CLIENT: DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND

The floor was identified as Sandstone.

It was apparent from a visual inspection that the floor was in need of some cleaning and restoration. Given the age of the property and the fact the floor had been laid and had received no preventative maintenance in over 20yrs, the floor still retained a good finish in places.

This floor will have seen many years of foot traffic from shooting parties, wedding parties and exactly what is was installed for, family living and children running around.

Water sensitive areas were identified and taped up accordingly.

Carpets were protected, and all the furniture removed.

A powerful degreasing agent was applied to the floor and allowed a dwell time of 20mins. This is used to help begin to breakdown, the years of residue, grease etc. Once rinsed and removed, the floor was allowed to dry thoroughly.

A second degreasing and very powerful cleaning agent was applied neat, and allowed a dwell time of 20mins, occasionally agitating.

This product was neutralised with water, is then removed with a wet vac.

The condition of the floor dictated that this process was repeated three times.

Once dried the floor was inspected and a residue remained. Unless the sealer was identified, it really is unknown, and experience then comes in.

The residue was quire elastic which hinted that the sealer was possibly, most probably silicone based.

Again, the process was repeated three times using neat agent.

Finally, once it was agreed all the sealer was removed that was possible, a shampoo and rinse was carried out and the floor was neutralised.

Once dry, the floor received five coats of a colour enhancing sealer was applied.

This image is also Friars well. It shows the stone floor having been cleaned and on the right of the masking tape is the stone unsealed, and on the left of the tape, the stone sealed.

The three images show the stone floor at friars well cleaned, dried and sealed using our sealer and the image shows a water test. The water is lefton the stone for a period of time then removed. If the stone shows any watermarks, more sealer must be applied.

A Terracotta floor, before, during and after restoration.