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BS: DIY - Stone flag floors
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Subject: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Bagpuss Date: 10 Oct 02 - 07:35 AM We have just bought a house, and after removing all the carpets, have discovered that the dining room floor is made of stone flags. Does anyone know anything about how to clean up and treat this type of floor as we are thinking of leaving it bare with a rug rather than carpet it again? Ta Bagpuss |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: GUEST,Oakley Date: 10 Oct 02 - 07:42 AM Bagpuss, what state is the flag floor in? Is it damp, stained, screeded? Is it acceptably level? |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Bagpuss Date: 10 Oct 02 - 07:47 AM Seems fairly level, no damp (the survey would have picked that up), a bit stained - some flags seem darker than others - the ones around the edges which may have been left uncovered by a rug previously. Bagpuss |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Skipjack K8 Date: 10 Oct 02 - 09:15 AM Oh Christ, Baggie, you drew Oakley. He sports a flat cap and glasses, and keeps saying "Only me"! |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Dave the Gnome Date: 10 Oct 02 - 09:18 AM Plenty of proprietry stone cleaners on the market oh pink striped one:-) Check out your local Wickes/B&Q/Homebase or whatever. From my experience though you may need a couple of goes to get any serious stains out. (Oil off concrete is murder!) Is it realy that bad that you need to do it though? Does it not 'add character' to be a bit stained (like me...) Good luck anyway. See you at Swinton this year? Cheers DtG |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Bagpuss Date: 10 Oct 02 - 09:20 AM So presumably, whatever I do, I "don't want to do it like that"? Bagpuss |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: GUEST,Oakley Date: 10 Oct 02 - 09:25 AM You don't want to do it like that, you want to do it like this. Acid, that's what you want..........Now, I don't think that you wanted to do that. You don't wash burns like that, you wash 'em like this...etc. etc. etc. |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Bagpuss Date: 10 Oct 02 - 10:13 AM DtG - don't think I'll make it to Swinton this year - most weekends are pretty busy. I thought I would just clean off the dirt, and leave the character where it is. Bagpuss |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Dave the Gnome Date: 10 Oct 02 - 10:20 AM Is the character buried under the flags then? Like the devil at Saltersgate under the hearth? We will miss you but we certainly don't want anyone with a dirty floor at Swinton. You need to get it clean before they will let you across the pennine border check point...;-) Cheers DtG |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Bagpuss Date: 10 Oct 02 - 10:21 AM I even washed my face last time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: wysiwyg Date: 10 Oct 02 - 10:48 AM You can use a vinegar solution to clean it. If it's not sealed, muriatic acid solution might be the next step if a pro were doing it, most likely. You may want to seal it with a shiny (or matte) finish. That would help keep dust from settling into the pits and grout imperfections, and make cleanups easier. Make it more resisantt to future staining and scratches, too. Sealer will darken it somewhat and bring out the colors-- might want to do a test area first. But you also can wax on top of sealer and strip the wax later without hurting the sealer... best consult a floor expert, but these are the basic options I know of. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: mg Date: 10 Oct 02 - 10:51 AM a rug on top of it sounds great. I would never put down a wall to wall carpet on anything..they are sources of great filth for a house and one reason there are so many people with asthma...if I had it in a house I would rip it up as I could. mg |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Skipjack K8 Date: 10 Oct 02 - 11:03 AM Good ideas all, but what about the floor? |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: GUEST,Oakley Date: 10 Oct 02 - 11:16 AM Skipjack, we have discussed this many times. The secret is to cleanse with a balanced pH hypoalegenic cleanser, tone and then moisturise, moisturise, moisturise. All this nonsense about acid, varinsh and wax is storing up aging and fine-line problems in later life. |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Dave Bryant Date: 10 Oct 02 - 11:45 AM I think that you should lift up the flagstones, wash them with a pressure washer, and then bed them down on a well-crushed mixture of kazoos and bodhrans...... |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 10 Oct 02 - 11:56 PM i thonking aboot putting would on my floor instead of car pits, my friend called andy was a joiner, i will tell him to do it, and buy him some bear, i think it looks nice 9like a pub) and my car pit is getting a bit shitty anyway.john |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: GUEST Date: 11 Oct 02 - 12:09 AM Bagpuss, get the mice from the "marvelous, mechanical mouse organ", then join in with "we will fix it, we will stitch it, we will make it new, new, new" and all will turn out right. Shouldn't need to tell you this! |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Liz the Squeak Date: 11 Oct 02 - 02:52 AM Good old fashioned scrubbing brush, with a soda or vinegar based cleaner to get the grease out. A blunt knife for getting crud out of the cracks and then just leave it. Don't seal or varnish it in any way, shape or form. All an artificial finish will do is make it into an ice rink should anyone spill anything on it. If you walk over it for say, 250 years, it will get shiny all on it's own, leastways, my grandfathers' flag kitchen and passageway did. A decent doormat should cut down on mud tracked in, and if you do get a rug for the dining room (useful under the table and chairs to catch runny spills and stop the chill from coming up peoples' legs) make it one in character with the floor - rush matting or a handmade rag rug. On no account try lifting a flag. It will NEVER settle back properly. Enjoy it, it's a rare thing to find these days. Of all the childhood memories, my fondest are those in my grandfathers' kitchen with a pantry the same size as the bedroom I'm now sitting in (big enough for a queen size) and the thing I miss most is the stone flag passageway right down the length of the house. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Bagpuss Date: 11 Oct 02 - 05:26 AM Guest - well the mice suggested that, but Professor Yaffle was scoffing and Madelaine and Gabriel refused to get involved and I have lost my thinking cap and didn't know what to do. I will just have to watch that when they are done they don't try to put it into the shop window - as no-one has lost this one. Bagpuss |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Gervase Date: 15 Oct 02 - 09:18 AM Wot Liz said. And, if there are any gaps, get some fine sand and brush it all over the floor every few months - it beds down between the flags, mixes with all the household crud and grouts the cracks nicely. Otherwise, just plenty of scrubbing (coarse bristle rather than wire bush), elbow grease and soda crystals to keep the greasy marks at bay. Don't wax, stain, oil or varnish - chances are you'll hate the darker colour, the flags'll look permanently greasy and most finishes are a bugger to remove. |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: GUEST,Oakley Date: 15 Oct 02 - 09:34 AM Exfoliation doesn't have to be as extreme as that. Ground almond kernels or ground peach stones in a neutral soap base work extremely well to revitalise and restore clarity and tone. Always best to moisturise afterwards, though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Gareth Date: 15 Oct 02 - 09:57 AM Errr What size Flapole do you need for Stone Flags ? Gareth |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 15 Oct 02 - 11:14 AM Hey, lucky find! Are they grouted w cement? They're not sand set are they? The scrub brush and mild warm soap is your first step. tough bristles, but dont scratch 'em... Acid will etch the stone, but it may not remove the stain, and it will eat up the cement faster than the stone, so be careful... If the stains are small, you can remove them with a torch (careful now!) And, if you put finnish on it, it looks really different. I'd scrub 'em for about a day, warm water, and mild soap. If you use too strong a cleaner, the clean spots will stand out (often offensively) more than the origional stain for years... Miuratic Acid is very toxic! ttr |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 15 Oct 02 - 11:17 AM |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: Liz the Squeak Date: 15 Oct 02 - 03:54 PM Certain stains add character, but a little judicial staining with a similar organic substance might make it less of an eyesore if you really can't bear it... or you could make up a story to go with it... 'see that dark patch over there by the door? That's all that's left of the last person who complained about the brocolli.....' Rust stains are the hardest to shift, try not to use any preparation that is greasy or oily, it will mark even worse than the original stain. Lemon juice might be used successfully to bleach a little colour out of a darker stain, to help it blend in, or a VERY weak bleach solution. Soda crystals are your best bet. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: DIY - Stone flag floors From: harpmaker Date: 15 Oct 02 - 08:12 PM HEY HOLD ON, you have to treat this floor like an antique. whats done is done, its part of its character. It just needs cleaning - A bucket of warm (to hot) water, with a squirt of washing up liquid (to hold the grease) and plenty of elbow grease with a yard brush. Rinse, sit back, and enjoy. DONT USE anything that could damage this floor, you will regret it, remember, you can't put back once you have taken it away. I urge caution. |