Sandstone Tile Cleaning Archives

Sandstone Tile Cleaning

Welcome to my Work History archive where you will find detailed examples of the cleaning and renovation of Sandstone flooring carried out in Durham

Cleaning and Renovating Sandstone Floors

Sandstone is often used for Kitchen and Hallway flooring, however as with any natural stone it needs to be sealed to protect it and bring out its beauty and colouring. One of the biggest problems we find with stone flooring is with the sealer becoming stripped away prematurely by the continuous use of cleaning agents not designed for this type of surface. Without its protective sealer porous stone quickly becomes ingrained with dirt making it increasingly difficult to clean effectively.

Our method for renovating Sandstone typically involves stripping the floor of any existing sealer/coatings, deep cleaning to extract the dirt and then applying a fresh sealer for which I recommend Tile Doctor Colour Grow as it enhances the natural colours in the stone. If the floor is particularly bad, it’s best to resurface it with coarse milling pads which can remove a thin layer from the surface of the stone.

Below you will find detailed examples of work we have carried out in the past, it should give you some idea of what’s involved and what can be achieved with the right techniques and products.

Yorkshire Flagstone Floor Before and After Bitumen Removal in Sedgefield

Old Yorkshire Flagstone Floor Covered in Bitumen Renovated in Sedgefield

This property in Sedgefield, County Durham, recently came under new ownership and the new owner planned several renovations including replacing the carpet in the front room. Removing the carpet was straightforward but unfortunately it had been glued down using a good layer of bitumen which left quite a mess and upon further inspection she realised there was a perfectly sound Yorkshire flagstone floor underneath.

Realising the flagstones would make an impressive floor she was keen to have them restored and spoke to a number of people including a builder who all said it would be an impossible job. Bitumen is an awful material and it was clear removing it from the stone would not be easy.

Yorkshire Flagstone Floor Covered in Bitumen Before Renovation

Having exhausted local connections, she turned to the internet and came across details of a Victorian floor stained with Bitumen that a colleague of mine had worked on and so gave Tile Doctor a call.

Cleaning Bitumen off Yorkshire Flagstones

With a floor like this you can’t really make too many promises as to the outcome or how long it will take however we do access to a lot of experience and some very powerful cleaning products so I was confident we could improve the look of the floor significantly.

To start we carefully scrapped off as much of the black bitumen as possible which took a lot longer than I had initially thought. Next I created a strong mixture of two Tile Doctor Products Acid Gel and Nanotech HBU Remover applying it in sections to the floor like a poultice and leaving it to soak in for a while before agitating it with a rotary scrubber. Acid Gel is used to remove minerals such as salt deposits, cement and grout smears and in this case, I felt it would also help to weaken the Bitumen. Nantotech HBU is another strong product which is named after the tiny Nano sized particles it contains and HBU is an acronym for Heavy Build-Up.

Yorkshire Flagstone Floor Covered in Bitumen During Renovation

After being worked into floor it was rinsed off with water to neutralise the acid and the resultant slurry extracted using a wet vacuum. Once a section was clear we moved onto the next and repeated the process, we also spot treated any ugly spots that needed further treatment. It took about a week to complete the cleaning but using this process I’m happy to report we were able to remove about 99% of the Bitumen and the Flagstone floor was now fully visible.

Sealing Yorkshire Stone

The floor was left to dry overnight and I returned the next day to seal the floor first checking it for dampness using a Damp Meter. The flagstones were dry so I then proceeded to seal the floor using a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a matt sealer that impregnates the pores of the stone protecting it from within whilst enhancing the natural colours of the stone.

Yorkshire Flagstone Floor Covered in Bitumen During Sealing

Whilst the Yorkshire stone had been darkened by the Bitumen in places it has defiantly added a lot of character to the floor and blends in well with the rustic wood burner in the hearth. Certainly the owner was very pleased with the difference we had made and left the following feedback on the Tile Doctor Feedback system.

“Veni, Vidi Vici!! Our floor has the most beautiful flagstones which were covered with a layer of, what I can only assume to be, bitumen. Anthony and Patrick have done an absolutely outstanding job of removing the bitumen and cleaning & re-grouting the flagstones. The task took a little longer than they anticipated and was the most difficult they’d encountered, but they worked extremely hard and long hours until it was complete. I can’t praise Anthony and Patrick highly enough and I’d definitely recommend them to anyone!!”