Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Northamptonshire

There are numerous factors that can contribute to a Quarry tiled floor looking worse for wear, including lack of sealer, dampness issues, and the wrong type of cleaning products. Unfortunately, this black and red Quarry tiled floor was suffering from a combination of all three: there was no sealer evident to protect against dirt and stains, and dampness in the sub-floor had caused the tiles to fade in colour and shine. The red tiles especially had faded so much that they appeared almost white.

The property owner, who lives in the town of Welton, near Daventry in Northamptonshire, was desperate to have the floor professionally restored as her efforts to clean the tiles with run-of-the-mill household products had gone unrewarded. To ensure the appearance of Quarry tiles in this high traffic area of the house, I would need to provide a deep clean and a robust, impregnating seal to prevent future damage.

Cleaning a Dirty Black and Red Quarry Tiled Floor

As is the case with most types of tiled floor in this condition, I deep cleaned this floor using our powerful alkaline cleaner, stripper, degreaser, Tile Doctor Pro Clean. The cleaning method involved spreading strong dilution of Pro Clean evenly across the floor and leaving it to dwell for a short period. This allows it to seep into the tile to help lift out and dissolve ingrained dirt.

I then agitated the solution with a scrubbing pad fitted to my rotary machine to ensure all layers of muck were removed, and then thoroughly rinsed the floor to remove the excess cleaning chemicals.

Sealing a Black and Red Quarry Tiled a Floor

Since the floor was suffering from particularly prevalent damp issues, I left it to dry for ten days (usually 24 hours will suffice) before I returned to the property to commence the sealing process. Arriving back at the property a week and a half later, I immediately took several damp meter readings to ensure the floor was dry enough for a sealant to be applied. This is incredibly important: the slightest quantity of outstanding moisture can cloud the sealant and damage its performance.

Thankfully the ten days had given the floor ample time to dry fully, and I went ahead with applying two coats of Tile Doctor’s impregnating, colour enhancing sealant called Colour Grow. As you can see from the second photo, the sealant really bought the depth of colour back to the floor, making it look very pleasing to the eye. The customer was especially pleased that the red tiles actually look red again!