Three years ago we had tumbled marble tiles laid in the kitchen, hall and downstairs loo. They are sealed with an unpolished protector and the only maintenance they need is a quick brush and the occasional mopping.
However, once a year they need re-sealing and today is the day, as it’s sunny with a light breeze. So the floor is hoovered, mopped and once dry (hopefully soon) I’ll be on my hands and knees with a four inch fluffy roller and a paint tray full of sealer. Then it takes about six hours before I can walk on it, which means it should be done by the time Mrs HH returns from work. I always dread doing it but it’s not actually that onerous.
I much prefer the unpolished marble to shiny ceramics, though of course the latter need virtually no maintenance. I think the effort is worthwhile.
Enjoy your day HH
Your post reminds me of an interesting fact(oid). Apparently shopping mall developers stopped using “shiny ceramic” floors ( common in the 80s) as they were found to lead to shoppers feeling less comfortable with their surroundings and consequently more likely to leave.
Quite how the psychologists determined this I do not know.
Have fun, hopefully you can have music whilst you do it? I’ve just sealed the sandstone coping stones around our pool and oiled the decking, both of which were overdue and need doing before the winter storms.
Interesting & timely post HH.
I (we) are about to attack the kitchen & the tiled entrance section of the hall. The tiles are not sealed as they are glazed, but the grouting is & that is due for a redo, & I’m told today is the day. We will run a steam cleaner nozzle over the grouting to not only remove any embedded spot stains but also to give all the grout a uniform colour. The sealer is painted along the grout lines & it soaks in, advised to leave it 1 hour before walking on it…
Apart from a vacuum & a damp cloth as & when required, we prefer a steam cleaner rather than mopping. Does a great job with very little water & is walk-able dry almost as soon as finished
Good spring cleaning tips chaps … thanks @Mike-B and @anon4489532
I need to resell bathroom slate and flagstones throughout the ground floor soon. Been putting it off for ages - I think the slate requires preparatory cleaning before resealing
Aren’t we all busy bees! It’s all done now and I’m waiting for it to dry. With no access to the kitchen I’m a bit limited so will have to fire up the kettle in Audrey.
I’ve used the unpolished protector from Topps Tiles, which they sold us when we bought the tiles. It gives a very very slight sheen and preserves the original colour, unlike the shiny polishes which can give a yellow tinge. They also take ages to dry, being spirit based, whereas the unpolished is water based and can be walked on after a few hours.
I’ve got through both discs of Rachel Podger’s excellent new recording of Bach Cello Suites. I’ve really enjoyed that, and with all the windows and doors open, so have the neighbours.
No stone floors in our house - too hard and cold - but this thread has reminded me it is high time I resealed the Travertine tile splashbacks in our kitchen… Another thing to add to the list, which never seems to shrink! But it is a bad weather job, as summer is too short with plenty of outdoor jobs for what little nice weather there is.
The director of domestic engineering has decided the floor will be cleaned/steamed early evening & the sealer operative will do his job just before bed time. A good plan as that means the sealer will be well dried by morning.
The trouble with that is it’s so much harder to do in artificial light. I find it quite tricky to avoid blobby bits where the sealer flies off the roller. Clearly your operative is more skilled than me!
I’d rather have it in the utility room but as we don’t have one it must live in the kitchen. As it’s very heavy (102Kg) and the floor is solid, it’s very very quiet in operation, so not a problem. It can do a 1600 spin in the middle of the night without waking us.
HH: I am a cynic … in fact I’m a terrible cynic, but please tell me this whole thread is just a giant leg pull … there is no way you crafted the original post without a huge grin on your face. Go on, admit it man.
Which reminds me of when we lived in the U.S there was an upstairs laundry shute down to the utility room. There lived Bill and Ben ( as the kids called them) a huge washer and a dryer.
I’ve really been doing it today, vacuuming, mopping and sealing. Haven’t had so much fun for ages. It was nice drinking tea in Audrey while the kitchen was inaccessible.
And no, I never had a problem with washing machines in kitchens either. It was one of the many occasions that I’ve been surprised by seeing the world through the eyes of another.
