Quarry and Terracotta tile cleaning

I am a tile restoration and cleaning specialist undertaking allot of quarry and terracotta tile work in Hertfordshire. Harpenden seems to have allot of the original quarry tiles, but I have also done some very detailed Victorian floor restorations there as well.

How do I clean quarry and terracotta tiles?

I first remove all the old waxes and oils that were applied to these tiles over the years for maintenance. Allot of the contamination is bees waxes, linseed oils etc used many decades ago. But I also find allot of red quarry tile paints and polishes. Old modern sealers and acrylic waxes that people have applied more recently.

I will apply strong degreasing tile cleaning detergents and steam to remove all this dirty contamination. I also make use of acidic detergents and abrasives depending on how they clean and paying special attention as to how the tiles react to acids as sometimes these can have a negative effect, especially on terracotta.

All of the above really does bring them alive again.

Waxing and finishing of Terracotta tiles

The terracotta tiles in the pic above I first applied Lithofin boiled linseed oil primer. It was then waxed with a hard wax to further add to the depth and look. Finally I followed this off with 3 coats of Lithofin acrylic tile wax. You can see how deep and rich this waxing and finishing process makes them look!

I do this terracotta tile cleaning and restoration work all over Hertfordshire , Harpenden, Berkhamsted and also cover Bedfordshire and some parts of Buckinghamshire such as Gerrards Cross and Charlfont St Giles

Repair and restoration of Quarry tiles

In the case of damaged quarry tiles I have used the reproduction Victorian 150 x 150 red squares quite allot as they are a pretty good match. The cleaning brightens up the old ones to match the new. Ebay is a very good place to source these tiles and also reclamation yards.

On the job I will replace all really damaged tiles and regrout bits that need it. I do quite allot of filling and colouring to tiles that are only mildly chipped or damaged. This cuts costs and saves having to source too many replacements

How to remove concrete cement residue from quarry tiles

In the pic below you can see how the plasterers just completely ignored the floor. There where also much older cement residue patches all over this one. Luckily I find quarry tiles to be quite resistant to acidic detergents so we can easily remove this type of contamination.

Inorder to remove cement patches from quarry tiles get some phosphoric citrus based acid. Household detergents that remove limescale should be of this type such as Viakal. You will need a little scraper and a stiff scrubbing brush. Then its just a case of going patch by patch applying your chemical and agitating / scraping till its all gone. The chemical loosens the bond in the cement residue so it becomes easy to break up and scrape off.

As you can see the cleaning process and then waxing really is amazing the way it brings these old Quarry tiles back to life. This floor was particularly bad and we had to use allot of acid cleaning agents to remove the white patches. Luckily quarry tiles are pretty acid resistant that really aids in the cleaning process.

Chip repair and colour touch ups on quarry tiles

There is quite allot I can do with colour matching and filling. Most times if the tile will hold the repair we can get away with an easy fix as opposed to replacing the whole tile.

you can see the dirt is absolutely caked in the quarry tile in above pics. Quarry and terracotta are very porous and the dirt runs deep!