Renovating a Yorkstone Kitchen floor near Barnsley

The new owners of this converted old farmhouse in Penistone were struggling with its Yorkstone paved floor which continually looked dirty. They had tried to clean it themselves but whatever they tried seemed to have no effect. They found Tile Doctor on-line as their local representative I was asked to survey the floor and recommend a solution.

I paid a visit to the house and whilst there conducted a small test clean to show the owners what results could be achieved. I tested a few different products and methods to see what would work best and they were overjoyed with the difference. Happy and confident the stone floor could be renovated we agreed a price and booked at date in to do all 150 square meters.

Penistone is a small market town to the west of Barnsley nestled in the foothills of the Pennines, as it turns out there used to be a Sandstone quarry here so this Yorkstone floor could well have originated from that very quarry.

Cleaning a Yorkstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

Before doing any work, the area was prepped, woodwork was protected, and furniture was moved out of the way so there would be a clear space in which to work.

To get the floor clean I started by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to the floor which was left to dwell and soak into the pores of the stone for about ten minutes. Then a rotary floor machine was fitted with various diamond pads and brushes to scrub the floor. The Pro-clean and scrubbing action released what felt like decades of dirt from the Yorkshire floor and the true beauty of the sandstone started to show through. The resulting brown slurry was then removed with a wet vacuum before a final rinse was done. The floor was large, the work had to be done in small sections scrubbing and extracting until the whole area was clean and repeating the process where necessary.

There were a few areas with missing and loose mortar between the joints of the stone, so these were raked out and sympathetically repaired.

By the end of the first day the floor was looking so much cleaner. The next step would be to seal the stone, but it would need to dry out before I could do that.

Sealing a Yorkstone Tiled Kitchen Floor

To allow plenty of time for drying I returned a few days later to seal the floor, first checking the stone was dry with the help of a damp meter. I know from experience that applying sealer to damp stone is a bad idea as it will affect the way the sealer cures and mar the overall finish.

The readings from the damp meter were fine so I proceeded to seal the Yorkstone flagstones with several coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go. Natural stone like this is slightly porous so it’s important to prevent dirt from becoming ingrained in the stone by applying a sealer and make the floor easier to keep clean. I recommend Seal and Go for Sandstone floors as it adds a nice subtle shine and brings out the natural colours in the stone.

The client was over the moon with the result, the floor looked superb and to ensure it stayed that way I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning. I make a point of doing this as I often find homeowners with stone floors don’t realise that most supermarket floor cleaning products are simply too strong for a sealed floor. Its always worth reading the label before buying a cleaning product as many are so strong, they can strip a protective sealer away with constant use leaving it vulnerable.

For the regular cleaning of Sandstone type floors, we recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. This product is pH neutral and so won’t compromise the newly applied sealer.

Source: Yorkstone Sandstone Floor Cleaning Service in Barnsley