floor restoration 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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Quarry Tiled Dining Room Restored Stafford

Restorative Cleaning and Sealing of a Quarry Tiled Floor in Stafford

1 Comment / Quarry Tile Cleaning, Stafford Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Trevor Preece

It had been some years since this Quarry tiled floor at a house in the market town of Stafford had been professionally cleaned and was now long overdue some TLC. The previous sealer had worn down allowing dirt to accumulate in the pores of the tile leaving it looking dull and dirty and difficult to keep clean. There were also a couple of loose tiles that needed re-setting.

Quarry Tile Floor Before Cleaning Stafford

Before quoting I visited the property to inspect the floor and carry out a test clean on part of the floor. The test came out well which impressed my clients and gave me an accurate plan for cleaning the rest of the Quarry tiled floor. I quoted for two days work plus materials which was agreed, and we scheduled a date for the work to be done.

Cleaning and Repairing a Quarry Tiled Dining Room Floor

The first day I spent deep cleaning the Quarry tile and grout using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked in with a rotary machine with black scrubbing pad attached. The soil generated was extracted with a wet vacuum and the floor rinsed and extracted again.

At this point I like to inspect the floor looking for any stubborn marks or areas that need repeat cleaning. Once identified I repeat the earlier cleaning process and if that doesn’t work, I resort to using neat Pro-Clean scrubbed in by hand with a lot of elbow grease until I’m satisfied that the tile and grout is as clean as possible.

As mentioned before there were a couple of loose tiles that needed refitting and so before leaving, I spent time pulling those out, cleaning them up, preparing the base, relaying them with fresh adhesive and then grouting with matching grout. The floor was then left overnight to fully dry out and for the newly replaced tiles to set.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Dining Room Floor

I returned the following day and first used a damp meter to check that the floor was suitably dry. I know from experience that for best results the floor needs to be dry before applying the sealer, to apply a sealer to a damp floor can result in a patchy appearance. In this case the readings were fine otherwise I would of arranged to come back on a different day or applied a bit of gentle heat from a heat gun until dry.

I had discussed finishes with my client before starting work and it was clear their preference was for the Quarry tiles to have a nice shine, as it would have had originally so I selected to use Tile Doctor Seal and Go. This product is a specially formulated water-based blend of acrylic polymers that provides a stain resistant seal and being water based it doesn’t give off an unpleasant odour as it dries. Four coats of Seal and Go were applied allowing each coat to dry out before applying the next one. The result was the tiles were left with a lovely subtle shine as requested.

Quarry Tile Floor After Cleaning Sealing Stafford

The client was very happy with the newly restored floor and for aftercare cleaning I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile cleaner, this is pH balanced product that that isn’t overly strong and won’t prematurely degrade the newly applied sealer like most of the household cleaners you find in supermarkets.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Hallway in Staffordshire

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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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Grout Colouring Ceramic Floor Tiles in Tamwoth

1 Comment / Ceramic Tile Cleaning, Grout Cleaning, Tamworth Tile Cleaning, Work History / Trevor Preece

This was a straight forward Grout Colouring job at a house in the market town of Tamworth, Staffordshire. The tiles had been installed with a white grout and over the years the grout had become darker as the dirt had become ingrained into the porous top layer. This is often the case with Porcelain and Ceramic tiles whose looks always outlive that of the grout.

Cleaning and Colouring Grout

The customer was keen to get the grouting looking the same as it was when first installed and so with that aim in mind a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean was applied and scrubbed into the grout lines and then washed off with water. Pro-Clean is a strong alkaline cleaning product that does a good job cleaning up grout however it can only do so much and in this case although it made a difference there were many areas which were too stained.

The next step was to apply a grout colouring product, they come in a number of different colours and the best match to the original colour was Ivory. The Pro-Clean had already prepared the surface so no need to use a pre-treater, it was just a question of waiting for the grout to dry and then apply the colourant.

Applying grout colourant is fiddly work but you do get the pleasure of watching the floor become slowly transformed, also the colourant works as a sealant which will prevent staining and make the grout very easy to clean going forward.

As you can see the floor looks like new and the customer was very happy.

Grout Colouring Floor Grout 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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