Renovating Marked Encaustic Bathroom Tiles in Histon, Cambridge
These photographs were taken of a bathroom and WC in a property in Histon The client had just had these modern Encaustic tiles laid a couple of months prior. The owner had never been happy with the final look of them and from the markings on the surface it looked like had been damaged in storage or left outside and neglected. They are a pretty unusual design so I can only assume the tiler thought their appearance was perfectly normal at the time of installation.
I was confident I could improve the appearance of the tiles and gave the client a quote for the work. Whilst she didn’t want to spend more money on her new floor, she did want it to look as it should, so rather reluctantly she agreed to go ahead.
Histon is next to Impington, they are small villages in Cambridgeshire, over the years the two villages have grown and have entwined together. Many villagers in fact do not know where one village starts and the other ends. The have 6 pubs in total!
Cleaning/Repairing an Encaustic Tiled Bathroom Floor
I wasn’t sure what had been applied to the tiles so after adding protective tape to the wooden skirting I gave them a deep clean with Tile Doctor Remove and Go which was worked into the tiles with a black scrubbing pad. Then to renovate the surface and remove the markings I honed the surface with 400-grit and then 800-grit burnishing pad using water to lubricate the process and rinsing and extracting the soil away after each pad with the wet vacuum.
Sealing an Encaustic Tiled Bathroom Floor
There were two areas that needed work so whilst one area was drying, I was able to get to work on the second and then return to the first later to apply a sealer. My product of choice for this floor was Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer which improves the colour and works by penetrating the pores of the tile and protecting it from within. I applied three coats allowing each one to dry before applying the next. The bathroom now looked as it should have done from the beginning.
My client was very happy with the improvement and left the following 5-Star review.
I only had my floor tiles fitted a few months or so ago and was so disappointed with them. I called Tom and within a few hours, he had transformed them! They look absolutely fantastic! Great value for money as well!
I recommended that in order to maintain the tiles, she should use Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner, this is a pH neutral cleaner which will keep the floor without harming the sealer. Many tile cleaning products are only designed for Ceramic or Porcelain tiles and are too strong for use on sealed floors where they will strip the sealer off with time.
Source: Encaustic Tile Cleaning and Sealing Service in Cambridge
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