Diamond Pad Archives - Staffordshire Tile Doctor

Victorian Chequer Tile Floor Renovation Leek

Classic Chequered Encaustic Tiled Victorian Hallway Floor Refurbished in Leek

At this Victorian property in Leek I was asked to renovate the encaustic tiles in the hallway which were laid in a classic Black and White chequer pattern. They had previously been covered in carpet for many years and the owner now wanted the floor brough back to life as a period feature in keeping with the age of the property.

Victorian Chequer Tile Floor Before Renovation Leek

The carpet had been glued down and you could see a lot of discolouration around the edges where the glue was still present on the tile. Also, I could see there were several sections of loose tiling that needed to be secured.

I worked out a restoration plan and quote which the owner was happy with and a date set of my return to do the work which would take three days.

Renovating Black and White Victorian Floor Tiles

The first day was spent repairing the loose tiles in the two doorways and a section next to the stairs. The tiles had become debonded with the floor, so the base needed to be cleaned out and the tiles fixed back into place with fresh adhesive. The next step would require the use of machinery so I waited until the next day to start that in order to give the tiles time to set firmly overnight.

Victorian Chequer Tile Floor During Repair Leek

On then second day cleaning started by wetting the floor with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. A strong dilution was needed to help breakdown the soiling and adhesive. This was left to soak in for fifteen minutes before starting the process of scrubbing the floor.

The bulk of the scrubbing was done using a rotary machine fitted with a coarse 50-grit diamond pad which was needed to remove the patination that the carpet had pressed into the tile surface. These circular pads can struggle to get into the edges and corners so this was followed where needed with a handheld 60-grit diamond block until I was satisfied. The soiling was rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

Victorian Chequer Tile Floor During Cleaning Leek

Next step was to give the floor an acid wash using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up. This is simply mopped onto the floor and brushed in before being rinsed off as before with the wet vacuum. The Pro-Clean used earlier is alkaline so the acidic nature of Grout Clean-up neutralises the floor, it also further cleans up the tiles and will dissolve any salts that may be present in the tile and could result in the appearance of efflorescence later. This is a common problem with old floors like this one which don’t have the benefit of a damp proof membrane.

Last job of the day was to dry the floor as much as possible with the wet vacuum and add grouting using a matching grout where needed.

Sealing a Black and White Encaustic Tiled Victorian Floor

I then left the floor for four days to dry out. It’s not a good idea to apply sealer to a damp tile as you can get a patchy result so I wanted to be sure it was dry before sealing. On my return I checked the floor was dry and then started the sealer application with four coats of Seal and Go which is a water-based sealer that doesn’t give off a smell as it dried. I chose this product as the client wanted the tiles to have a deep shine and this product certainly achieves that.

Victorian Chequer Tile Floor After Renovation Leek

I think you will agree the floor looked amazing once complete, the tiled looked lighter, brighter and overall made the whole hallway look very inviting. It definitely added the period wow factor.

Before leaving I took time to discuss maintenance cleaning and recommended they use Tile Doctor’s Neutral Tile Cleaner. This product is a gentle but effective tile cleaner that won’t impact the sealer.

Professional Encaustic Floor Tile Restoration in Staffordshire

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Victorian Floor Renovation Lichfield Cathedral School

Large Victorian Tiled Hallway Renovated at Lichfield Cathedral School

1 Comment / Lichfield Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / Trevor Preece

I was recently invited over to Lichfield Cathedral School to look at restoring the large Victorian Tile Hallway at the entrance to the school. The school is in the magnificent grounds of Lichfield Cathedral and has a long history.

Lichfield Cathedral

The Victorian tiled floor was certainly testament to that history and had clearly seen a lot of wear of the years with many damaged or missing tiles that would need replacing.

Victorian Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Lichfield Cathedral School

Surveying the floor, I took measurements and made a detailed note of the number of tiles that would need replacing. From this I was able was able to create a quote and was able to re-assure them about their concerns about the replacement tiles.

Victorian Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Lichfield Cathedral School

Happily, my quote was accepted and the work scheduled for the summer holidays when I would have the floor to myself and so it would be ready for the new term. Before my arrival I contacted a specialist supplier and ordered the tile replacements.

Replacing Damaged Victorian Floor Tiles

The first couple of days was spent repairing the tiles at the front entrance. They wanted to keep the floor as original as possible so I only replaced broken and missing tiles.

This process involves removing the damaged tiles and scrapping out the subfloor to remove old adhesives and grout. This has to be done very carefully as removing one tile can dislodge others and before you know the job becomes much bigger than anticipated. Once done the replacement tiles are cut to size and fixed in place using a flexible adhesive.

Day 2 – Deep Cleaning Victorian Floor Tiles

Once the tiles had set I moved onto 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 tiles in the hallway and entrance working in large sections at a time. For best results the solution is left to soak into the pores of the tile for about ten minutes before being scrubbed in using a rotary machine fitted with extra weights and a coarse 50-grit diamond pad.

Victorian Hallway Floor During Cleaning Lichfield Cathedral School

The scrubbing action pulls the dirt out of the tiles and turns the cleaning solution black. The soiled solution is then extracted from the floor using a wet vacuum and the process repeated in areas that I felt could do with further attention.

Next the floor was given an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up and worked in with a Black scrubbing pad. This process neutralises the floor after the use of an alkaline cleaner whilst further cleaning the tiles to removes old grout smears and other mineral deposits. Once done the floor was rinsed with water and the soiling extracted again using the wet vacuum.

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

A lot of water is used in the cleaning process and I wanted to be sure the tiles were dry before sealing, so I left it five days before returning to apply a sealer.

The tiles were sealed with four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra allowing 30 minutes drying time between coats, there were a lot of tiles to cover so it took some time to complete the whole floor. The seal enhances the appearance of the tiles giving them a subtle sheen and will ensure dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away.

Victorian Hallway Floor After Renovation Lichfield Cathedral School

On the topic of cleaning, I always recommend using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is designed for the cleaning of sealed tile and stone. Unlike the stronger products you usually find in supermarkets it has a pH neutral formula that won’t degrade the sealer prematurely with use.

Victorian Hallway Floor After Renovation Lichfield Cathedral School

Professional Restoration of Victorian Vicarage floor in Staffordshire

Large Victorian Tiled Hallway Renovated at Lichfield Cathedral School Read More »

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

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

1 Comment / Burton on Trent Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / Trevor Preece

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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