After Renovation Boston

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Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor Cleaned Sealed Coningsby

Renovating Dirty Travertine Kitchen Tiles in Coningsby

1 Comment / Boston Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Phil

A customer from the village of Coningsby was having trouble keeping their Travertine tiled Kitchen floor clean. Another company had sealed the flooring previously, but it clearly hadn’t lasted and dirt had now become ingrained in the pores of the stone. As a result, mopping the floor wasn’t effective at removing the dirt from either the Travertine or the grout lines.

This was a busy work kitchen that needed to have a floor that is easy to maintain; now frustrated with the way the floor looked they considered having it taken up and replaced but decided to contact Tile Doctor first looking for a remedy.

Travertine Floor Coningsby Before Cleaning

We visited the property to survey the floor and discuss the issues they were facing with the floor. It clearly needed to be deep cleaned and then resealed properly with a more effective product. I explained our process and discussed the result they were looking for. They were happy for me to go ahead and requested a Matt finish rather than a shine or gloss look as it was a high use kitchen.

Cleaning and Burnishing a Travertine Tiled Floor

I returned on the agreed date and spent the first day removing the old sealer that was no longer working and deep cleaning the flooring. To achieve this, I used a series for burnishing pads of different grits. After each pad the floor was rinsed using our Rotovac system which rinses the floor and extracts the dirty water off the floor at high speed. Although an expensive investment the machine makes light work of cleaning hard floors and saves a lot of time.

Travertine Floor Coningsby During Cleaning

After cleaning the floor, a turbo dryer was installed to speed up the drying process so the floor can be inspected, and any stubborn areas redone. The tiles looked nice and clean, but I could see some areas of grouting needed more work so these were hand scrubbed with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean followed by another rinse to remove the soil.

Travertine Floor Coningsby Floor Drying After Cleaning

At this stage I also noticed a few holes in the travertine that were filled for the customer with a matching colour. This is a common problem for Travertine and unfortunately, they easily attract dirt, so filling makes the floor much easier to clean going forward.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor

We returned the following morning and tested the flooring with a damp meter to make sure it was fully dry. All was well and it was ready to seal with our quality impregnator Tile Doctor Colour Grow which protects the floor from within whilst enhancing the natural colours in the stone in the process. The Travertine proved more absorbent than usual for this type of stone and took three coats before a water test indicated the floor was fully sealed.

Travertine Floor Coningsby After Sealing Water Test

You can see from the photo above that the water beaded up on the surface and can be simply wiped away even after a few minutes. This shows maximum protection has been applied. Given my experience with this floor I suspect the previous company had not applied enough sealer and this would explain why it failed, had they conducted a water test then this should have been obvious.

We then gave a final polish with our buffer and a white soft pad to really strengthen the seal and give the best finish. I should mention that Colour Grow leaves a matt finish which matches the customer’s request.

Travertine Floor Coningsby After Cleaning

For aftercare cleaning going forward I left the customer a complimentary bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner that looks after the seal better than any high alkaline or acidic cleaners like bleach or washing up liquid which will prematurely erode the seal.

The customer was delighted with the results, commenting on how much brighter the whole room looked.

Travertine Floor Coningsby After Cleaning

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Travertine Kitchen Floor Before and After Restoration in Lincoln

Travertine Kitchen Tiles Deep Cleaned and Sealed in Lincoln

1 Comment / North Hykeham Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Phil

Travertine is a lovely beige and brown stone that looks fantastic when it’s first laid but needs work to maintain the appearance. This was exactly the problem my customer who lives near the historic Cathedral City of Lincoln had experienced. The sealer on their Travertine Kitchen floor was becoming worn in the more commonly used parts of the floor letting dirt become ingrained into the pores of the stone and the grout was also becoming darker where it was getting dirty. They also had pets that spent a lot of time in the Kitchen which didn’t help and there were also small holes in the Travertine that were trapping dirt and would need filling.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Lincoln

Cleaning and Burnishing a Travertine Tiled Floor

To deep clean the stone and grout I applied a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, left it to soak in for ten minutes and then worked it into the floor using a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. Pro-Clean is a strong reliable alkaline product which is safe to use on stone and grout including Travertine and Limestone.

Travertine Kitchen Floor Before Cleaning Lincoln I also ran a stiff grout brush along the edges of the floor and especially along the grout lines to get the grout as clean as possible; the scrubbing pad struggles to reach into the recesses of the grout so it’s best to do this by hand. The now dirty cleaning solution was extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum and rinsed with water to ensure the tile and grout was now clean and any stubborn stains spot treated.

Travertine Kitchen Floor During Cleaning Lincoln After the deep clean we filled the holes as required using flexible filler which gives a really smooth look to the flooring. We then left our turbo dryer system on overnight to thoroughly dry out the floor before returning to seal the tiles on day two.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor

The next day I returned to the property and proceeded to seal the Travertine tiles using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer to protect the tiles and also really enhance the natural colours in the stone. As an impregnating sealer, Colour Grow penetrates into the stone and fills its pores to safeguard it against ingrained dirt and stains from within.

Travertine Kitchen Floor After Cleaning Lincoln As you can see from the photographs, the combination of a deep clean, high quality polish and fresh seal really transformed the appearance of the floor from dull and lifeless to a really asset to the kitchen. The customer was so happy with the results she has booked us in to carry out the same work to other flooring in the property.

Travertine Kitchen Floor After Cleaning and Sealing Lincoln

Professional Maintenance of a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Floor in Lincoln

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Renovating Dull and Dirty Travertine Tiles in Woodhall Spa

Mucky Travertine Tiled Floor Restored Near Woodhall Spa

1 Comment / Sleaford Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Phil

Quite often our customers will be new property owners who have inherited fantastic tiled floors that are in need of smartening up. Typically the previous owners struggled to maintain the floor which is not unusual when it comes to high quality natural stone such as Travertine and this was the case with this Travertine tiled floor that I recently restored at a property near Woodhall Spa, on the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds.

Travertine Tiled Floor Near Woodhall Spa Before Cleaning

The customer not only needed a deep clean for the tiles and grout which had become dirty and discoloured over time, but also needed for many of the small holes caused by the natural process of pitting to be filled to give the Travertine tiles a smooth and polished finish. Finally, the floor would need a fresh seal to protect it and make it easier to cleangoing forward.

Travertine Tiled Floor Near Woodhall Spa Before Cleaning

Cleaning and Repairing a Pitted Travertine Tiled Floor

To begin the restoration, I applied Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to the floor, which is our reliable high alkaline cleaner designed for use on stone floors, left it to soak in and break down the dirt and then used our hot pressure Rotovaccleaning system to clean the tiles. The Rotovac is an expensive machine but makes light work of the job by deep cleaning and scrubbing the stone whilst rinsing and extracting away all of the soiled cleaning residue at the same time. It allows us to get deep into the pores of the tile and grout to eradicate ingrained dirt and stains.

I then worked through our four-stage diamond encrusted burnishing pad system which hones and polishes the surface of the tiles with excellent results. Each of the four pads is applied in turn, moving from a coarse grit all the way to a Very Fine grit.

Once I was happy with the condition of the floor it was time to deal with the holes in the Travertine by applying a two-part colour matched resin to fill the small and large holes mentioned earlier.After completing the cleaning and filling was completed I left the tiles to dry off completely overnight aided with air movers to speed up the drying process.

Travertine Tiled Floor Near Woodhall Spa After Cleaning Ensuring the floor is bone dry before sealing is important as I needed to seal the tiles the next day, and a small amount of excess moisture can cloud the sealer and damage its performance.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor

When I came back the next day I tested the floor for moisture to confirm it was dry before applying two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow, which is an impregnating sealer that intensifies and enhances the natural shades in the Travertine while also providing it with protection against dirt and stains.

With the restoration complete I left the customer with a bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner for regular future maintenance, along with an aftercare leaflet. We recommend this product for the regular cleaning of sealed tiles as the neutral pH will help to maximise the life of the sealer and not erode it like many acid cleaning products.

Travertine Tiled Floor Near Woodhall Spa After Cleaning I think you will agree the floor now looks much better, certainly the customer was very happy with the work and left the following feedback:

“Phil and his colleague worked their magic to transform our tired looking, grimy Travertine floors into bright, shiny new look floors. Thank you so much.”

Professional Restoration of a Pitted Travertine Tiled Floor in Lincolnshire

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Travertine Kitchen Tiles Transformed in Sleaford

1 Comment / Sleaford Tile Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Phil

This fantastic Travertine tiled kitchen floor was in a bad way. Not only had it not been treated to a proper clean and seal in a long while, but it has also suffered from natural pitting, leaving lots of little holes that damaged the overall appearance of the floor. Travertine is very aesthetic, but suffers from the drawback of being quite soft compared to other types of stone (typically it sits between 3-4 on the Moh’s scale of mineral hardness).

The customer, who lives in the town of Sleaford a small Lincolnshire market town, was keen to have the situation remedied through a complete restoration. This would need to include small repairs, along with a deep clean and a fresh seal.

Travertine Floor Before Refurbishment Sleaford

Cleaning and Burnishing a Travertine Tiled Floor

My first job was to deep clean the whole area, which I did using a solution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and clean water. Pro Clean is a strong alkaline product which has a long history of producing reliable results of a wide range of natural stone floors, including Travertine, Granite, Limestone, and Slate. I applied the solution to both the tiles and the grout lines, and proceeded to scrub it in using a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine.

This left the floor fresh and clean, but I would also need to restore the polish to the Travertine to really take its appearance to the next level. To do this I used the process known as burnishing, which essentially involves the consecutive application of different gritted pads to achieve a high quality polish on tiles. Our burnishing system, which consists of four pads, achieves fantastic results on high-end polished stone like Limestone, Marble and, of course, Travertine. I started by applying the Coarse grit burnishing pad, before gradually working my way through to the Medium, Fine, and finally Very Fine pads to achieve a brilliant shine and light reflection finish.

Travertine Floor After Deep Cleaning To round off the first day of the restoration, I used a flexible matching filler to fill up any pitted holes present on the surface of the tiles. Following this, I installed a turbo dryer to make sure the floor would dry fully overnight, and be ready to seal the following day.

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Floor

The next day I returned to the property and proceeded to seal the Travertine tiles using several costs of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer to protect the tiles and also really enhance the natural colours in the stone. As an impregnating sealer, Colour Grow penetrates into the stone and fills its pores to safeguard it against ingrained dirt and stains from within.

Travertine Floor After Refurbishment Sleaford

As you can see from the photographs, the combination of a deep clean, high quality polish and fresh seal really transformed the appearance of the floor from dull and lifeless to a really asset to the kitchen. The customer was absolutely delighted with the results, leaving the following feedback: “Very good job – delighted! Thank you Phil!”

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Travertine floor tiles in a Conservatory, Louth

Travertine Tile Cleaning, Work History / Phil

These photographs are of a the Travertine tiled floor installed in a conservatory at a house in the historic town of Louth in Lincolnshire. The travertine was starting to dull and the grout was in need of a good clean so we were asked to maintain it.

Travertine Floor Before

Cleaning Travertine Tiles

Hard stone tiles such as Travertine and Marble etc. need to be polished with a set of Burnishing pads however before you start that process it’s necessary to remove any surface dirt from the floor first, this will ensure any grit that could get trapped in the burnishing pads and scratch the floor is removed first. With this in mind we washed the floor using a mild dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, this was also a good opportunity to get a stiff brush into the grout lines and give them a good scrub. We washed the floor down with clean water using a wet vacuum to remove the water from the floor before moving onto the next step.

Travertine Floor Before

Polishing and Sealing Travertine Floor Tiles

The floor was then re-polished using a set of 17” Burnishing pads fitted to our weighted polishing machine; the pads are diamond encrusted and you start with the coarser Red pad designed to remove sealers before moving on to the White, Yellow and finally Green polishing pad to achieve a high shine finish.

Travertine Floor After The last step was to seal the floor which we did using two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is colour intensifying sealer that will provide on-going durable surface protection as well as enhancing the natural colours in the Travertine tile.

Travertine Floor After with Water Test The last photograph shows the effectiveness of the sealer on the surface of the tile, without a sealer the water would have soaked into the travertine, with a sealer it bubbles on the surface allowing spillages to be removed easily before they have chance to stain the stone.

Cleaning, Polishing and Sealing Travertine in Lincolnshire

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Lincolnshire Tile Doctor

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