Victorian Tile Cleaning Archives - Staffordshire Tile Doctor

Victorian Hallway Floor Restoration Shenstone Lichfield

Detailed Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restored in Shenstone

The pictures below are of a very detailed Victorian tiled hallway at a period property in Shenstone near Lichfield. As you can see the floor was in a really bad state, fortunately the owner wanted it restored as it was part of the history of the house.

Victorian Hallway Floor Before Restoration Shenstone Lichfield

It’s certainly an impressive floor, the pattern was very detailed and very intricate so well worth preserving as it must have taken a craftsman some time to create. Additionally, there was a section of floor under a door threshold that had been filled with concrete. The owner was unhappy with how that looked and wanted it removing and replacing with tiles to match the hallway.

I suspect there may have been some movement in the door threshold at some point in the floors long history so instead of repairing the tiles it was simply removed and back filled with concrete.

Repairing and Deep Cleaning Victorian Floor Tiles

Work started with the repair of this section by carefully digging out the cement screed and removing the rubble. A quick setting self-levelling compound was then poured in to provide a flat base on which I could tile.

You will see from the after photos below that I had managed to source some tiles that matched the colour of the original floor and so once the compound had set these were fixed into place with a rapid setting adhesive. The tiling wasn’t as intricate as the main floor but I thought it blended well.

Once the replacement tiles had set, I moved onto to deep cleaning starting with an application of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. I used a strong dilution for maximum effect spraying it onto the floor and leaving it to soak in for ten minutes before scrubbing it in with a weighed rotary floor buffer fitted with a 100-grit pad. The soil generated was then rinsed off the tiles and extracted with a wet vacuum.

I followed this up with an acid wash which involves applying an acidic cleaning product called Grout Clean-up and then scrubbing it in using the 100-grit pad and weighted floor buffer as before. This is a beneficial treatment for tiled floors as not only does it remove further contaminates and grout smears from the tiles it also deals with Efflorescence issues which can be a real problem with old floors that have no damp proof membrane. Again, the floor was rinsed with water and the soils removed with a wet vacuum.

Sealing Victorian Floor Tiles

I then left the floor to dry off overnight and came back the next day to seal the tiles, however having checked the moisture level of the floor with a damp meter I realised it was still too damp and applying a sealer now would only result in a patchy final appearance.

This work was done in December 2022 which being a wet and cold month didn’t help, in fact I had to leave the floor for a week until it was completely dry and able to take a sealer. Once dry though I applied four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which gave it a nice shine.

Victorian Hallway Floor After Restoration Shenstone Lichfield

As you can see from the photos on this page the old Victorian tiles responded extremely well to the treatment and needless to say my customer was very happy with the outcome. For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Clean which is a gentle yet effective tile cleaning product that’s ideal for use on sealed floors.

Professional Victorian Tile Restoration service in Staffordshire

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Black Yellow Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restoration Barton-under-Needwood

Victorian Tiled Hallway Extended and Renovated in Barton-under-Needwood

This customer from Barton-under-Needwood had a classic Black and Yellow tiled Victorian floor needed extending to the bottom of the stairs. The original floor also needed a deep clean and seal which would help the new and old tiles blend once done.

Black Yellow Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Barton-under-Needwood

We don’t tend to do tiling jobs at Tile Doctor unless as in this case it’s part of bigger renovation or restoration work. I was certainly happy to help and after paying the customer a visit to fully understand the requirements I provided a quote and a date was set for the work to begin.

Extending a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The first job was to dig out the concrete out and a metal surround where a sunken mat had originally been at the bottom of the staircase. After doing I applied self-levelling cement to level the floor off ready to lay the tiles the next day.

I had managed to source replacement tiles that were a very close match to the original but due to the different in the modern metric and the original imperial sizes work was needed to cut them to size. Because of this the next 2 days were spent carefully cutting and laying the tiles in a matching pattern followed by grouting the whole floor.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

On the following day with the extended floor now set I moved onto to cleaning and renovating the original floor. It had the usual issues relating to a worn out sealer allowing dirt to become ingrained in the pores of the tile.

To resolve the problems, I washed the floor with a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean scrubbed in with a coarse 100-grit pad. These pads are encrusted with industrial diamonds and really cut through the dirt and clean up the tiles. The released dirt was then rinsed off the floor with water and a wet vacuum.

This was followed by an acid wash using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which is designed to remove old grout smears and salts from the tile. Salts can be a real problem on old Victorian floors with no damp proof membrane as there is nothing to stop salts being caried up through the tile from the subfloor and being left as white deposits as the moisture evaporates, a process commonly known as Effloresence.

After another rinse and extract with the wet vacuum the floor was left to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

I went back the next day to seal the whole floor but having taken several moisture readings with a damp meter I decided to leave it a week to dry as parts of the floor were not dry enough for a seal.

Black Yellow Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Restoration Barton-under-Needwood

I then went back the following week to seal the floor with four coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which leaves a nice satin finish. The customer was delighted with the finish. For aftercare I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is a gentle but effective product that is safe to use on sealed tiles.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Professionally Extended and Renovated in Staffordshire

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Victorian Tiled Floor Before After Refurb Stoke-on-Trent

Chequered Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Refurbished in Stoke-on-Trent

1 Comment / Stoke-on-Trent Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This is a great example of a Victorian Tiled floor refurbishment which I recently completed at a property in Stoke-on-Trent. If you look closely at the photographs below you will see the white tiles are looking grubby and paint splash staining from decorating. The owner was unhappy with how the floor now looked and wanted it refurbished.

Victorian Floor Before Cleaning Sealing Stoke-on-Trent

Black and White Victorian tiles laid in a chequered diamond pattern is a classic style and a very popular choice for hallways at the turn of the 20th century. Over the years many have been replaced or covered up with carpet and those that survived are now a sought-after period feature that adds value to your property.

Renovating Black and White Victorian Floor Tiles

I initially cleaned the floor by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was sprayed onto the floor and then left to soak in for ten minutes. Pro-Clean is our goto tile and grout cleaning product that is designed to break down dirt and remove old sealers. After ten minutes the solution was scrubbed in with a rotary machine fitted with a coarse 200-grit pad. The soil generated was rinsed off the tiles and extracted with a wet vacuum and the floor inspected.

I would see more work was needed to get the floor clean and free of staining, so I spot treated the problem areas with Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is a coatings remover. I worked in small sections leaving the product to dwell as before for 10 minutes, I then used a wallpaper steamer with handheld diamond blocks to get the ingrained dirt out of the floor. After a final rinse and extraction, the floor looked clean so, so much better than when I started.

Apply a Sealer to Black and White Victorian Floor Tiles

I then left the floor to dry off overnight and came back the second day to seal the tiles first checking the moisture levels with a damp meter. Applying sealer to a damp floor will result in the floor looking patchy when it dries so I always check first. The readings were good, so I started to apply the first of five coats of sealer which for this floor I chose Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra.

Old Victorian floors do not have a damp-proof membrane installed under the floor so its important to select a sealer that will allow moisture to rise through the tiles and evaporate on the surface, Seal and Go Extra allows for this. Choosing a non-breathable sealer can result in moisture being trapped under the floor where it can reach out to the walls leading to rising damp.

Victorian Floor After Cleaning Sealing Stoke-on-Trent

Once the floor dried it looked fantastic. In fact, my customer was so happy with the transformation she was taking pictures and sending them to her daughters as I worked; she couldn’t believe how well it was turning out.

Professional Victorian Tiled Hallway Renovation in Staffordshire

Chequered Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Refurbished in Stoke-on-Trent Read More »

Old Victorian Tiled Vicarage Floor Before After Restoration Sutton Coldfield

Victorian Tiled Vicarage Floor Restored in Sutton Coldfield

1 Comment / Tamworth Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This property in Sutton Coldfield dates to the early 1800s and was owned by the local church until recently. The property needed a lot of work and the new owners had asked me to restore the beautiful Victorian Tiled Flooring which I suspect was as old as the property itself. The property was in the process of a complete refurb when I first visited to survey the floor and so I recommended that they call me in to work on the floor when all the other work was complete. I find leaving the floor restoration until last is the best approach as tradesmen usually exacerbate the problem.

Old Victorian Tiled Floor Sutton Coldfield Vicarage Before Cleaning

Although incredibly dirty the Victorian Tiles were in good condition for their age, however there were some areas where tiles were missing or damaged and replacements would need to be sourced and fitted. Sourcing replacements is not usually a problem for Victorian Floors as there are a few companies such as the Vintage Floor Tile Company that still sell them due to their popularity. I also find you can pickup old tiles at restoration yards and eBay.

Day 1 – Replacing Damaged Victorian Floor Tiles

On the first day I set about replacing the missing and broken tiles; I had taken photographs of the floor before hand and had plenty of time to source replacements. This process involves carefully removing the damaged tiles and scrapping out the subfloor to remove old adhesives and grout. This is followed by cutting the replacement tiles to size and fixing them in place using a flexible adhesive. If the subfloor has crumbled away, then this also needs cleaning out and building backup with cement to the right level before fixing the tiles. Needless to say, this is painstaking work and takes time to get right, in this case most of the day.

Day 2 – Deep Cleaning Victorian Floor Tiles

On the second day I set about giving the tiles a good deep clean using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which a very effective alkaline cleaning product that’s safe to use on tile, stone and grout.

The Pro-Clean was applied to the floor and then left to soak into the pores in the tile for about ten minutes before being scrubbed in using a rotary machine. The machine was fitted with a Polyscrub brush and run over the tiles at slow speed. This process worked well, and it wasn’t long before the cleaning solution had turned black with the dirt that had been released from the floor. The soiled solution was then extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum and the process repeated in areas that I felt could do with more work.

Old floors like these don’t have a damp proof membrane installed and can suffer from white alkaline salts being deposited on the surface of the tile and damp evaporates up through the tile as it dries. To counter this problem, I decided to follow up the cleaning by giving the tiles an acid wash using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up, not only does this neutralise the salts it also removes old grout smears and other mineral deposits from tiles making them much cleaner.

Old Victorian Tiled Floor Sutton Coldfield Vicarage During Cleaning

I scrubbed the product into the tiles using a deck brush and then rinsed it off with water and extracted with the wet vacuum. Being an Acid, we don’t recommend you leave it on the floor for too long.

Day 3 – Sealing Victorian floor Tiles

The next day I confirmed the floor had dried and then proceeded to apply five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra. This product is fully breathable and will cope well with any inherent damp issues that can cause problems in an old floor such as this, it also adds a nice shine to the tile as you can see in the photographs below.

Old Victorian Tiled Floor Sutton Coldfield Vicarage After Sealing

The final result was a huge transformation and my customer was very happy with the outcome and booked me in to seal the new flooring in the kitchen/utility and conservatory areas.

Professional Restoration of Victorian Vicarage floor in Staffordshire

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Victorian Tiled Hallway Before and After Restoration Stafford

Laminate Covered Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration in Stafford

1 Comment / Grout Cleaning, Stafford Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

The photographs below are of a Victorian Tiled Hallway I recently restored in Stafford. This lovely floor was discovered underneath laminate flooring I can only assume because a previous owner of the house couldn’t work out how to restore it as it was in a terrible state and decided to cover it up.

Fortunately thanks to the power of the internet the current owner discovered Tile Doctor on-line and called us in to have a look with the aim of restoring the floor as a period feature.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Restoration Stafford

Restoring a Victorian Tiled Hallway

Laminate is laid as a floating floor so unlike vinyl or carpet coverings that I usually deal with the laminate had if anything protected what was essential a very dirty Victorian tiled floor that was stained with adhesive and paint splashes.

With the laminate flooring already removed by the owner my preparation consisted of adding protection to the wooden paintwork. Once done I started to tackle the dirt by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and leaving it to soak into the tile and grout for about fifteen minutes. Then with a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad and running at slow speed I set about scrubbing the floor to get as much ingrained dirt out of pores of the Victorian floor tiles as possible. Once that was done I rinsed off the now soiled cleaning solution with water and then extracted it with a wet vacuum.

This action made a huge difference to the tile and grout, but the paint and adhesive stains were more difficult to remove so these areas were treated with Tile Doctor Remove and Go assisted with a steamer to help draw the staining out.

With the tile ad grout now clean of dirt and stains I gave the floor a rinse with water to remove any trace of cleaning products and then extracted as much moisture from as possible using the wet vacuum. I then left for the day allowing the floor to dry off fully overnight.

Sealing Victorian floor Tiles

The next day I confirmed the floor had dried off and then proceeded to apply five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra which is a fully breathable sealer that adds a lovely shine to the tiles. I used a fully breathable sealer as these old houses were built before the invention of the damp proof course and I wanted to ensure that any moisture could rise through the floor and evaporate unhindered.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Restoration Stafford

The final photograph shows the huge transformation I achieved with the floor and as you can imagine my customer was very happy with the result.

Victorian tiled hallway floor Restored in Stafford

Laminate Covered Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration in Stafford Read More »

Victorian Tiled Floor After Cleaning in Stoke-on-Trent

Renovating a Victorian Tiled Hallway floor in Stoke on Trent

1 Comment / Stoke-on-Trent Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

I’ve seen a few Victorian Tiled floors in my time and I can tell you the condition of this particular floor was one of the worst I’ve seen in a while. The tiles had been covered up with carpet tiles which had been stuck down with a strong adhesive and there was still a fair amount of carpet tile backing that needed removing, grout was also missing in places and I could see a fair amount of work would need to be done to get this floor restored.

Victorian Tiled Floor Before Cleaning in Stoke-on-Trent

Cleaning Victorian Floor Tiles

The first job was to clean what I could of the floor and remove the remaining carpet tile so working in sections I applied Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and scrubbed it into the tiles carefully scraping off the tile backing as I went. There were a lot of tiles to cover so as you can imagine this was quite a painstaking process and I was literally working on one time at a time to get the job done. Once complete the floor was given a thorough rinse to remove any cleaning products and soiled cleaning solution which was then removed using a wet vacuum.

Once the floor was clean it was evident that some tiles were loose and needed resetting and others would need grouting so I set about doing this making sure to use a matching grout.

Sealing Victorian floor Tiles

I left the floor to dry overnight and came back the next day to seal the tiles. Fortunately they had dried overnight so I applied four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go. This is an ideal sealer for Victorian tiles as it adds a classic shine to the floor and will provide good protection from stains going forward. I think you will agree the floor has been transformed and now loos amazing, certainly the customer was very happy.

Victorian hallway floor tiles restored in Staffordshire

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Victorian Tiles Sutton Coldfield After Restoration

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration in Sutton Coldfield

1 Comment / Tamworth Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This job was a full restoration of a Victorian tiled floor that had been hidden under those thin adhesive backed lino tiles (see photo below) in the hallway of a house in Sutton Coldfield.

Victorian Tiles Sutton Coldfield Before Restoration

Restoring Victorian Floor Tiles

The first job was to remove the vinyl tiles which being stuck onto the floor left a rather nasty looking floor. I knew from experience this would be tricky to remove and so soaked the floor in Tile Doctor Remove and Go (does what it says on the tin) and left it for a while to soften the glues. Then with a rotary machines fitted with a polyscrub brush attached running at slow speed set about scrubbing the floor to get as much glue of the Victorian floor tiles as possible. This process worked quite well however once I have removed the soiled solution using a wet vacuum I could see there were still quite a a few stubborn patches remaining. The solution was to get down on my hands & knees with a nylon brush, a scraper and more Remove and Go, as you can imagine it took a long time to get the floor really clean and when finished I gave the tile a thorough wash down with water to neutralise the floor and then left it overnight to dry.

Sealing Victorian floor Tiles

The next day I confirmed the floor had dried and then proceeded to apply four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which is the recommended sealer for Victorian tiles, it not only protects the tile it also leaves a nice shine on the floor.

The photographs show a huge transformation and my customer was absolutely delighted with the results, and left the comment below on the Tile Doctor feedback system.

Trevor had a very tough job to do getting our Victorian tiles into shape after decades under a Marley tile floor. They were covered in layers of hard glue but Trevor worked exceptionally hard restoring them to like new. Trevor was very friendly and punctual. An excellent job done and we would definitely recommend him.
Mr. G. Stendall, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

Victorian tiled hallway floor Restored in Sutton Coldfield

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Victorian Tiled Hallway floor cleaning in Weeping Cross

1 Comment / Stafford Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This classic Victorian tiled floor was installed in the hallway of a house in the town of Weeping Cross, Staffordshire. The floor was in pretty good condition but had become dull and was in need of a deep clean to put some life back in the tiles, there was also evidence an old adhesive around the edges indicating it had been covered by carpet at some point.

Cleaning Victorian Floor Tiles

The first job was to remove the glue which I did with a small black scrubbing pad and a mixture of Tile Doctor Remove & Go combined with NanoTech UltraClean and a scraper.

The Remove and Go NanoTech worked well on the stubborn adhesive so I went onto clean the rest of the floor using the same product combination but this time worked in using a rotary machine fitted on slow speed with a black scrubbing pad pad. The resulting soiled solution was vacuumed up using a wet pick up machine and the floor left to dry overnight.

Sealing Victorian floor Tiles

The next morning I mopped the floor with a damp mop and then when it was dry applied four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which is a recommended protective sealer for Victorian tiles and leaves a nice shine on the floor. As you can see it looks fantastic and when the owners came home they were thrilled with the results and left the comment below on the Tile Doctor feedback system.

“Trevor has done a great job with our tiled floor, we are so pleased with the results! We would definitely recommend him!
Mark Broomhall, Stafford”

Victorian hallway floor tiles cleaned in Staffordshire

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Victorian Quarry Tiled floor Restored in Leek

1 Comment / Kidsgrove Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

These old red and black Victorian quarry tiles at a house in Leek, Staffordshire, were in a bit of a state as you can see from the photographs below.

Cleaning old Quarry Tiles

To clean the floor I applied a 50/50 mix of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and NanoTech Ultra Clean diluted with water which was left to soak into the floor and then worked into the tile using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad running at a slow speed. Pro-Clean is a strong alkaline cleaner and NanoTech Ultra Clean adds tiny abrasive particles to the solution that can help lift out the dirt.

After cleaning it I noticed that in places it was not as clean as I would of liked it, so to improve it further it necessary to get on my hands and knees and scrub them with a stronger dilution of the Pro-Clean and NanoTech UltraClean solution and a small black pad. This did the trick and so final step was to neutralise the floor tiles ready for sealing by giving them a good wash with clean water and then left it overnight to dry. A Wet Vacuum comes in handy during this process for removing fluids from the floor

Sealing old Victorian Quarry Tiles

The next day I wiped it over with a damp mop to get any dirt or dust that might have settled overnight and then when it was dry again I applied four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go using an air mover to help dry the floor quicker between coats.

Seal and Go adds a nice low shine to the tile and as you can see the floor looked amazing afterwards, needless to say the customer was very pleased with the transformation and left the comment below.

“I found Trevor a very professional and dedicated workman. He would not let the job finish until he had got the best result.
Miss Jackie Spencer, Leek”

Victorian Quarry Tiles transformed in Leak, Staffordshire

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