Author name: Christopher Munro

The Terracotta tiles in the kitchen, living area and entrance vestibule of this property in the village of Currie, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, were reclaimed and had been installed by the owners several years earlier. The intention was to give the property to give a country cottage feel which was achieved and looked great however years of traffic on the tiles by the owners and their dogs had taken their toll and their appearance had degraded.

The owners were keen to have the reclaimed tiles renovated bring back the look which they had in the beginning and loved so much; so, after contacting Tile Doctor I was asked to pay them a visit and see what could be achieved.

I paid a visit to the property and ran a few product tests on the tiles with cleaners and strippers to see what would work best to remove the years of dirt from the porous clay Terracotta. I found that the test clean with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was scrubbed into a couple of tiles by hand easily cleaned the tiles and grout with excellent results. With this I was able to produce a renovation plan and quote that would deep clean all the floors and then apply a hard-wearing impregnating sealer.

Happy with my quote a date was agreed for the work to start and the products needed were ordered in time for my arrival.

Deep Cleaning Reclaimed Terracotta Floor Tiles

On my return I set about deep cleaning the Terracotta and Grout with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean working it into the tiles using a Black scrubbing pad fitted to a rotary machine. Unfortunately, the Terracotta tiles had been laid with a bit of lippage between the tiles, this did give the desired country cottage floor effect however it did make cleaning the grout more difficult. I managed to get around this using a special grout cleaning brush.

The Terracotta tiles and grout was then rinsed, and the soiling extracted with a wet vacuum. Once done the tiles and grout were inspected and any stubborn areas re-treated using the same process until I was satisfied the Terracotta, and grout was as clean as possible.

The final step in the cleaning process was to give the floor an acid rinse using a 1:3 dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up. This was scrubbed the floor with a deck brush to remove old grout smears and neutralise the pH level of the floor, after using Pro-Clean which is an alkaline cleaner. Again, after the clean the floor was rinsed with water, and the soiling removed with a wet vacuum.
.
Once the clean had been completed on all the floors they were left over night to dry out ready for sealing the next day.

Sealing Reclaimed Terracotta Tiles

Our customer was very clear about finish and specified a matt finish which didn’t take away the natural and reclaimed look of the tiles. To match this, I recommended
Tile Doctor Colour Grow, it’s a matt sealer that contains a colour enhancing formula which really brings out the lovely orange and red colours in the reclaimed tiles. Also being an impregnator that soaks into the tile, protecting it from within, it’s very hard wearing and ideal for someone who has dogs in the house.

Terracotta tiles are made from clay and as a result are quite porous, because of this it took a few coats of sealer before they were fully sealed. Once done though the floor looked so much cleaner and brighter and the new sealer will provide long term protection moving forward.

For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, which is a mild but effective, neutral ph cleaner. We recommend this as many of the products you find in supermarkets are simply too strong and bleach based which will slowly strip off the sealer and allow dirt back into the floor.

Professional Restoration of Reclaimed Terracotta Tiled Floors in Edinburgh