Removing Paint

Painted Quarry Tiled Floor Before After Restoration Bayston Hill

Painted Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Bayston Hill

The pictures shown are of a Quarry Tiled floor in the dining room of a property in Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury. Bayston Hill is a large village in central Shropshire around three miles away from the county town of Shrewsbury.

The client had recently purchased the property and decided to renovate the quarry tiled dining room floor by painting it with red tile paint. The floor had not been painted previously and due to its age did not have a damp-proof membrane installed in the sub floor. I suspect the lack of a membrane led to moisture rising through the tile only to become trapped under the layer of paint. The moisture built-up until it destabilised the bond between the tile and the paint causing to lift and peel away.

Painted Quarry Tile Floor Before Restoration Bayston Hill

I wouldn’t recommend painting a Quarry Tiled floor and clearly painting the tiles was not a viable option in this case. Looking for a solution the owner reached out to Tile Doctor to see if the Quarry tiles could be restored to their original condition. There was also an area by the kitchen door where there was a row of tiles missing in the threshold and just filled with concrete which needed restoring.

Painted Quarry Tile Floor Before Restoration Bayston Hill

Restoring a Quarry Tiled Dining Room Floor

I started the work with the repair which involved removing the concrete, cleaning up the area and relaying replacement tiles. Luckily, they had found spare tiles in one of their sheds, so I was able to use those.

Painted Quarry Tile Floor Before Restoration Bayston Hill Painted Quarry Tile Floor After Repair Bayston Hill

After the repair was done, I sprayed down a generous amount of Tile Doctor Remove and Go and then left it to work for about half an hour making sure that it wasn’t drying to the surface. After the dwell time I went over the floor with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. The combination of Tile Doctor Remove and Go and the scrubbing action removed most of the paint. I then repeated the process on the stubborn areas.

There were some old cement deposits on the tiles in places which I removed using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up. I then rinsed the floor several times with water using a wet vacuum to remove the soil. I then left the floor to dry off for a week.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Dining Room Floor

I returned the following week and first checked the floor was totally dry using a moisture meter. The readings were good, so we were ready to seal. I selected to use a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This is a solvent based sealer that provides durable surface protection as well as allowing the surface to breath which is important on this floor as it has no damp proof membrane. It provides a colour intensifying finish which enhanced the natural colour beautifully.

Painted Quarry Tile Floor After Restoration Bayston Hill

The client was very happy with the new floor and certainly pleased to see the back of the paint that they had applied. The floor now had the natural finish that was in keeping with the age of the property.

Painted Quarry Tile Floor After Restoration Bayston Hill

 

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Brick Shaped Quarry Tiled Floor Restored in Much Wenlock

This was a property adjacent to Benthall Hall which is a historic building owned by the National Trust near Much Wenlock. Many of the buildings in this town date back hundreds of years including Benthall Hall which is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Brick Pattern Quarry Tiled Floor Before Renovation Much Wenlock

The property hadn’t been lived in for several years and the new tenants wanted to sympathetically improve the look of the Brick Shaped Quarry Tiles on the lounge floor and in the toilet where the floor had been laid with nine-inch square quarry tiles. Both floor areas had been painted over previously and due to dampness issues the paint was flaking off leaving a very unappealing look. No doubt this contributed to the reason the property has been left un-occupied for so long.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Renovation Much Wenlock

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Floor

To give the floor a deep clean I would need to remove all the flaking paint; there were several ways I could go about this so after some consideration I decided to try Tile Doctor Remove and Go.

Remove and Go is a multi-purpose coatings remover that can strip sealers off tiles as well as remove paint and other coatings, it’s also designed for use on Tile, Stone and Grout so safe to use. I applied a strong dilution of the product to the floor and left it to soak in for a good ten minutes. It was then scrubbed into the floor using a black seventeen-inch scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary floor machine. The floor was then rinsed down with water and the soil extracted using a wet vacuum. With the floor clean I could see I had been successful in removing most of the paint but there were areas where further work was needed and so I repeated the process three or four times and used a steamer on the stubborn areas until I was happy with the condition of the floor. After rinsing for a final time, I inspected the floor and could see the tiles looked a hundred times better.

My next thought was to seal the Quarry tiles to protect them from future staining and enhance their look. The problem however with old floors like these is that they don’t have a damp proof membrane and can have damp problems. The floor needed to be dry before applying a sealer and with all the water used to rinse the floor it may take some time to dry out. I discussed this issue with the customer and we agreed that I will return to monitor the floor and arrange to seal it when it was dry. In-fact I did return after a week and tested the floor with a damp meter which confirmed the floor still was still too damp.

Sealing a Quarry Floor Sealing

They were due to move into the property in a months’ time, so I visited them again to check the floor and unfortunately the damp level was still too high. I concluded that there were several factors preventing the quarry tiles from drying out: the tiles were laid on sand, the property as I mentioned had not been lived in for years also there had been a lot of rain over the last couple of months.

Brick Pattern Quarry Tiled Floor After Renovation Much Wenlock

We agreed that once they move in and start to heat the building up, the floor have a much better chance for drying and when it looks dry, they will give me a call and I will check it for them and seal it if possible.

Given the damp issues my thoughts are to seal the floor with a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow and then finish with Seal and Go Extra, both are which breathable sealers and will leave the floor with a nice sheen finish.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Renovation Much Wenlock

 
 

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