Marble Tile Cleaning Archives - Bedfordshire Tile Doctor

Ruined Marble Shower Tiles Restored in Sharnbrook

I was contacted by the owner of a cleaning company in Milton Keynes, after an end of tenancy clean at a house in Sharnbrook went wrong. Unfortunately a member of their staff had incorrectly applied an acid based cleaning product to the Marble shower tiles which like most natural stone is acid sensitive. The cleaning product had etched the stone causing the damage you can see below. Being a reputable company they were determined to put the situation right and we were asked to step in.

Marble Shower Cubicle Before Cleaning in Sharnbrook

We have had a few issues of this type before where customers keen to remove unsightly Limescale marks from their stone tiles use a household cleaner without reading the bottle label first to see if it’s safe to use. Issues of this nature on Marble cannot be easily resolved with chemical products; it takes specialist knowledge and equipment.

The quote was given and accepted and the work was booked in with the letting company for a few weeks later.

Cleaning and Polishing a Marble Shower Cubicle

The first photos show the extent of the damage which had not only damaged the immediate area but as the cleaning product was in liquid form it had ran down the wall had totally ruined the surface of the tiles in the lower half of the shower.

The first thing I did was to protect the shower tray with towels and then began assembling the equipment needed for this job which consisted of a wet polisher, a variable speed polisher, one set of 6” Tile Doctor burnishing pads from 100 grit to 3,000 grit and one full set of diamond blocks from 80 grit upwards.

I then went about testing how far down the scale I would have to go to get the best results. I found that in most areas the application of a 200 grit burnishing pad was adequate to resurface the tile and remove damage but in some areas I had to go down the scale as low as 80 grit to achieve the desired result.

Marble Shower Cubicle During Cleaning in Sharnbrook

One the damage had been removed the higher grit pads are used in sequence to restore the polish finishing with the 3,000 grit pad. No chemicals are used in this process, just water and the small six inch diamond encrusted burnishing pads which fit to a hand buffer.

Although only a small area, no more than 4 m2 this job took most of the day. However, as the whole shower room was tiled in the same tiles it was a much more cost effective to restore the damaged tiles than replace them.

Marble Shower Cubicle After Cleaning in Sharnbrook

We were able to achieve an excellent result which the client was very happy with, no doubt saving the cleaning company thousands of pounds in replacement costs.

Professional Restoration of a Damaged Marble Tiled Shower Cubicle in Bedfordshire

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Stained and Discoloured Marble Fireplace Rejuvenated in Bedford

1 Comment / Bedford Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Work History / Mike Conlon

As you may know already, Tile Doctor aren’t limited to the maintenance and restoration of tiled floors. Our expertise covers all different types of tile and stone cleaning, meaning we are even able to clean and restore stone fireplaces. A good example of this is a polished Marble fireplace I recently restored in Bedford, which is the county town of one of England’s smallest counties, Bedfordshire. Marble is reputed in the international market for its premium quality, toughness, and durability, making it a great choice for a fireplace – if you can keep it properly maintained!

The following pictures show the state of the fireplace before the restoration. As you can see, the stone was stained and discoloured, possibly from smoke damage as it had previously been used as an open fire. My task was to get the Marble back to looking its best again through a combination of polishing and sealing. Here’s how I did it.

Marble Fireplace Before Cleaning Bedford

Cleaning a Stained and Discoloured Marble Fireplace

The process I took to restore the fireplace is much the same as the one I would for tiled floor polishing except on a smaller scale and with smaller tools. Cleaning a vertical surface can be trickier and make a bit more of a mess with possible splashes, so I fully sheeted up the area, covering the customer’s furniture and newly decorated walls.

It involved the application of six inch diamond encrusted polishing pads of varying grits, fitted to a handheld machine, as well as handheld diamond encrusted blocks to get into all small, difficult to reach areas. Just like with tiled floor polishing, I started with a Coarse grit pad to grind away the tough stains and then worked my way through the system of different grades of pads until finishing with a very fine pad to refine the polished finish.

Marble Fireplace During Cleaning Bedford

Sealing a Marble Fireplace

Once the fireplace had been polished to a high standard, I sealed the stone using Tile Doctor Ultra Seal, which is a premium, no-sheen, natural-look, solvent-based penetrating sealer formulated to provide maximum stain protection. It’s perfect for high-end natural stone like Marble, it can also be used on Granite, Slate, Travertine, and Limestone to achieve a high shine finish and protect the stone.
By the time, I had finished it was starting to get dark, so unfortunately the photo below, which shows the result, does not show off the quality of the shine that I was able to achieve on the Marble. Nevertheless, the customer was very happy with the results.

Professional Stone Cleaning and Sealing for a Marble Fireplace Restoration in Bedford

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Scratched Marble Tiled floor Polished in Olney

1 Comment / Cranfield Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Work History / Mike Conlon

This was a Marble tiled floor installed in the kitchen of a house in Olney, Bedfordshire which had been scratched in places and was now overdue for some TLC.

Cleaning Marble Tile and Grout

The first job was to give the floor a general clean using a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left to dwell on the Tile and Grout for a short while before being worked in with a rotary machine fitted with a scrubbing pad and a stiff hand brushes along the grout lines. The floor was then washed down with clean water to remove the soiled cleaning solution with the liquids being removed using a wet vacuum.

Burnishing and Polishing Marble Tile

To restore the original finish and remove the scratches the floor needed to be cut back using a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads. The pads come in a set of four and you start with the coarse pad and a little water and then move on to the Medium, Fine and Very fine pads at which point the surface looks immaculate and polished.

The next task was to protect the floor and bring up the appearance even further by applying Tile Doctor Shine Powder which is polished into the floor using a buffing pad; the powder add a really deep finish to the appearance of the Marble and hardens on the surface to provide durable surface protection.

Hopefully you can appreciate the difference in the Marble from the photographs; it was a tricky subject to capture due to the lighting; however I can tell you the customer was amazed by the finish.

Scratched Marble Tiled floor Restored in Olney, Bedfordshire

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Ampthill Tile Cleaning, Bedford Tile Cleaning, Biggleswade Tile Cleaning, Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Cranfield Tile Cleaning, Dunstable Tile Cleaning, Encaustic Cement Tile Cleaning, Fireplace Cleaning, Flagstone Tile Cleaning, Flitwick Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Houghton Regis Tile Cleaning, Kempston Tile Cleaning, Leighton Buzzard Tile Cleaning, Limestone Tile Cleaning and Polishing, Luton Tile Cleaning, Marble Tile Cleaning, Porcelain Tile Cleaning, Quarry Tile Cleaning, Sandstone Tile Cleaning, Sandy Tile Cleaning, Shefford Tile Cleaning, Slate Tile Cleaning, Stotfold Tile Cleaning, Terracotta Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Travertine Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Vinyl Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Mike Conlon

Bedfordshire Tile Doctor

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