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Hi We moved to this house 2 years ago and havn't been able to get the terractotta tiles in the kitchen to look good, despite trying lots of cleaners inc nitromor on one patch. The pictures give an idea of the patchy problem. Its also quite rough in many places.

We're reluctant to buy too many more chemicals (eg people have helpfully advised alkaline stripper and proclean) unless we know they will work so would much appreciate some advice or even a visit from potential restorer (even though the tiles are not antique - probably only 20 yrs old.)

thanks
james
 

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OP
D

DHTiling

If they are 20 yrs old they would most likely have boiled linseed oil and wax on them....this can darken them quite a bit.....you will be able to remove the wax but not the oil...

What finish are you expecting..?..
 
OP
J

James Page

Thanks both
Brian no we havn't tried a machine scrubber, if thats what you mean. Only hand brushes (inc wire) with HG /Soda/Fired Earth cleaner and on one tile Nitromors.
Dave, we had Fired Earth San Genis tiles before so I suppose we are looking for something more like that. Or at least each tile to be a little more even, and not like measles(of course we expect natural tiles to have blemishes and variations between tiles.) Also for the rough ones/patches to be smoother.
 
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S

surfacetiling

Hi James, I have come accross this problem in the past the old-school way is to basically take off the top layer of the teracotta with a sander of sorts, The tiles are probably sealed with paraffin and linseed oil mix, from the photos it looks like bacteria has grown in the tile, I live in Richmond and regularly work around SW london so if you want some more advice we could arrange a meeting best of luck John C
 
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C

craig t

I can sort this problem, i am based in scotland but have a job booked in for feb in surrey, so i may be able to help! pm me for details!
 
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P

pantik

Hi James,

What you can't get rid of from your tiles is the rest of the linseed oil which is used to treat the tiles as a first coat (second coat is normally wax or bewax or antik bewax).

Until now it was quite difficult to get a product which would sort your problem. The product I have experience with and what worked on linseed oil is - Power Stripper from LTP.
Just be aware that terracotta tiles are very sensitive and inappropriate cleaning can cause more damage then good.

If you wanted to get it done professionally, let me know as that's part of my business. I have a guy who is dedicated just to the tile cleaning, maintenance and restorations. We would use the diamond sander to gently remove the linseed oil (if necessary) and then treat it according to your wish - make it look older, modern, just a clean look (no change to the appearance). If you have an old type of property, we would suggest an old tone oil and antik bewax - the look you get is like if the tiles were originally installed hundred years ago.

Anyway good luck, whatever you decide doing.

Should you wish to contact me my mobile is 07725885252, email : [email protected] and web www.1stclasstiling.com (there is no info about the care and maintenance yet, just working on getting it up there)

George





Hi We moved to this house 2 years ago and havn't been able to get the terractotta tiles in the kitchen to look good, despite trying lots of cleaners inc nitromor on one patch. The pictures give an idea of the patchy problem. Its also quite rough in many places.

We're reluctant to buy too many more chemicals (eg people have helpfully advised alkaline stripper and proclean) unless we know they will work so would much appreciate some advice or even a visit from potential restorer (even though the tiles are not antique - probably only 20 yrs old.)

thanks
james
 
OP
H

Highlander

I have never heard of anyone gently sanding Teracotta to remove a linseed coating before and would be interested to see some pictures on that. LTP power stripper is rather harsh and remember Teracotta is really porus and more damage can be done with harsh chemicals.

I removed burnt linseed coating from some rather cheap tiles just before Xmas the tiler had told them to paint the grout joints to darken the gey grout but the customer thought he meant all the tiles ended up with 15m2 of linseed covered tiles thant were painted about 2 years before.

I used Aqua Mix two part heavy duty cleaner it was soaked over tiles and then agittated with a white pad and then left for about 1hr not allowing it to dry out then was dried up and a second treatment was used where required. The cleaner is not harsh and no smell with it. It is a time consuming job but well worth the effort.

Gary
 
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C

craig t

Do you mean grinding when you say gently sanding? What type of machine do you use for this?
 
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S

surfacetiling

Hi folks I may have mislead you when I said "sanding" the tiles what I was getting at, was using a wax remover and solvent stripper and when they were on using a soft grinder buffer head to agitate the layer of wax helping it to seperate from the surface, I have had success with that before. I wouldnt sand teracotta as that would make a right mess of it.
Hope this clears things up, Im going to see the customer saturday morning I will give an update when Im finished

John C
 
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P

pantik


Hi guys,

Just to clarify my original message.

I can guarantee you that the power stripper from LTP will not do any damage to terracotta tiles, especially when you have a thick layer of linseed oil...

I have done several floors like that – you treat the floor with the power stripper, leave it for about 15 minutes and then scrub it off with buffer using the brown scrubbing pad. The pad will only remove the layer of linseed oil and will not damage the tiles in any way!
Once you are finish with the buffer you need hover the excess water of the tiles, leave it dry. If any area left with linseed oil you need to finish off the cleaning with diamond pad manually.

Cheers,
George
 
OP
G

Grace'sDad

Well I'm confused now!

Highlander makes most sense to me so far....

(Sorry I've nothing to contribute but I am following this for experience!)
 

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