Caerphilly Castle

Terrazzo Hallway after deep cleaning near Caerphilly Castle

Deep Cleaning a Terrazzo Hallway near Caerphilly Castle

I previously restored an Quarry Tiled floor for the owner of this residence near Caerphilly Castle and was asked back to deep clean their Terrazzo hallway floor which was far from looking its best.

Terrazzo Hallway before deep cleaning near Caerphilly Castle Terrazzo Hallway before deep cleaning near Caerphilly Castle

Restoring a Terrazzo Floor

Terrazzo is a very hard surface and needs to be burnished to get the best results so after scrubbing the floor with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a black scrubbing pad to remove what felt like 100 plus years of black dirt I set about burnishing the floor with a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads and a little water. The set comprises of four different grades of diamond pads ranging from coarse to smooth that produce a shiny clean surface. The floor is rinsed between pads to remove any slurry from the process and given another rinse at the end.

Sealing a Terrazzo Floor

The hard Terrazzo soon dried and I was able to seal the floor with the application of three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer which will prevent staining and make it easier to clean in future. Once the last coat was dry I and gave the floor a further polish with the 4th stage green pad to give a true deep shine.

Terrazzo Hallway after deep cleaning near Caerphilly Castle Terrazzo Hallway after deep cleaning near Caerphilly Castle

I think you will agree that what was once an old and tired terrazzo hallway floor now looks much better following its facelift, something that was only made possible due the quality of installation when first laid.

Quarry Tiled floor restored in South Wales

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Quarry Tiled Floor After Restoration near Caerphilly Castle

Quarry and Terrazzo floors restored near Caerphilly Castle

The owner of this residence near Caerphilly Castle had discovered a 150x150mm red Quarry tiled floor in the kitchen which dated back to before 1900 and had unfortunately been tiled over by a previous owner. Keen on restoring such an original feature the owner set about removing the tiles on top using a chisel and scraping off the adhesive, it was at this point we got the call to assist.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Restoration near Caerphilly Castle

Restoring a Quarry Tiled Floor

Before proceeding my first job is to always check the moisture levels, many of these old floors have no damp proof membrane so without taking a base reading it’s tricky to know if the floor has thoroughly dried later. The kitchen was being replaced and the old kitchen had been removed so I was able to work on the restoration before the new one had been installed making the task easier.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Restoration near Caerphilly Castle
To clean the floor I realised I would need a strong cleaning solution to get these old Quarry tiles clean so I diluted Tile Doctor Pro-Clean 50:50 with Heavy Build-up Remover or Tile Doctor NanoTech HBU as we like to call it. This was applied to a wet floor and scrubbed in using a scrubbing machine fitted with a coarse back pad running on slow speed. I rinsed the floor every so often so I could see the difference and discovered my choice of cleaning product has proved to be effective and fast. Before long I was happy to rinse away the now soiled cleaning solution satisfied that I could not improve the tiles any further with more cleaning.

Quarry Tiled Floor During Restoration near Caerphilly Castle

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Floor

I left the floor to dry for 24h hours before returning to seal the tiles. On my return I checked the moisture levels and there were some high readings so using a heat gun I applied some gentle heat to the tiles allowing them to cool before checking again. This did the trick and the second reading was much better so I proceeded to seal the tiles using Tile Doctor Seal and Go which I find works well on quarry tiles. The quarry tiles were quite worn and very porous and as result needed at nine coats of sealer before they were fully sealed. I do find multiple of coats of sealer works well on floors of this condition as it helped to hide the imperfections and marks caused by the chisel and scrapper.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Restoration near Caerphilly Castle
The owners were delighted with the results and asked me to come back and restore their terrazzo hallway floor which will be subject to another post.

Quarry Tiled floor restored in South Wales

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