#Black Flagstone

[tilecleaningtoday]

Cumbrian Tile Doctor Reveals how to Re-Surface 200-Year-Old Stone Flooring

Earlier this year I was asked to improve this tired looking Black Flagstone floor which was at a house in Kendal that dates back over 200 years. The property used to be the Prison Wardens house and was part of the House of Corrections which was situated in Kendal on the Hill on the road up towards Windermere. The old Stone walls, in what is now the car park, are still present but the Gaol has long gone with new houses built in its place around 120 years ago.

The flagstones formed the floor of what is now a Kitchen and Pantry and sometime in the past a red cement base was put on top of the stone to level it and was then covered in a wooden Parquet floor. The trouble with this was that it stopped the stone from breathing leading to damp spreading into the walls which in turn encouraged mould to grow. Certainly not what you want in a house and certainly not in the Kitchen.

The customer had removed all the old Parquet floor which was rotten anyway and knocked out a lot of the leveller but the stone was very rough and he was unable to get it clean as it would shred mops and the dirt would get trapped in the pits and build-up.

I went over to look at the Flagstones and recommended that we mill the stone which would remove what remained of the levelling compound allowing the stone to breathe again and remove the roughness of the stone allowing it to be cleaned easily. I came up with a restoration plan to do that, address the pointing and then seal the stone with a breathable sealer. Happy with the quote and relieved they now had a practical solution we were given the go ahead to do the work.

Milling a 200-Year-Old Black Flagstone Floor

We used a series of coarse DRB milling pads to grind off a thin layer of stone off the flagstones. This exposes new stone underneath and removes the contaminates in the process. The work starts with the very coarse 50-grit DRB milling pad and is applied to the floor using a heavy-duty buffing machine that has weights added to improve traction. Water is used to lubricate the process and this slowly turns to a slurry as work progresses. The slurry is then rinsed and extracted from the floor and the process repeated with the 100 and then 200-grit DRB milling pads.

Once done we moved onto the pointing which was knocked out with a Hammer Drill and replaced with a breathable pointing product called VDW in a stone-grey colour. Work continued into the next day where the sandstone was cleaned again with the 200-Grit milling pad and focus turned to cleaning all the edges and corners where the pads struggle to reach. Once done the floor was given another rinse and extraction and left it to dry overnight.

Sealing a Black Flagstone Tiled Basement Floor

To return the dark Black colour to the stone I decided to use a breathable oil-based sealer called Tile Doctor X-Tra seal that leaves a low satin finish. This product is rated for internal and external use and being breathable it will allow moisture to rise through the floor and evaporate at the surface. Old floors like this don’t have a damp proof membrane so it is important to choose a sealer that can allow the floor to breath and this will resolve the damp issues the property was experiencing previously.

This was not an easy job for us, but luckily it was quite a small floor. I’m not sure the photographs really do it justice but our work certainly made a difference and my customer was very happy with the result. They even left the following 5-star feedback on our website.

Brilliant job, our flagstone floor is completely transformed! By Helen M, Kendal, 11 March 2024

For aftercare I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which will clean the floor without impacting the sealer which can be a problem with many of the stronger products you find in supermarkets.

Source: Stone Floor Cleaning and Restoration Services in Kendal Cumbria

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[tilecleaningtoday]

Lancashire Stone Expert Reveals How To Resurface Tired Stone Flooring

ncaster. The building was in the process of being completely overhauled and the floor was next on the long renovation to do list.

Caithness Slate from the northern tip of Scotland and is known for its durability and strength however the years had certainly not been kind to this floor and it was in a very bad state.

To restore the appearance of the slate I recommended milling the floor with a set of very coarse pads that would remove a thin layer of stone off the top of the paving slab to reveal new stone underneath. The pointing was also cracked and loose in places so that would also need chopping out and replacing. After milling the stone would also be smoother and once sealed much easier to maintain going forward.

I estimated the process would take four days to complete. Happy to go ahead with the quote a date was booked for the work to start.

Resurfacing Caithness Black Slate

On the first two days there were two of us involved to get through milling the stone which is hard work. We used a set of milling pads applied to a weighted floor machine to cut through the stones surface using water for lubrication. This generates a lot of stone dust so a lot of rinsing and extracting needs to happen to remove it.

Milling carried on into day two but by the end we had started knocking out the old pointing which had already failed and wasn't too difficult to remove. It was one big room with a partition at one end, the building itself was built in the 1870s or at least that's as much information as the client could find as it was bought in an auction.

Due to its age, it had no water or electricity, so we had to work off generators whilst a rudimentary system supplied the water. This was not the easiest job for us as the generators were proving difficult to work with as the relays would overload and cut off the power; this happened more than a dozen times just in the first day alone, but we like a challenge.

As you will see from the pictures the stone flagstones were transformed. This was not a simple clean and seal job, this is milling back the surface using various diamond grits a heavy weighted buffing machine and patience, and some water. Using a wet system, the milling system won't leave a house full of dust and the diamond grinding leaves the stone much smoother and a lot cleaner which makes it a lot easier to clean and maintain in the future.

Sealing a Caithness Black Slate Tiled Floor

Once the milling was complete and the new flexible breathable pointing was applied for which we like to use a product called VDW 800. We then called back the next day and finished the clean, the floor area was left for another day to dry.

Once dry, the floor was then sealing using a single coat of Tile Doctor X-Tra seal which is oil-based sealer that really brings out the colour of the Black slate. Additionally, this sealer is fully breathable so it will cope with the damp conditions you find with old floors that don’t have a damp proof membrane and so won't peel off after a few weeks.

The client was very happy with the transformation and final finish and invited us back to cover more work in the outbuildings which eventually will join onto the main house. For aftercare cleaning I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Clean which is an effective tile and grout cleaner that won’t upset the sealer.

Source: Slate Cleaning and Restoration Products and Services in Gressingham Lancashire

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