Earlier this month I was asked by the owner of a 17th Century property in Ross-on-Wye if anything could be done to improve the original Flagstone ground floor flooring. It’s always difficult to quote for this sort of work over the phone so I arranged to come over and survey the floor.
I must apologise for the pictures in advance as they did come out rather dark. Also dark was the old flagstone floor which was probably original and had certainly taken some punishment over the years. The stone was very patchy in appearance and my client was looking for a quote to improve the finish and make it more uniform.
After measuring up I worked out a detailed quote to deep clean and protect the floor with a fresh sealer and emailed it over to the owner later that day. Happy with the quote and we were given the go ahead and set a date.
Cleaning a Flagstone Tiled Floor
To get the Sandstone flags clean work started with the application of a 100 Grit coarse diamond pad fitted to a weighted rotary floor machine. Water is used for lubrication and to captures the dirt released from the stone turning it into a fine slurry. A wet vacuum is used to remove the soiling as work progresses.
Once the 100-grit has been run over the floor the pad was switched to a finer 200-grit and then 400-grit diamond pad to further clean and refine the flagstones. Again, water was used to lubrication and the floor was rinsed and extracted with the wet vacuum as work progressed.
This burnishing method was used with the rotary machine where possible however with the floor being so uneven I couldn’t cover all areas; for these parts of the floor I switched to a silicon carbide brush fitted to a handheld machine.
Sealing a Flagstone Tiled Floor
Once the flagstones were fully dry, I started applying the sealer which for this floor I applied Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal mixed 50:50 with Colour Grow to make it more workable. Sealing was tricky as the flagstones were quite rough however I managed to get it done and buffed off the excess.
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These are hard-wearing impregnators that add structure and colour to the stone, they are also fully breathable which perfect for old floors like this that don’t have a damp proof membrane and need to breathe.
The owners were delighted with the result (see feedback copied below) and have asked me come back later in the year to do another section of the property.
Impregnating sealers work by soaking into the pores of the stone preventing dirt from residing there, this ensures dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away. For cleaning I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is an effective and sealer friendly tile cleaner.
Source: Professional Flagstone Cleaning Service in Ross-on-Wye Herefordshire
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