Tile and grout cleaning in Campbelltown

Campbelltown and its terrazzo

Campbelltown, Newton, Paradise and the suburbs along the Torrens toward Athelstone were market gardens until the 1950s, and the families who built the houses that replaced them were, to a remarkable degree, Italian. The City of Campbelltown still has one of the largest Italian-heritage communities in the state, and it shows in the housing: solid brick homes from the 50s, 60s and 70s with tiled floors right through, a terrazzo front porch and steps, terrazzo in the bathroom and laundry, and often a second kitchen or a tiled cellar. Terrazzo in particular turns up here more than almost anywhere in Adelaide, poured and ground on site by tradesmen who had grown up with it. Sixty years on it is usually sound but grey, clogged with old polish and dirt, and sometimes etched by years of vinegar and acidic sprays. We clean it with neutral products and a rotary machine, rinse and extract, and seal it with a penetrating sealer; we don’t grind or polish, and if the surface is worn through we say so. Our terrazzo guide covers what to use and what to avoid.

Tiled right through

The other local habit is tiling every room. Where most Adelaide suburbs of the era carpeted the bedrooms and lounge, a lot of Campbelltown homes have ceramic from the front door to the back, which means big continuous areas of grout, often in the terracotta and brown tones of the 70s. That is a floor job by the square metre: $8/m² for a normal clean, $11/m² where the grout has never been done, confirmed with you first. A whole ground floor of 80 m² at the standard rate is $640, and a clear seal at $5/m² afterwards is what keeps it from going back.

Knock-downs, rebuilds and new bathrooms

The same big blocks that suited market-garden families now suit developers, and Campbelltown, Paradise and Newton have seen a wave of knock-down rebuilds and two-for-one subdivisions over the last fifteen years. Those homes have the modern problem: large porcelain with pale grout through open-plan living, and fully tiled showers with frameless screens where the hard-water film shows on the lower rows within months. A shower clean is $149; a bathroom with the ensuite done at the same time is $408. Lochiel Park, the green village beside the Torrens, is included.

Along the Linear Park

Homes backing onto the River Torrens Linear Park from Felixstow to Athelstone get the gum leaves and the dust, and their alfresco areas and verandahs show it. Outdoor tiles are cleaned at the same floor rate; pavers, concrete and driveways are pressure-washing work for our sister brand.

What we do in Campbelltown

• Showers and bathrooms: mould, soap scum, hard-water film, $149 a shower recess, $229 a bathroom, $179 each extra bathroom
• Floors, splashbacks and alfresco tiles: $8/m² for living areas, kitchens, hallways and outdoor areas; splashback $69
• Grout cleaning on its own: every line pre-treated, scrubbed, rinsed and extracted
• Grout sealing: clear sealing from $5/m², colour sealing for stained grout
• Shower regrouting and grout repair: quoted after an inspection, done by a licensed tiler

Covers Campbelltown, Newton, Paradise, Athelstone, Rostrevor, Magill, Hectorville, Tranmere, Felixstow, Dernancourt and Windsor Gardens. Every price is published.