This Quarry tiled floor was discovered in an old cottage in the Surrey village of Cranleigh. The new owners had found the quarry tiled floor under an old carpet and wanted to have it restored as an original feature. Unfortunately, it also had a covering of concrete screed over a large percentage of it. This is a fairly common practice when laying vinyl or carpet over tiles as it ensures a completely flat surface.
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From experience, I knew returning the tiles to a decent state would be possible but it’s difficult and unpleasant work. None the less I was happy to do the restoration and having visited the property to survey the floor I came up with a restoration plan that I was happy with. This evolved into a quote which the owners were happy to accept, and a date set for the work to commence.
Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Living Room
To remove the screed, I started with a power chisel fitted with a serrated attachment and started to carefully chip away at the screed. This is noisy and messy work, so I shut myself off from the world wearing eye protection goggles and ear defenders. Slowly the cement screed came away and was bagged up for removal.
Once I’d cleared the area of screed, a heavyweight buffing machine was introduced to the floor. Heavy iron bars were attached to the front to increase traction with the tiles and make cleaning and burnishing more effective. With the machine ready the quarry tiles were covered in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, and this was left to soak in for ten minutes.
A coarse 200-grit diamond pad was fitted to the machine and then run over the floor to work in the cleaning solution. This abrasive pad cuts into the surface of the tile to remove the years of dirt and grime. This is an aggressive, wet process but the cleaning solution captures the dirt and dust minimising the mess. Once done the floor was rinsed with water and the soiling extracted with a wet vacuum.
Attention was then directed at the grout which had to be hand scrubbed for the best results using more Pro-Clean. The whole floor was then inspected and any stubborn areas of staining were spot treated using the same process. Once I was happy with the condition of the tiles the floor was left to dry out overnight ready for sealing the next day.
Sealing a Quarry Tiled Living Room
Quarry tiles don’t particularly like aggressive cleaning processes and it can cause their colour to fade, however there is little alternative when they are this bad. With this in mind, I had decided to seal them with a colour enhancing sealer called Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This product is an impregnator which works by soaking into the pores of the tile, protecting it from within and ensuring any dirt remains on the surface, it also leaves the matt finish the client had requested.
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Other sealers are available that offer a sheen or shiny finish however this client had a couple of dogs whose claws can damage a topical sealer, so an impregnator was the best option.
I returned a month later with some reclaimed tiles to fit around the front of the fireplace
For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is ideal for the regular cleaning of sealed tiles and won’t impact the integrity of the sealer.