Stone Floor 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. 

Most limestone is porous, this means that water and dirty cleaning solutions will soak into the surface of the stone before you can completely remove them. The best way to clean these porous limestone is to mechanically release the soil with equipment like a rotary or contra rotating brush machines and use a rinse and extraction equipment.

A rotary cleaning machine with a brush is used to gently agitate the surface of the floor to release the ingrained soil. The machine rinse equipment sprays pressurised cleaning solution onto the stone and immediately extracts the excess and soil before it gets a chance to soak back into the stone again. Leaving your floor beautifully clean and ready for sealing once its dry.

Sealing your limestone 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.