Keeping Your Floors Looking Great
Why Seal your Floor?
Flooring is potentially one of the most expensive parts of the parts of your home and could cost thousands to remove it before you even consider the cost and upheaval to replace it. With this in mind why wouldn’t you want to help protect it and help to keep it looking great?
Floor and Grout Sealing – Impregnators and Protection
You may be surprised at the number of telephone calls we get from distressed people who have cleaned and sealed their limestone floors but are unhappy with the results.
Seal of stone flooring such as limestone floors is not as simple as the instructions on the tin tell you. This is because the sealing process is only a small part of the process.
The preparation and choice of limestone sealer are the most important aspects of sealing your limestone and natural stone tiles.
Preparation required for sealing limestone
Before you start sealing your stone such as limestone flooring, it must be cleaned thoroughly. A quick mop will not do, you may end up trapping dirt and having a layer of dirt on your stone floor.
Sealing your floor
Before you start to seal your limestone floor make sure it is thoroughly dry. Best to leave the floor at least 24 hours after cleaning to allow the moisture to evaporate.
There are two types of limestone sealer you can choose from. A penetrating or impregnating sealer and a surface sealer.
The beauty of a penetrating sealer is that it will not affect the appearance of your floor, so it is ideal after polishing limestone floor tiles. A surface sealer will make the colour slightly darker as it sits on the surface of the stone. Surface seal can also degrade through walkways etc over time so we prefer to apply long lasting impregnators.
Whichever sealer you use, a single coat will not suffice. In most cases, you will need to apply 2 or more coats, depending on the porosity of the stone.
You will know you have enough coats when the floor no longer allows fluid to soak into the floor. At this stage, wipe off or ideally buff off the excess sealer and leave to dry.
Preparation and cleaning equipment is not readily available from hire shops. So your best bet is to call on the services of a limestone sealing professional.
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Types of Seals?
When it comes to protection for your floor or tiles you have a few options such as Impregnators, Acrylic coating and wax dressings to name a few.
The type of flooring you have will have an impact on how best to protect it. The majority of flooring we clean is then protected with an impregnating sealer. Find Out more here.
A vinyl floor would typically having a polish, acrylic or wax dressing applied. Amtico & Karndean produce their own branded products to periodically “refresh” your floor
Period Floor Cleaning and Sealing
Flooring such as Victorian and Edwardian Floors and Teracotta and slate where
Vinyl Flooring and LVT Floors
Gloss, Satin and Matt options.
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Polishing Limestone Flooring
For that real wow factor. A high polished floor with fantastic clarity and reflection of the surrounds.
A polished look is achived by first honing the floor to remove scratches and etch markings. We then progress through the various pads taking the floor from a matte finish, through various stages of light and satin sheens to the highly reflective powder polished finish. This glossy finish reflects the light and really brings out the details within the stone.
(Picture of a Nero Marquina floor that was polished back to a high Polish look with great reflections of the surrounding trees and clouds.)
