01225 683687
If you’ve got any questions you can call our friendly team who are waiting to help
If you’ve got any questions you can call our friendly team who are waiting to help
Flagstone Cleaning · Bath & Wiltshire
Farmhouse kitchens, Cotswold cottages, listed buildings, mill conversions. We clean and seal original flagstone floors across Bath, Wiltshire and the surrounding villages — using breathable sealers that let the stone do what it was laid to do.
Why this matters more than with any other stone
A flagstone floor in a Wiltshire farmhouse or a Bradford-on-Avon weaver’s cottage might be older than the country your great-grandparents grew up in. It was probably laid before damp-proof membranes existed. The lime mortar joints between the stones do a job — they let moisture rise up through the floor and evaporate, instead of trapping it underneath where it would rot the building.
Seal a floor like that with the wrong sealer and you create a problem. Modern non-breathable sealers trap moisture inside the stone, which then forces its way out as salt deposits (efflorescence), white blooming patches, or — at worst — by lifting and damaging the mortar joints. We’ve been called in to fix this on floors where a previous cleaner used a polyurethane finish.
What original flagstones actually need is a breathable, penetrating sealer that protects against staining but lets the floor exhale. That’s what we use. And we test moisture levels before sealing, because old floors take time to dry out after deep cleaning.
What we see in old flagstone
Original flagstones in the West Country have usually had something put on them at some point. Bees wax. Linseed oil. 1970s yacht varnish. 1990s polyurethane sealer. Sometimes all four, in layers, none of them removed first.
What you see now is dark, sticky, uneven, and dirt-trapping. The stone underneath is almost always fine. The job is patient stripping: alkaline cleaner, agitation, repeat, rinse. Then sealing properly with a finish that won’t trap moisture.
It’s slow work. It’s why we charge by the m² — so you know what it costs before we start, not after.
Where original flagstone is found
Cotswold farmhouses. Bath stone cottages. Mill conversions in Bradford-on-Avon. Listed barns in Lacock, Castle Combe, Holt and Steeple Ashton. Pubs and inns across Wiltshire that still have their 18th and 19th century floors.
If your flagstone floor came with the house when you bought it — and the house is more than 100 years old — it’s likely the original. That makes it irreplaceable. You can’t go to B&Q and buy more.
Which is exactly why we treat each one with the care it deserves. No power-wash. No acid. No experiments.
Our flagstone process
We look at the floor, the mortar joints, the building, and crucially — whether there’s a damp-proof membrane underneath. Different floor, different sealer.
Always on original flagstone. Some 200-year-old finishes are unpredictable. We test before we commit.
Alkaline cleaner, agitation, rinse, repeat as many times as needed. Old wax, oil, paint, varnish — all out.
We check moisture with a damp meter before sealing. If we seal a damp floor we trap the damp. We wait.
An impregnating sealer that lets the stone breathe. Protects against stains, keeps the character, allows the floor to do its job.
Things that wreck original flagstones
If your old floor looks worse than it should, one of these is usually why.
Polyurethane, acrylic film, yacht varnish. Trap moisture, cause blooming, can lift mortar joints. Avoid.
Damages lime mortar, blasts old sealers off unevenly, drives dirt deeper into porous stone.
Bleaches stone unevenly, weakens lime mortar, leaves a chalky white residue that won’t go.
Eat into limestone-based flagstones. Damage mortar joints. Cause permanent etching.
Sealing a flagstone floor that hasn’t dried out properly traps moisture in the stone. Result: blooming, lifting sealer, white patches.
Boiled linseed oil and old-fashioned waxes can look great for a few months, then darken, attract dirt, and become hellish to remove.
Flagstone questions we get every week
No, not the way we do it. We use pH-neutral or carefully-controlled alkaline cleaners and soft agitation. The risk to lime mortar comes from pressure washing, acid cleaners, or aggressive scrubbing — none of which we use on flagstone.
Efflorescence — salt deposits being pushed to the surface by moisture rising through the stone. It’s a sign the floor doesn’t have a damp-proof membrane (most original floors don’t) and either was sealed with the wrong product, or has new moisture coming up. We can clean efflorescence off and re-seal with a breathable product, but the damp itself may need separate attention.
Yes — and this is exactly where the breathable sealer matters. The wrong sealer on an old floor causes more damage than no sealer at all. We use products that protect against staining while still allowing moisture vapour to pass through. Old floors have been breathing for centuries; we don’t stop them.
Most domestic flagstone floors take a full day to clean and seal — sometimes two if the build-up is extreme or moisture levels mean we need a drying day between cleaning and sealing. We’ll tell you at the survey, not after we start.
Sometimes. Reclamation yards across the West Country are the best source for period flagstone. We can recommend suppliers and source replacements where the stone is common (Pennant, Forest of Dean, Cotswold limestone). Rare or very local stones can be harder. We’ll be honest about the chances at the survey.
No, you don’t have to. Some owners prefer the unsealed, lived-in look. Just be aware: unsealed flagstone stains, every drink spill is permanent, and the floor will need more frequent deep cleans. Sealing makes day-to-day maintenance much easier. We’ll do whatever you want; we’ll just make sure you’ve heard the trade-off.
Get your quote
Fill in the form and we’ll get back to you the same working day. Surveys are free and there’s no obligation to book.
We’re a small team and we usually pick up. If we miss you, leave a message and we’ll call you back.
01225 683687