The pictures below are of a Riven Slate Tiled floor in the Kitchen and adjacent Dinning area at a property in Boston. The customer was very unhappy with the state of the Slate flooring and was at the point of taking the tiles up as they couldn’t keep it clean.
I paid a visit to the property so that I could understand all the issues and work out a quote for restoring its appearance. Whilst there I was able to confirm that the existing sealer had worn away so much and was now letting dirt into the stone. The Slate also looked dull and permanently dirty.
The solution would be to remove the old sealer, deep clean the floor and then apply a fresh sealer that would give the desired finish. The new sealer will prevent dirt from becoming ingrained in the stone, keeping it on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.
Happy with the plan and quote the work was booked in.
Removing a Failed Sealer from Multi-Coloured Riven Slate Tiling
To remove what was left of the old sealer a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied to the tile and grout and then left to soak in for ten minutes. We find this gives the product time to break down the old sealer and soils and makes the cleaning easier.
The floor was then scrubbed with a Black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine working it into every part of the floor several times. The grout was also scrubbed by hand with a stiff brush and more Pro-Clean. The floor was then rinsed with water and extracted with an industrial wet vacuum.
With the soiling removed from the floor, the Slate and Grout was inspected and then the process repeated as needed until I was satisfied all the old sealer and dirt had been removed.
Once the cleaning was done I setup a Turbo Dryer so speed up drying times and left the floor to dry off overnight.
Sealing Multicoloured Riven Slate Floor Tiles
The following day I used a damp meter to test the slate and confirm it was dry before applying the sealer. The results indicated the Turbo Dryer had done its work and the floor was ready for sealing.
The sealer chosen for this floor was Tile Doctor Seal and Go, it works well on Slate and results in a very attractive deep shine. The area was a busy kitchen dining space so I applied enough sealer to ensure it was fully sealed making use of the Turbo Dryer to speed up the drying time. The sealer didn’t let us down and added a durable finish that brightened the whole area brought out the natural tones in the slate.
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My customer was delighted with the results and before leaving I took time to discuss floor maintenance. I explained that with the fresh sealer in place it should only need a quick mop to keep the tiles clean. I also explained that its important to use a PH neutral cleaner when cleaning a sealed floor as anything overly strong will strip the sealer from the floor.
When cleaning tiles with a mop we recommend using two buckets, one containing a neutral pH cleaning fluid such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner or Stone Soap and the second where you rinse your mop afterwards, otherwise you will contaminate your cleaning fluid with dirt every time you rinse.