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Summary: How to clean and restore quarry tiles

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From this Cleaning and restoring quarry tiles can be a very difficult job for which there are To this many proprietary products available. This project concentrates on the many floors from earlier periods which have simply been covered in bitumen and overlaid with vinyl tiles or lino. Once you have removed the existing covering and discovered the thick black, sometimes gooey mess underneath it looks like a daunting prospect but our advice to you is to take it a little at a time and as soon as you have seen a couple of square feet of beautifully clean quarry tiles gleaming up through the greasy mess it will give you the impetus to push on.

Gloves are vital for this job and a mask is a very good idea. The bitumen can be scraped up cold using one of the scraper types shown but we usually use a hot air gun to melt the bitumen slightly. This is because when the bitumen is warm it does not require a very forcefully scraping and causes less damage to the tiles. If the bitumen is hard the tendency is to bash the scraper into it and this can scratch the quarry tiles.

Scrapers Holding the heat gun above the surface watch for signs (a slight bubble or wave appearance) that the bitumen is starting to melt. Scrape up the section quickly and wipe the scraper blade on the edge of a bucket. Continue with this for an area of about 1 square meter.

Tip some white spirit onto the scraped area and scrub with a nail brush and a cloth. A green scouring pad can be used but these clog up very quickly. There will probably still be a few lumps of bitumen as you wipe over. These can be removed gently with the sharper of the scrapers.

Gentle heat Wipe hard. You will go through a great many cloths ! Keep adding white spirit if necessary. Rub with white spirit

If you believe your floor to be valuable and do not want to risk the above method of cleaning which, it must be said, can sometimes destabilise the original adhesive the quarry tiles were fixed down with, then consult an expert before you begin. If you are concerned that the cleaning method may damage your tiles in any way, either try it out in a small inconspicuous area first, or consult an expert.

Rub hard See our related projects, left, for more information about cleaning, restoring and sealing stone floors.

Top Tools

Click on a tool below for additional information.

Armeg Porcelain Tile Cutter Piping Set 8 Pc	Armeg SDS Plus Tile Removing Chisel	Circle Tile Cutter	Contractor Tile Cutter
Floor Scraper	Harris Heavy-Duty Tungsten Carbide Wood Scraper	Heavy-Duty Scraper	Safety Scraper Set

Much more construction information is available in our bookstore. All the tools and fittings you need in the toolstore.

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Flooring and Floor Coverings
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