Inspiration for a transitional home design remodel in Minneapolis

Kara Lashuay
Walk-in closet - mid-sized contemporary gender-neutral walk-in closet idea in New York with flat-panel cabinets and white cabinets

Shower Floor: Atlas Concorde, Color: Wool, herringbone mosaic Wall tile: Portofino Pulido by Porcelanosa, 23" x 47"
Freestanding bathtub - mid-sized transitional master porcelain tile and gray tile porcelain tile, double-sink and brown floor freestanding bathtub idea in San Francisco with shaker cabinets, blue cabinets, a one-piece toilet, an undermount sink, quartz countertops, gray countertops, a niche, a built-in vanity and gray walls

Example of a 1950s home design design in Seattle

Sean Shannon Photography
Closet - industrial closet idea in DC Metro

This is a great example of a Victorian Tiled floor refurbishment which I recently completed at a property in Stoke-on-Trent. If you look closely at the photographs below you will see the white tiles are looking grubby and paint splash staining from decorating. The owner was unhappy with how the floor now looked and wanted it refurbished. Black and White Victorian tiles laid in a chequered diamond pattern is a classic style and a very popular choice for hallways at the turn of the 20th century. Over the years many have been replaced or covered up with carpet and those that survived are now a sought-after period feature that adds value to your property. I initially cleaned the floor by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was sprayed onto the floor and then left to soak in for ten minutes. Pro-Clean is our goto tile and grout cleaning product that is designed to break down dirt and remove old sealers. After ten minutes the solution was scrubbed in with a rotary machine fitted with a coarse 200-grit pad. The soil generated was rinsed off the tiles and extracted with a wet vacuum and the floor inspected. I would see more work was needed to get the floor clean and free of staining, so I spot treated the problem areas with Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a coatings remover. I worked in small sections leaving the product to dwell as before for 10 minutes, I then used a wallpaper steamer with handheld diamond blocks to get the ingrained dirt out of the floor. After a final rinse and extraction, the floor looked clean so, so much better than when I started. I then left the floor to dry off overnight and came back the second day to seal the tiles first checking the moisture levels with a damp meter. Applying sealer to a damp floor will result in the floor looking patchy when it dries so I always check first. The readings were good, so I started to apply the first of five coats of sealer which for this floor I chose Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra. Old Victorian floors do not have a damp-proof membrane installed under the floor so its important to select a sealer that will allow moisture to rise through the tiles and evaporate on the surface, Seal and Go Extra allows for this. Choosing a non-breathable sealer can result in moisture being trapped under the floor where it can reach out to the walls leading to rising damp. Once the floor dried it looked fantastic. In fact, my customer was so happy with the transformation she was taking pictures and sending them to her daughters as I worked; she couldn’t believe how well it was turning out. Trevor Preece Staffordshire Tile Doctor

Support USA made products with Cloud Hunter, handmade in California with high end materials and a passion for quality. We’re a fashion minded home decor company who believes your bed should be as well dressed as you! Please view our unique bedding collections at www.cloudhunterco.com or contact us for our custom decor needs- we work with every style. MADE WITH LOVE IN C A L I F O R N I A

This beautiful Terrazzo floor was uncovered in the hallway of a house in Doncaster, as you can see it had taken a bit of a beating over the years, but the owners were keen on having it restored. Restoring period features like these are a great idea as they are very sought after and can add a lot of value to a property. The floor had spent many years below carpet and nails had been hammered through the floor to hold carpet grippers in place. Along with this there was a lot of glue and paint to remove. However, I was confident that we could get the floor restored, I gave them a quotation for the work, and they were happy to proceed as soon as possible. Doncaster is a hot spot for terrazzo floors, apparently there was a big Italian community there in the early part of the 1900s. Doncaster is also famous for its rich rail heritage; the main Doncaster train station is on the East Coast mainline and you find many original station buildings have Terrazzo floors in the public areas. The first job was to remove as much of the paint, glue and other contaminates as possible. These were scraped off the floor by hand using a razor-sharp scraper. We then moved onto using a set of five diamond burnishing pads of different grits to cut through the top layers and grime to eventually bring this floor back up to its’ former glory. Starting off with the most coarse pad first I started to go over the floor a pad at a time, each pad is fitted to a rotary machine which has extra weight added to it to make the pads work ever better. Each time a pad is changed, it is slightly less coarse, this starts to polish the floor up to a shine eventually ended with a very fine diamond pad. Water is added at each stage and removed with the wet vacuum before the next pad is used. Gradually the original floor started to shine through, the colours were quite pronounced, and you could see the floor was a lovely example of terrazzo. After a final rinse to remove the soiling generated by burnishing, I turned my attention to filling the many holes where the nails had been. The floor was left to dry off overnight and the following morning I returned to seal the floor with several coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. I choose this product as its designed to enhance the subtle colours in the floor and its fully breathable which is an important consideration when sealing floors in older properties. Damp proof membranes are a common feature these days but are a relatively recent invention. With older floors you need to allow the floor to breathe so the moisture in the sub floor can rise and evaporate at the surface, without this the moisture will reach out to the walls where it can cause rising damp. The result was a highly polished floor just the way it would have looked when it was first installed 90 years ago. As you can imagine the owners were over the moon with the transformation. Matthew Lovett South Yorkshire TIle Doctor

Contractor: Anderson Contracting Services Photographer: Eric Roth
Elegant mudroom photo in Boston with white walls

Minimalist dark wood floor kitchen photo in San Francisco

Kitchen - large country kitchen idea in Columbus

Designed By Runa Novak In Your space Interior Design
Example of a small minimalist medium tone wood floor powder room design in Chicago with a wall-mount sink

Beach style master home design photo in Orange County

David Lau
Inspiration for a large timeless men's medium tone wood floor walk-in closet remodel in New York with open cabinets and dark wood cabinets

Dining room - large traditional dining room idea in Boston with gray walls

Detail of charred wood plank. We used the ancient Japanese method of shou-sugi-ban, which rendered the reclaimed cedar (traditionally Japanese cypress) fire, rot and pest resistant while imparting a striking black, slightly iridescent finish that’s both modern and low maintenance. images | gretchen claire garnett

Mid-sized traditional blue two-story concrete fiberboard gable roof idea in Chicago

Corbin Henry
Example of a tuscan family room design in Sacramento

We were contacted by a customer in West Kirby who needed help renovating a Victorian tiled hallway in a house they had just purchased. Kirby is a desirable seaside location North of Heswall that expanded with the arrival of the railway in 1848. The railway brought a demand for property and so it’s not unusual to find housing stock in this area dating back to the Victorian era. The Victorian tiles at this property appear to have been neglected by the previous owner and were now looking very dull and marked by paint from decorating; all the colours looked washed out and the floor was now looking very unappealing. The good news however is that this problem is not uncommon and with a deep clean and a fresh sealer applied it can be transformed. I gave the owner a quote which was accepted a date agreed for my return to do the work. On the first day the floor was sprayed with a neat solution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a powerful alkaline cleaning and stripping agent used to remove old seals and paint. The solution was left to dwell for about twenty minutes so it could soak in and get to work. It was then scrubbed into the tiles using a coarse 200-grit pad fitted to a heavy buffing machine. Water was then added to the floor for lubrication and the soils released from the pores of the tile during scrubbing was removed by with a wet vacuum. To treat the stubborn paint stains and remains of what I suspect was carpet adhesive a hand scraper and wire brush was used, this was made easier by the Remove and Go which had softened the paint etc. The next stage was to give the Victorian tiles a mild acid wash using Acid Gel which is applied to the floor, scrubbed in, and rinsed off with a little water then extracted using the wet vacuum. We always recommend an acid wash for old floors like these as it will counter any efflorescent salts resident in the tiles and helps to remove other mineral contaminates and old grout that can mask the true beauty of the tiles. I left the tiles to dry out for two days before returning to apply the sealer, first checking it was dry by testing for moisture in various places with an electronic damp tester. It’s not a good idea to apply a sealer to a damp floor so we always check first. Satisfied the floor was dry, I started applying a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer that helps to bring out the true colours in the tile. This was allowed to dry for thirty minutes and then followed up five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra which is a breathable sealer that leaves a lovely satin finish and builds on the protection. Once done the Victorian hallway tiles looked so much cleaner and healthier. It was quite a transformation and the new sealer had given the floor a nice low sheen shine which the customer was very happy with. For aftercare cleaning I left them with a bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is specially formulated for cleaning sealed tiles. We don’t recommend tile cleaning products you find on supermarket shelves as the are usually too strong and can strip a sealer off the floor prematurely. If your choosing another product to clean your floor always read the label to make sure its compatible. Andrew Robb Merseyside Tile Doctor