Pro-Seal Archives - South East Wales Tile Doctor

Porcelain Tiled Hallway Floor Renovation Cowbridge

Grubby Large Format Porcelain Tiled Flooring Renovated in Cowbridge

This Non-Slip Porcelain tiled floor was installed in much of the ground floor of a house in the Vale of Glamorgan market town of Cowbridge. As you can see from the photographs the tile surface was a dirt trapper being a matt ridged non-slip tile surface. Dirt showed up easily on the large format light-coloured porcelain which was manufactured to resemble Sinai Pearl Limestone.

They were hoping that I could restore the floor back to a satisfactory condition so I arranged a viewing and popped over to take measurements and survey its condition. The owner explained to me that when the tiler laid the floor around 2024, he didn’t wash the grout off the surface correctly leaving a smear and a gritty residue to the touch. Moving forward to April 2026 the floor was now showing signs of heavy wear; also, they had two large dogs and the large Kitchen area opened to the garden.

Non-Slip Porcelain Tiled Hallway Floor Tiles Before Cleaning Cowbridge

Happy to assist I provided a detailed quote for renovating the floor tile and grout which was accepted and a date scheduled to do the work.

Deep Cleaning Textured Porcelain Tiles

Working room by room I began in the utility room starting with cleaning the tile and grout with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed 50:50 with Nanotech HBU and diluted with a little water to help it flow. HBU stands for Heavy Build-Up and combined together with Pro-Clean it creates a very effective tile and grout cleaner. The solution was worked in using a coarse Black Scrubbing pad and I could instantly see the dirt lifting as I vacuumed the waste away. This process continued throughout the whole area until I was satisfied the tile and grout were as clean as possible.

Non-Slip Porcelain Tiled Hallway Floor Tiles During Cleaning Cowbridge

I had noticed earlier that one of the large format tiles had a chip in the surface which stood out like a sore thumb. I filled the chip with a specialist filler colour matched to the surrounding tile much to the delight of the customer.

Sealing a Porcelain Tiled Floor

To make the Porcelain tiles easier to clean going forward I carried out a sample test to see if they would accept a sealer. Not all Porcelain tiles will do this but some are micro-porous and, in this case, I could see the sealer was being absorbed successfully. Sealing the tile will ensure the dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

Happy with the results of my I sealed the grout lines and the Porcelain tile with two applications of Tile Doctor Pro-Seal which is a penetrating sealer that doesn’t change the appearance of the tile.

Non-Slip Porcelain Tiled Hallway Floor Tiles After Cleaning Cowbridge

The customers were delighted with the results and for future cleaning I explained that they should use Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner in future, being ph neutral it won’t impact the sealer like the stronger bleach-based products you find in supermarkets.

Professional Restoration of a Porcelain Tiled Kitchen and Entrance Hall in Suffolk

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Travertine Floor Cleaning Sealing Cardiff

Deep Cleaning and Sealing Badly Soiled Travertine Flooring in Cardiff

1 Comment / Cardiff Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning / Julian Iancono

This property in Cardiff had a Travertine tiled floor installed throughout the ground floor and as you can see from the photos was overdue a professional clean and seal. Looking for help they contacted Tile Doctor for advice and I offered to pop over and survey the floor for them and provide a quote for its renovation. This is a free service we provide to residential customers and there is no obligation to proceed with any recommendation put forward.

I went over to the house to check the floor and test the floor to see which products and methods would work best. I discovered that the property had recently been refurbished which include plastering and decorating all or which had added to the staining and ingrained dirt trod into the Travertine by workmen.

Travertine Floor Before Cleaning Cardiff

The test clean worked well and satisfactorily showed what could be achieved. I was asked to work out a quote which I emailed over later that day and was accepted.

Cleaning a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Diner Floor

The first job was to carefully remove large lumps of plaster droppings and paint spatters with a sharp blade. It’s a slow job that has to be done by hand but really is the most effective way. Then working in 4sqm sections at a section the floor was sprayed with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean combined 50/50 with Nanotech HBU for extra cleaning power. This was then left to soak into the Travertine and grout for ten minutes to give it time to break down the soiling.

The floor was then scrubbed focusing initially on the grout using a stiff bristle brush and then the Travertine using a handheld black pad cut from a larger 17inch pad. The floor was rinsed and the soiling extracted with a wet vacuum.

Travertine Floor During Cleaning Cardiff

The floor was then inspected and the process repeated where needed until the tiles were clean and free of contaminates. The floor was then dried as much as possible with the wet vacuum and then left to dry out overnight

Sealing a Travertine Tiled Kitchen Diner Floor

Returning the following morning, I used the damp meter to test that the floor was dry, the floor was then ready for me to apply the sealer. The choice of sealer for this floor was Tile Doctor Pro-Seal which provides a natural appearance with hard wearing protection to ensure the stone kept its light appearance and colouring.

Travertine Floor After Cleaning Sealing Cardiff

Once complete the Travertine looked so much lighter and cleaner, the dirt was gone and was the staining from paint and plastering. The customers were delighted with the results and recommended me to their family and friends.

Travertine Floor After Cleaning Cardiff

For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is pH neutral and won’t impact the sealer which can be the issue with many Tile Cleaning products you find in supermarkets.

Professional Renovation of Travertine Tiled Flooring in South Wales

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Stone Bathroom Tiling Renovation Cowbridge

Restoring the Appearance of Bleach Damaged Stone Tiling in Cowbridge

1 Comment / Cowbridge Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Marble Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning / Julian Iancono

Last year we were approached by a customer in the market town of Cowbridge looking for a professional bathroom restorer to renovate their stone tiled bathroom. Apparently, their cleaner had etched the tiles using neat bleach unaware of the damage a strong product like that could have on natural stone.

Stone Bathroom Tiling Before Cleaning Cowbridge

I arranged to call in on the customer the next time I was in the area to discuss the work and take a close look at the tiling. Three different types of stone had been used in the bathroom with Limestone wall tiles in the shower, Black Marble mosaics formed the shower tray and bath panelling, and the floor had been laid with Black Slate.

Having discussed the bathroom at length with the customer it was clear that their main concerns were that the stone had lost its shine, the grout had discoloured, and a lot of the silicone was stained and needed replacing. I worked out a comprehensive plan to revive the bathroom and created a detailed quotation to do the work that listed all the necessary work. My customer was happy with the quote, and I got the go ahead to book the work in.

Black Marble Mosaic and Limestone Shower Tiling Before Cleaning Cowbridge

Black Slate Bathroom Floor Tiling Before Cleaning Cowbridge

Renovating a Stone Bathroom Tiles

Before starting the cleaning, I spent some time protecting the fragile surfaces that didn’t need attention with protective sheeting.

Stone Bathroom Tiling Before Cleaning Cowbridge

Next the shower Tile and grout was scrubbed with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and a Black pad that I had cut down so it could be used by hand. The shower walls were then rinsed with water using the shower head which is one of the convenient advantages of working in a shower.

Focus then shifted to the Black Mosaic tiles on the floor of the shower using more Pro-Clean this time mixed with Nanotech HBU for extra cleaning power. This was scrubbed into the grout joints with a brush and a Black pad for the tile surface. I used the same process on the Marble mosaic bath panel. Once done the tiles were rinsed with water.

The next step was to cut out the silicone sealant around the permitter of the shower tiling and spray the area with Tile Doctor Duo Clean which kills mould. Once dry the silicone was replaced with a new anti-mould silicone.

Black Marble Mosaic and Limestone Shower Tiling After Renovation Cowbridge

The shower enclosure tiles were then sealed with Tile Doctor Pro-Seal a durable sealer that doesn’t alter the appearance of the stone. The customer liked the light appearance of the Limestone and wanted to keep it that way.

Limestone Shower Wall Tiling After Renovation Cowbridge

Refreshing Black Slate Bathroom Flooring

The last area to focus on were the Black Slate tiles on the bathroom floor which were also in a similar worn condition. The old sealer had clearly broken down on these and was now letting dirt become ingrained in the stone reducing the vibrant appearance of the Black Slate. I tread this by removing what was left of the original sealer with an application of Remove and Go mixed with Nanotech HBU and Pro-Clean. I left this cleaning cocktail to dwell for about half an hour before scrubbing with a coarse black pad and scrubbing brush.

The floor was then rinsed with water to remove the soiling and now looked much improved. Once dry it was sealed with Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that contains a colour enhancer and provides a durable finish especially in bathrooms. This worked out very well on the Slate helped to add depth to the stone as well as bringing out more of the features in the stone.

Black Slate Bathroom Floor Tiling After Renovation Cowbridge

The customers were delighted with the result and I’m please to say the service, in fact they have since recommended Tile Doctor to their friends, colleagues and family.

Marble Tiled Shower Cubicle Professionally Refinished in South Wales

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