Pictured below is a very mouldy Ceramic Tiled Shower Cubicle at a property in the picturesque market town of Woodstock, which is very close to the famous Blenheim Palace and has a long history that dates to the Domesday Book and have many 17th century buildings. As you can see mould had really got a grip on the white grout around the bottom of the shower and in most other places the grout had become discoloured. Mould and discolouration are a very common problem and is caused by a lack of ventilation in the bathroom as well as the dyes in soap and shampoos. Most ceramic tiles have a glazed surface and so are fairly impervious to these problems, grout however is a problem due to its cementitious rough nature. I discussed with the client what could be done to restore the appearance of the shower cubicle for them, and they were pleased to hear we could do something about it. Happy with my quotation it wasn’t long before I got instructed to go ahead with the work. To resolve the problem, I first sprayed the whole shower with Tile Doctor Duo Clean and left it to soak in. The bottle comes with a spray attachment that combines the product with air making it lighter and easier to stick to vertical surfaces. It is a fast effective cleaner which doubles up as a grout cleaner and mould remover. Whilst the Tile Doctor Duo Clean was doing its magic I fetched the other tools I would need to complete this job. After about 30 minutes I sprayed the cubicle again and started to hand scrub the grout and tiles to remove the mould and dirt. I then rinsed with water and went over the stubborn stains again until I was happy. The walls where then dried with a clean towelling cloth. It is amazing the difference you can achieve with the right grout cleaning product and a lot of elbow grease. The last step and “prise de la resistance” was to cut out all the original silicone sealant with a sharp knife and then replace with new white sealant which had an anti-mould formula. I am not convinced these anti-mould products work any better to be honest but with mould being such a problem it is definitely worth giving them a go. The last step was to spray the grout with Tile Doctor Wall Tile and Grout Sealer to help protect the grout, it forms a protective barrier over the tile and the grout, so water just runs straight off the wall and into the shower tray. For after care I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Aqua-Pro which is pH neutral cleaner designed for showers and will help the sealer last longer. Stronger supermarket products can actually strip a sealer off the tile over time so we don’t recommend their use. I think you will agree the shower cubicle looked transformed by the time I had finished, certainly my client was very happy with the work we had carried out. Barry Woodward Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

Victorian tiles are very hard-wearing and historically a popular choice for heavy traffic areas such as hallways. Still popular today they are nonetheless like most tiles and can become ingrained with dirt over time. This particular floor, located in a property in the old market town of Tewkesbury is a good example of a floor that was in good physical condition, but heavily ingrained with dirt due to a lack of regular maintenance. At a loss for how to remedy the situation by themselves, the property owner asked me to pay a visit to restore the tiles back to their best possible condition. In this particular scenario, I opted to mix and apply a solution of different cleaning products from our professional range, each serving a different purpose. These products were Tile Doctor Pro Clean, Tile Doctor Remove and Go, and Tile Doctor NanoTech HBU. Remove and Go serves the purpose of stripping away any old sealer on the tiles, while Pro Clean is an alkaline cleaner that reliably removes dirt and staining. NanoTech HBU is a particularly powerful cleaner which utilises nano-sized particles to penetrate deep into the pores of the stone, get underneath difficult stains and lift them out. I spread this potent solution across the length and width of the tiled hallway and left it to soak for approximately 10 minutes, before using a black scrubbing pad fitted to my buffing machine to give the tiles a deep scrub. Next, I rinsed the soiled solution away and neutralised the chemicals with plain water, before extracting any residue using a wet vacuum. I repeated the cleaning process several times to achieve the best results possible, and I also employed the aid of a steam cleaner to spot clean any particularly stubborn marks. Cleaning the floor took two days in total. At the end of the second day, I gave the floor a thorough and final rinse before leaving it to dry completely overnight. The next day, I returned to the property to seal the floor after checking the floor was dry. Ensuring before sealing that the floor is completely dry is crucial – even the smallest quantity of moisture remaining can potentially cloud the sealer and damage its performance. My choice of sealer was Tile Doctor Colour Grow, an impregnating sealer that penetrates and fills the pores of the tile to prevent trapped dirt and makes regular cleaning much easier. Colour Grow is a great choice of sealer for Victorian tiles because it really enhances the colourful patterns which are characteristic of this type of tile. My customer was very impressed with the service and remarked on the huge improvement to the appearance of the floor. You can see this for yourself – just take a look at the before and after photos! Malcolm Crowther Gloucester Tile Doctor

This client owned a property in Haringey, North London, which had a classic Victorian tiled floor laid in the hallway. Unfortunately, the floor was in a bad state, the tiles were dull and dirty and there was a missing section by the bottom of the stairs that had been back filled with cement. Fortunately for him however his neighbour decided to remove their front path which was made with matching tiles and so he was able acquire replacements from him. He then contacted us to see if we could use those tiles to fill in the missing ones and revive the whole floor with a clean and seal at the same time. Before quoting for the restoration work, I paid a visit to the property to survey the floor. I can give quotes from photographs, but much prefer to visit and conduct a test clean, and in this case, I was able to check the spare tiles he had acquired. From that I emailed a quote which the client was happy with, so we arranged a date to return and do the work. This was a large job, so I teamed up with Jackson Davis the Central London Tile Doctor and whilst Jackson started on cleaning the floor, I took the reclaimed tiles outside and carefully grinded off the excess cement and adhesive from them and cleaned them by hand. We managed to do this by about 3pm. Jackson and I work on a lot of jobs together so it made sense to work as a bubble from the beginning of Covid so we could continue to work together, with two of us on the job it also means we can get the job done quicker. Cleaning the floor involved applying a 200-grit diamond burnishing pad to the tile lubricated with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go, the slurry was then rinsed off the floor with more water and then extracted with an industrial vacuum. The process was repeated on stubborn areas until we were satisfied the tiles were really clean. We then moved onto carefully removing the cement from the floor at the bottom of the stairs and cleaning up the base. Once done the newly renovated replacement tiles were laid in place using a rapid setting adhesive which meant they could be grouted later that day before heading home. The floor was then left overnight to dry off. We then returned the following day and took some moisture readings with the damp meter. The readings were within the expected range, so we were good to go ahead and apply the sealer. If the floor is not dry the seal will not cure properly, and this can lead to a patchy finish. Three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow were applied to seal the tiles. This is a colour intensifying impregnating sealer that works from with and will gives the Victorian tiles durable protection, ideal for a high traffic area such as the hallway. In addition, Colour Grow is a fully breathable sealer so it will allow for moisture to rise through the tile and evaporate, this is critical for floors of this age that will not have the benefit of a damp proof membrane installed under the floor. The hallway is now looking transformed by the work we did, we certainly thought so, but more importantly our client was very happy with the result and now has the floor he hoped for. Andrew Newstead North London Tile Doctor

This Victorian floor was discovered at a house in Swiss Cottage in the London borough of Camden when the current owner took the old carpet up. It was in need of substantial restoration to bring it back to its former glory however we have had really good results from restoring similar floors so we were confident it could be done. The carpet had literally just been taken away so we had to remove the gripper rods, underlay and deal with the adhesive which we managed to tackle using a strong solution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which was left to dwell and penetrate the glue for ten minutes before being scrubbed in. Once the glue was removed the tiles were given a thorough clean using Tile Doctor Pro-Clean using the same process of leaving it to soak in and then actively scrubbing it into the floor to get the tile and grout as clean as possible. The floor was then rinsed and stubborn areas re-treated until we were satisfied with the result. The last cleaning step was to use a steam cleaner to pull as much dirt out of the pores of the tiles as possible and a wet vacuum to extract the liquids and get the floor as dry as possible and we also re-grouted where necessary due to the damage caused by the gripper rods. We also gave the Victorian tiles in the entrance lobby a thorough clean using the same process, although they had not been covered in carpet they were still in need of a deep clean. The floor was left to dry and when we returned the whole floor was ready to be sealed and for this we used five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which adds a nice shine to the floor as well as providing a surface seal that will help protect the tiles from stains going forward. For the entrance lobby we used two coats of Colour Grow which doesn’t add the shine but as an impregnating sealer we felt it would perform better with the wear at the front of the house. The owner of the house was very pleased with the outcome and left the following testimonial: Prompt, courteous, hard working and great results !. Nigel Voyce North London Tile Doctor

The tiles pictured are Chinese Slate which were laid in the Kitchen of a house in Chepstow around nine years ago. The town of Chepstow is located on the Welsh side of the River Seven and has the River Wye running through it. The floor had not been professionally cleaned and sealed since installation. During this time the old sealer had mostly worn off allowing dirt to get into the pores of the stone leaving it looking dull, uninviting and dirty. The grout lines had also collected dirt and many of the lines had darkened. I discussed with the client the process to get the floor cleaned and restored and demonstrated the effectiveness of the process on a small test area. They were impressed and were happy to go ahead with my quote, so we scheduled in the work which would take two days. To get the floor clean and remove what was left of the old sealer I first made the floor wet and then added a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed with Tile Doctor Remove and Go to give it extra power. This cleaning cocktail was left to soak into the tiles for ten minutes before being scrubbed in with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine and by hand where necessary. This combination works well on really dirty floors such as this. The scrubbing action released the years of dirt from the pores of the Slate and it wasn’t long before the cleaning solution turned black. This was then extracted off the floor using a wet vacuum. We then gave the floor a thorough inspection. There were one or two areas that were particularly stubborn, so these areas were retreated using the same process and the grout scrubbed by hand using more Tile Doctor Pro Clean. The floor was then given another rinse with water and then dried as much as possible with the wet vacuum. This got the floor dry, but it would need to be completely dry before sealing so it was then left to dry off fully overnight. I came back the next day to seal the floor first checking the moisture level of the stone by taking readings with a damp meter to ensure it was dry. I chose to use Tile Doctor Colour Grow for the sealer as the colour enhancing formula would be the best product to bring out the natural colours in the Chinese slate. Colour Grow is an impregnating sealer which will provides durable protection as well as allowing the surface to breath. Three coats were applied, allowing each to dry before applying the next one. The client was so happy, so much that she said it looked better than when first laid! I discussed aftercare with her and recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, it’s pH balanced so it won’t prematurely erode the sealer which can be the problem with stronger products you find in supermarkets. It comes in concentrated form so one bottle lasts a long time. Paul Wales Monmouthshire Tile Doctor

Tenuous link I know but I worked on this semi riven Black Brazilian Slate Tiles in the kitchen and dining room of a house in the seaside town of Thornton-Cleveleys around the time of the Rio Olympics. I love working on Slate as although it’s appearance can degrade without proper maintenance due to a build-up of dirt I knew they would look fantastic by the time I had finished. The tile itself had lost its rich black colour and the grout lines had become stained, leaving the floor as a whole looking very unattractive. Out of interest honed Slate has a smooth, refined texture whereas the riven Slate has a rougher, more natural texture, and this can make it more difficult to keep clean. Needless to say, the customer was keen to have the tiles restored to looking their best. To restore the appearance of the Slate, I cleaned the floor and removed what remained of the old sealer off using Tile Doctor Remove and Go. This was scrubbed into the floor using a scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine. The floor was then rinsed with water, and the process repeated where necessary to tackle particularly stubborn areas of dirt. As mentioned previously, the grout lines were in a particularly bad state, and would need special cleaning attention. I cleaned carefully with a strong 5-to-1 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean with water, which is our high alkaline cleaner. The cleaning solution was scrubbed I’m using a stiff handheld grout brush, with the grout lines looking immediately cleaner. When I was satisfied that the grout lines had been restored to the best possible condition, I gave the floor a thorough rinse using the wet pickup function of a wet wax machine to get the floor as dry as possible and then left the whole floor to dry off overnight. Upon my return to the property I ran some quick damp tests to check that the floor was completely dry. This is important as any excess moisture would have prevented me from sealing the tiles, since it can cloud the sealer and damage it performance. Previously I discussed sealer options with the customer and they stated that they would prefer a Satin finish, so I applied a sealer called Tile Doctor Seal and Go, our topical sealer which will both protect the Slate from dirt and stains, and also gave it the desired finish. As you can see from the below photographs, the rich, dark shades in the Slate were really enhanced. The customer was very pleased with the finished result, but was also concerned about keeping the Slate clean in the long-term. For regular cleaning I advised the customer to use a pH neutral cleaner for aftercare called Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner. As a pH neutral cleaner, it will not erode the sealer compared to acidic cleaners you so often find in supermarkets. Russell Taylor Lancashire Tile Doctor

Sometimes you survey a job and you know that if you get the chance to restore it the results will be totally fantastic! This was the case with this Victorian black & white chequer tiled floor in the hallway of a large terraced Victorian house in Cardiff which dated back to around 1900 and was now looking well past its best, I know this because my family used to live in the house opposite. It was a well laid floor with no readings of dampness; I believe it’s imperative you check a floor for dampness before starting so you know what the baseline damp level is and which sealers will work with the floor. My first action was to hoover the floor and then scrape as much debris off the surface as possible, and then as always I mixed 50/50 Tile Doctor HBU (Heavy Build-Up) remover with Pro-Clean and on this occasion because I wanted the white tiles to become really white I added the same amount of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up. This special recipe created a very formidable and strong cleaning solution which is what the job called for. I swept it over the whole floor letting it soak in for about ten minutes and then worked it into the floor using a scrubbing machine fitted with a coarse black pad adding more of the solution to the floor where it was drying out as I went. The next step was to rinse the floor twice with water and extract the now filthy cleaning solution using a wet vacuum. At this point I inspected the tiles and I could see there were still a few stubborn areas with spots of paint and glue which I addressed with a decorators steam plate together with a scraper and hand held scrubbing pad. I was now happy that the floor was clean and ready to be sealed, before sealing though it’s important to remove any trace of cleaning solution as it may contaminate the sealer so I gave the floor a thorough rinse and extracted as much of the water as possible to reduce drying times. I left the floor to dry for 48hrs before coming back to seal the tiles taking a reader on my damp meter first to establish they had indeed dried out. To seal the floor I used eight coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which really works well on Victorian tiles and in this case made the whites really stand out. The customer wanted this floor to look good because they were selling the property and were due to have an open day. The clean tiles really gave the house the wow factor and period features are so desirable these days so I don’t think it will take long to sell.

This was a substantial engagement at a luxury rental apartment in Brighton rejuvenating the Limestone tiles in two bathrooms and a hallway taking six days of hard work. In addition, I would be working around two decorators, making for even more testing work conditions. I first set to work on the smallest bathroom, which featured limestone tiles from floor to ceiling, as well as a large bath, copper sink and a tiled surround. Limestone is a very popular choice for interior and exterior decoration, but the tiles in this bathroom were in need of some care to get them looking their best again. My initial task was to strip away any previous sealer by hand; this was done using a mixture of warm water and Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which, along with Limestone, is also suitable for use on other types of natural stone, such as Granite, Slate and Travertine. Pro-Clean serves both as an effective stripper and cleaner, meaning that once the sealer had been stripped away, the tiles also received a thorough clean. Once I had cleaned the tiles, I sucked up any excess water and residue using a Wet-Dry Vac machine. Since the tiles would have to be left to dry for a couple of days, I offered to restore the copper sink for the customer, even though this was not actually part of my job description. After conducting some research into copper cleaning, I opted to use a combination of lemon juice, vinegar and salt. The research paid off as, once I began to apply the solution to the sink, the bright orange and brown colours of the copper quickly rose to the surface. Within the space of an hour, I had transformed what initially appeared to be a ruined sink into a lovely, shimmering copper feature for the bathroom. Both the decorators and I were truly amazed at the results – but all credit goes to Google! The larger of the two bathrooms was a much stiffer test for the Tile Doctor products. It had not been left in great condition, as the shower area had clearly not been sealed correctly, and the tiles had been left in such a manner that soap scum from shampoos, soaps and shower gels had built up on the window sill. In fact, the damage was significant enough that I had to explain to the customer before starting the work that whilst I could greatly improve the appearance of the tiles, I would not be able to restore them to new. This is because many shampoo and body wash products are acidic and can cause permanent damage to stone work especially when left to dwell for a long time. My choice of product was Tile Doctor Mould Away, a formula which, over time, seeps deeply into the pores of the stone, effectively lifting away the muck. In cases of particularly stubborn areas, it is necessary to apply another covering of Mould Away and leave it for an extended period of time. This is exactly what I did over the next few days, leaving the product overnight to work its magic. The change was certainly drastic, if not perfect. As both bathrooms required extended periods of drying, I spent two days working on the hallway, which had been partially covered with a plastic sealing for the previous six months due to building work. Needless to say, the hallway was in need of a good clean. I set about cleaning the hallway with a solution of warm water and Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, before once again using a Wet-Dry Vac machine to remove any excess water to prepare the floor for sealing at a later point. It is very important to remove any residue of cleaning solution before sealing, as this may impact the performance of the sealer. Following this, I left the hallway to dry for two days, providing the builders with strict instructions to cover it with blankets for protection while they were working. While the floor was drying, I sealed the bathrooms – both now fully dried – with Tile Doctor Colour Grow Sealer, a solvent-based sealer that was highly effective at enhancing the colour of the brown tiles around the sinks. The product will also provide durable surface protection. I spent the final of the six days sealing the hallway floor with Tile Doctor Seal & Go, which provides both a stain-resistant surface seal and a durable, low-sheen finish. This was an ideal choice of product, as the customer requested a hard-wearing, yet shiny finish. The hard work really paid off, as both the customer and the decorators were very impressed with the final results in the two bathrooms and the hallway. I was extremely pleased that I was able to complete this big job to the highest possible standards.

This customer from the south side Shepperton has a galley kitchen installed around twelve years ago with a Limestone floor. Since that time the floor had not been professionally cleaned or the stone re-sealed. The old sealer had long since worn down and was no longer providing any protection to the floor allowing soil and grease from cooking to penetrate the stone and darken the grout. It was now looking permanently dirty and the owner decided it was time to have it renovated. Shepperton is a suburban village in the borough of Spelthorne, the Thames river is to the south and much of the east. It is set between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames. The village has a long history and is even mentioned in a document of 959 AD and in the Domesday Book when it was primary farm land, it’s also my base of operation. To deep clean the stone floor and grout I started with a mixture of Tile Doctor Remove and Go combined 50:50 with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. This cocktail of sealer remover and cleaning agent was applied to the floor and left to soak in for ten minutes in order to get to work breaking down all the dirt, grease and what was left of the old sealer. The solution was then worked into the Limestone tiles and grout using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. These pads can struggle to reach into the recesses of the grout lines, so afterwards the grout was scrubbed by hand using a stiff brush along with the more difficult to reach corners that the machine had missed. The floor was then rinsed with water and the products and soil vacuumed off the floor. I repeated the process in a couple of areas where the dirt was a little stubborn. The floor was then clean and after drying out overnight it would be ready for a new seal. The following day I returned to apply the sealer first checking the floor was dry using a moisture meter. The readings were good, so I set about applying a colour enhancing impregnator sealer Tile Doctor Colour Grow to the Limestone. Tile Doctor Colour Grow works by seeping into the pores of the stone intensifying natural colour, preventing staining and providing a durable protection. Two coats of sealer were applied to the Limestone tile and grout which was all that was needed to return the floor back to its original condition. The client was very happy with the finished floor and wanted to know how to keep it looking its best going forward. I explained that the best way to keep it looking good is to get maximum longevity from the sealer which will wear down over time but can be prematurely damaged with strong cleaning products. So, for aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Stone Soap which is designed for everyday cleaning of sealed stone floors. Jonathan Oldham South Middlesex Tile Doctor

This is an interesting Terracotta brick tiled floor installed in a house in the village of Alderly Edge. The Terracotta tiles were made in a brick shape which was a popular design found in rural buildings in the 19th century. Although the floor was in good condition the sealer was starting to wear off and being clay Terracotta are porous and trap dirt if not sealed. You can see this in the before photograph below where you can see how the grout and Terracotta has darkened with ingrained dirt. To get the Terracotta tiles clean and free of any remaining sealer I soaked tiles in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and left it to dwell for twenty minutes, Pro-Clean is an alkaline product and so safe to use on tiled floors. Then using a large 17inch black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine and a stiff grout brush proceeded to work the cleaning solution into the tile and grout. The now dirty cleaning solution was removed using a wet vacuum and the floor rinsed down with hot water. Some stubborn areas were spot treated using the same process and once happy with the overall condition of the floor the tiles were thoroughly rinsed three times using hot water to remove any trace of cleaning product prior to sealing and then left to dry overnight. I returned the next day to seal the floor testing it first with a damp meter to make sure it had dried. I then started to seal the tiles and with Terracotta being a very porous material it took eight coats of sealer to do the job. I used Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is a topical sealer that gives Terracotta a subtle gloss finish, it’s also water based so it doesn’t leave a smell as it dries.

I was contacted by a professional couple who were despairing over the state of their Victorian tiled hallway floor which was dull and uninviting. The property was in Newport which is on the south east side of Wales around twelve miles east of the bustling city of Cardiff. I went over to visit the property which was a beautiful Victorian period terrace house nestled amongst other properties of a similar age properties. The couple wanted their Victorian hallway floor to be brought back to life, so I demonstrated the cleaning process I intended to use on a small part of the floor. Immediately it had the desired effect and the floor looked much cleaner. I could see that there were no structural issues with the floor and the test clean proved it was just ingrained dirt that was the problem. The clients were happy with the result of the demonstration and subsequent quote, so we arranged a suitable date to come back and complete the work. When I arrived, I started by protecting the skirting boards with tape and then set about giving the Victorian tiles a deep clean. I applied a combination of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and Remove and Go leaving it to dwell for a short time to allow the products to soak into the pores of the tiles and start breaking down the ingrained dirt. After about ten minutes I scrubbed the floor with black scrubbing pad attached to a rotary floor buffer which released the years of grime and dirt. The floor was then rinsed with water and the soil removed using a wet vacuum. I repeated the process to ensure the floor was as clean as possible. A further inspection of the Victorian tiles revealed a few stubborn marks which were dealt with using handheld diamond burnishing blocks. These are also handy for getting into the corners of the floor which were difficult to reach with the rotary machine. The floor was then left overnight to dry out. The following day I returned, and I checked the floor was dry using a moisture meter to ensure it was dry. Once I was happy, I started to seal the floor with Tile Doctor Seal & Go which is a water-based sealer that works well on Victorian tiles. Several coats were applied building up layers to produce a stunning satin finish. Once I had finished the floor was looking so much cleaner and brighter and the addition of the sealer will protect the floor from dirt and keep it looking good for some time to come. My clients were over the moon with the floor! For aftercare I recommend Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, which unlike the stronger products you find in supermarkets is ideal for cleaning sealed floors and will ensure the sealer stays in good condition. Paul Wales Monmouthshire Tile Doctor

Bridgwater is known to be one of Somerset’s liveliest towns. With a history dating back over 1000 years, it has many traditions, including a carnival which happens every November, and is hailed as the world’s largest illumination procession. What wasn’t looking lively, however, was this Limestone tiled kitchen floor at a house in the town. It had been laid five years previously but at the time of laying hadn’t been sealed with adequate amounts of sealer. As a result, the Limestone had absorbed a lot of wet footprints and other dirty stains. The sealer simply broke down after a while, leaving the homeowner with a floor that never looked clean no matter how much they cleaned it – using all kinds of products. In fact, the tiles looked blackened and mouldy, as you can see in the photos below. It was time for the homeowner to seek out professional assistance, so she decided to contact her local Tile Doctor. I was asked to completely restore the look of the floor – something the homeowner had deemed impossible at this point. In practice, I knew the floor could be restored using the right products and methods including a really deep clean and resealing with the right type of sealer for these tiles. I scrubbed in Tile Doctor Remove and Go, which is a powerful coatings remover which draws out ingrained stains and strips away any old sealer remaining on the tiles. The floor was then rinsed thoroughly with plain water to neutralise it, and the resulting soiled solution was extracted using a wet vacuum. I repeated the process on stubborn areas, eventually transforming the floor back to its natural and clean state. I allowed the Limestone to dry out completely overnight before returning to the property to seal the tiles. This is important as the slightest amount of excess moisture can damage the performance of the sealer, and we would’ve been back to square one! After checking with a damp meter, I could see everything was fine, so I proceeded to seal the floor with Tile Doctor Colour Grow, which is not only a robust impregnating sealer that will protect the floor going forward but also enhancing the natural colours in the stone at the same time. In the space of two days, the Limestone tiles had been completely transformed. Now it had been properly sealed, the floor will be much easier to clean and therefore should stay looking great for a long time to come. The customer was very happy to have finally resolved the problem with some assistance from the Somerset Tile Doctor! Dave Hurst Somerset Tile Doctor

Victorian black and white tiles in the hallway of a house in Wanstead (E11), laid in what is often referred to as the York Pattern with a Kingsley Border, however sadly neglected for many years after being covered with a heavy underlay and carpet. First we cleaned the tiles with a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-clean which releases the dirt stuck in the pores of the tiles; the solution was scrubbed into the floor with a buffer machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and then the released soil extracted with a wet vacuum. The floor was then rinsed with water and extracted again with the wet vacuum. It was left to dry for thirty minutes and the floor inspected which revealed a few stubborn areas that were then treated using Nano-Tech Heavy Build-up remover (HBU) which was left to dwell for forty minutes and then scrubbed and then extracted again with water. To Slow down or stop the possibility of an issue we sometimes have with older floors such as Victorian Tiles we often use a product developed by Tile Doctor called Acid Gel, this is left on the surface for 5 minutes and then removed with light agitation and water and a wet vac machine, the floor is then rinsed with water again just to make sure there is no Acid Gel left in the Tile or on the surface. The Acid Gel not only Keeps mineral salts (efflorescence) at bay but also helps as a bonding agent for the sealer to make sealing theses type of tiles a lot easier. After leaving the floor to dry overnight I came back the next day to seal the floor using four coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is ideal for Victorian tiled floors as it leaves a low sheen finish whilst providing excellent stain protection. Didi Mohammed Central London Tile Doctor

The photographs below are of rough Chinese Slate floor tiles installed at a house in Dorchester; they had not been deep cleaned in a long time and the combination of pets and grandchildren had taken its toll on the floor. Rough Slate from China is a relatively inexpensive product and although long lasting and value for money the texture of the Slate is difficult to maintain and thus difficult to keep clean even if fully sealed To clean the tiles I used a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left to soak into the Slate for a good ten minutes before working it in with a buffing machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. This action removed the ground in dirt and any old sealer and a stiff brush was then run along the grout lines with more Pro-Clean to get them as clean as possible. The floor was then rinsed thoroughly and any stubborn areas retreated; a wet vacuum was used to extract the soiled water from the surface of the stone in order to get it as dry as possible. The floor was left to dry overnight and I returned the next day to seal using three coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go sealer which is a water based sealer (so no smell) that leaves a nice subtle shine to floor. The slate and the grout looked really dull and dirty before we started and now the floor looks like it was recently laid. For aftercare we don’t recommend the use of a Floor Steamer as they work on a 100 degrees and this damages the sealer; for regular cleaning use Tile Doctor Ph Neutral Cleaner using a two bucket system, whereby you apply the cleaning solution with a jug, wipe the floor and then squeeze off the excess into the second bucket, this stops you reapplying dirty water onto a clean floor. Stuart Tibu Dorset Tile Doctor

The pictures below were taken at a house in the town of Merthyr Tydfil, which is located not too far north of Cardiff. My client was keen to keep her very old Quarry tiled floor – which dated back to 1905 – intact. The floor had understandably seen a large amount of traffic in its lifetime, and was now in dire need of a professional restoration, including a thorough clean and seal. First, I completed a survey of the area and provided my client with a quote. After completing many similar jobs in the past, I generally have a good idea of what the final result will look like. I passed on some images of a final result to my client, who was happy for me to begin my work. On the first day, my first task was to take run some damp tests which were fine; it’s always good to know up front if there are likely to be any damp issues. Next I covered the floor with water to take the surface suction out and waited fifteen minutes before applying a cocktail of Tile Doctor NanoTech Heavy Build-Up cleaner mixed with Pro-Clean and Grout clean-up covering the whole floor. I then immediately starting to work the solution into the floor with a rotary machine fitted with a coarse black pad. The solution was then rinsed off with water which was then extracted with a wet vacuum as I worked. For stubborn areas I applied more of the previously mixed solution scrubbed into the floor with coarse wire wool by hand followed by further rinsing with water. Each of the products used serves a particular purpose. Pro-Clean is a strong high-alkaline cleaner for natural stone, while NanoTech HBU is a particularly powerful cleaner that uses nano-sized particles to penetrate deep into the stone to get underneath and lift out ingrained dirt and stains. Grout Clean-Up, as the name implies, is a product for resolving grout related problems such as removing grout smears from tile surfaces aka grout haze. After completing the clean I left the house for 48 hours, to leave enough time for the floor to dry completely in preparation for sealing. Upon my arrival back at the house I conducted some more damp tests to check that the floor was dry enough to seal using the previous readings as a benchmark. The results indicated that I was fine to proceed with the seal, so I applied a total of eight coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go for durable protection. This was the product I recommended to my client as she wanted a nice, soft shine for her surface seal. As you can see from the photos, the desired result was achieved to a high standard and needless to say my client was delighted with the transformation. Julian Iancono South East Wales

These photographs below are of a Slate Tiled Kitchen floor taken at a customer’s house in Henley-on-Thames which, as its name suggests, sits alongside the River Thames in Oxfordshire. My client’s Slate kitchen floor had recently been cleaned with unsuitable cleaning products which I suspect impacted the sealer leaving it looking dull. Sealers really to improve the look of a stone floor so unsurprisingly once the sealer had been damaged my client had been unable to find a cleaning product that could have any kind of positive effect on the tiles. It’s fairly well known that many supermarket quality cleaners are only really designed for use on Ceramic or Porcelain tiled floors as they contain acids which strip away at sealers and acid sensitive stone floors, leaving the stone beneath vulnerable. So your select a cleaning product for your floor always read the small print on the back of the label and make sure you avoid anything that mentions not for use on acid sensitive stone; belter still Tile Doctor have a number of products for cleaning tiled floors including Neutral Cleaner and Stone Soap. To clean the floor and remove any remaining sealer I first made a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean which is a strong alkaline cleaner and then spread this over the floor, leaving it to dwell. This allows the cleaner to seep into the slate and get underneath, breakdown sealers and start to lift out ingrained dirt. Following a dwelling period of roughly ten minutes, I agitated the floor periodically with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and scrubbed along the grout lines with a stiff grout brush. I then used a wet vacuum to extract the resultant slurry away and then followed up by rinsing the floor with clean water, and once again vacuumed up the residue. Any stubborn areas were retreated until I was happy with the floor and then I left the floor to dry off completely overnight, in preparation for sealing the following day. Upon my return to the house the following day, I ran some damp tests on different parts of the floor to check for any excess moisture which could potentially damage the performance of the sealer. Once I was satisfied that the floor was completely dry, I proceeded to seal the tiles using Tile Doctor Seal & Go. This will provide a robust surface seal for the future, along with an aesthetically pleasing low-sheen finish. This sealer works particularly well on Slate tiles and, being a water-based sealant, additionally Seal & Go does not emit an unpleasant smell as it dries. Slate is quite a porous stone so I applied six coats of seal to provide long-lasting protection. Barry Woodward Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

The colourful and diverse geometric patterns of a Victorian tiled floor can give a property a regal, elegant and timeless feel, making it a popular choice even in the 21st century. However, as time passes without regular care and maintenance, Victorian tiles can quickly lose their colour and appear deadened by the buildup of dirt and dust over several months (and sometimes years). This property owner in Hebden a very small village in North Yorkshire of less than 300 people, had this common problem. Her Victorian tiled hallway had not been adequately maintained and was now more difficult to keep clean than ever. To add to the problem, most of the tiles along the edges were either broken, cracked, or filled with holes, probably I suspect from the installation of carpet grippers at some point in the past. At this point, the property owner turned to Tile Doctor to see what could be done. Before beginning a deep clean of the entire length of the hallway, it was first necessary to source and install replacement tiles for those that had been broken and damaged. I also relaid any that were loose. When finished, I left the tiles to set and returned the next day to start the clean. My choice of cleaner in this situation was Tile Doctor Pro Clean, which was scrubbed into the floor with a special pad fitted to a rotary machine to break down ingrained dirt and stains. Pro Clean does this very effectively on all types of tile, including natural stone and of course Victorian tiles. The floor was then rinsed with water and the soiled cleaning solution extracted from the floor using a vet vacuum. Stubborn areas were re-treated with more Pro Clean, and when I was satisfied with the condition of the tiles the floor was given a final but thorough rinse to remove any trace of cleaning product. The floor was then left to dry completely overnight to ensure all excess moisture had disappeared, leaving it fresh to be sealed. I returned in the morning for a third day of work to seal the Victorian tiles with four coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go, a topical sealer which provides a rich satin finish to really add depth to the colours in the tile while protecting it against dirt and stains. The customer was delighted with the restoration and couldn’t quite believe the huge improvement in the appearance of the tiles, especially in regards to the enhancement in the different colours. Another satisfied customer! Nigel Stoker North West Yorkshire Tile Doctor

Except for general cleaning this multi-coloured slate floor had not been professionally cleaned since installation eleven years prior. Any sealer that had once been applied to the slate had long since worn off and dirt was now ingrained in the pores of the stone causing it to look dull and un-attractive. The property was in the lovely town of Staines Upon Thames, obviously situated on the banks of the River Thames and a popular place to live for London commuters. I visited site to take a closer look at the floor and provide the client with an accurate price for renovating the stone. It turns out that the client had used all sorts of different household cleaners in an attempt to get the floor clean. Unfortunately, they were probably making the situation worse as these strong cleaning products would have actually stripped the sealant off the stone leaving it open to dirt. I carried out a test clean for them and they were very pleased to see how the floor could look. We agreed a price for the work and arranged a suitable date to carry out the work. Cleaning a Multi-Coloured Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor My first task was to strip off what was left of the old sealer and deep clean the stone using a dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go mixed 50:50 with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. This powerful cocktail was applied to the floor and left to soak in for ten minutes before being scrubbed in using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. The grout was hand scrubbed using more of the cleaning solution along the grout lines until I was happy the floor was as clean as it possibly could be. The floor was rinsed with water and the soil extracted by using the wet vacuum. Once the floor was clear the Slate was inspected, and any stubborn areas were spot treated using the same process as before. After a final rinse and extraction, the floor was dried as much as possible using the wet vacuum and left to dry off overnight. Sealing a Multi-Coloured Slate Tiled Kitchen Floor I came back the next day and checked the moisture levels of the tiles using a damp meter. The floor had dried well so I had a green light for applying a new sealer. For this I used four Coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next. This product works really well on Slate and gave the tiles a nice sheen finish, the fresh sealer will also make maintenance cleaning far easier in the future. The client was very happy with the result, the floor now looks great and the natural colours of the stone is so much more evident. For aftercare I recommended they throw away all those supermarket products and use Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a pH neutral product that won’t prematurely erode the new sealer with use. Jonathan Oldham South Middlesex Tile Doctor

This couple, who live in the seaside resort of Brighton, had purchased their house four months before Christmas and wanted to have the fantastic Terracotta tiled floor in the kitchen and conservatory looking its best before the festive period, since they had family visiting. The floor was looking washed out and it was clear the sealer had failed in the high traffic areas and was now allowing dirt to penetrate into the pores of the tile making it difficult to clean. We often get calls from new home owners keen to put their own stamp on a property shortly after moving in; stone floors rarely come with cleaning instructions so if you have a stone floor it makes sense to get in touch, so we can advise you on how best to maintain it. We provided a quote which included stripping the floor of old sealers, cleaning, oiling and then sealing it again to restore cleanliness and character to the Terracotta. There was a lot to do and two areas to clean so I anticipated it would take four days to complete. Having accepted the quote our first task upon returning to the property was to give the Terracotta tiles a deep clean and remove any remaining sealer present on the tile. This was achieved by applying a strong combination of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and Tile Doctor NanoTech HBU to the tiles and then covering it in a plastic sheet, so it wouldn’t dry out. This method allows the products to really soak into the pores of the Terracotta and draw out the dirt. I should also mention that Pro-Clean is a very effective Tile and Grout cleaner whilst HBU enhances it by adding nano-sized cleaning particles. The plastic blanket was left in place for a few hours before being peeled off and then the cleaning products scrubbed into the tile and grout using a black pad fitted to a rotary floor machine and hand brushes. The now soiled product was rinsed off with water which was then extracted using a wet vacuum. The floor was inspected, and stubborn marks spot treated until the floor was clean. After thoroughly cleaning the Terracotta over two days, we left the floor to completely dry off over the weekend. The tiles would need to be sufficiently dry to receive fresh sealant, as excess moisture can cloud the sealant and prevent it from working correctly. When we returned to the property, we proceeded to apply Tile Doctor Stone Oil to the tiles. Stone Oil is a sealer which restores the colour and texture of tiled floors, as well as mechanical strength once cured. We applied a single coat of the Stone Oil before topping it up with multiple coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go, a topical sealer which provides a high-quality sheen finish to help accentuate the appearance of the Terracotta tiles as well as adding protection. You can see the results of the restoration below. The couple were so impressed that they have now agreed to have Tile Doctor visit once a year (at a fraction of the cost of the original restoration) to complete a maintenance clean. This will make sure this Terracotta is always looking at its best! Mick Conlon East Sussex Tile Doctor