Hallway Tiles 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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Geometric Victorian Hallway Floor Restoration Stoke-on-Trent

Geometric Victoria Tiled Hallway Repaired and Restored in Stoke-on-Trent

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

These pictures are of a Victorian tiled hallway floor laid in a striking geometric pattern at a property on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent.. The house was being renovated and the restoration of the floor was one of the remaining projects.

Geometric Victorian Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Stoke-on-Trent

Hopefully you can see from the photographs that as well as being deeply ingrained with dirt the tiles were also stained with plaster dust and paint splatters from the renovation works. Although structurally sound there was some reconstructive tiling work required around the foot of the stairs where there were missing tiles and gaps in the flooring.

Geometric Victorian Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Stoke-on-Trent

After visiting the property to survey the floor, I was able to come up with a plan for its restoration. The work would take four days and would address the tiling issues, deep cleaning of the floor to remove the dirt and staining and then sealing to protect it going forward. I was confident the work would transform the floor and happy with my quote I got the go ahead to start the work.

Cleaning and repairing a Geometric Victorian Tiled Hallway

The first two days were spent repairing the flooring at the bottom of the stairs. I had to carefully remove the damaged tiles and level the floor with a self-levelling compound. This is tricky work as you need to take extra care not to upset the adjacent. The new base was left to set overnight and then the next day matching tiles were cut to size and laid into the prepared section of flooring with fresh adhesive. The replacement tiles were then left to set overnight.

With the floor now complete and intact I was able to start the restorative cleaning of the Victorian tiles on day three. To achieve this a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean (which is a strong alkaline cleaning product) was applied to the floor and left it to soak in for about fifteen minutes. This allows the product time to break down the soils and stains in the floor. A coarse 50-grit diamond pad was then run over the floor to scrub the Pro-Clean deep into the tile and bring the ingrained dirt and staining to the surface.

The floor was rinsed with water and the now dirty cleaning solution extracted with an industrial wet vacuum. The floor was then inspected, and the process repeated until I was happy the tiles were free of plaster, paint spots and dirt. A little bit of spot cleaning was required in some stubborn areas.

The last process was to give the floor an acid rinse using another Tile Doctor product called Grout Clean-up. This product further cleans up the tiles and neutralises the pH level of the floor after the use of Pro-Clean. Another advantage of giving the floor an acid rinse is that it will counter any alkaline salts that may have built up in the floor over time. Commonly known as efflorescence this is a common problem with old Victorian tiled floors. Once done the floor was given another rise and extract with the wet vacuum.

Sealing a Geometric Victorian Tiled Hallway

The tiles needed to be completely dry before sealing so I left the property for six days before returning. Sealing a damp floor can lead to issues with the sealer curing and result in a patchy appearance.

Geometric Victorian Tiled Floor After Renovation Stoke-on-Trent

To seal the tiles, I applied five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is a water-based sealer that leaves a lovely satin finish. The sealer will protect the floor and ensure dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily removed.

Geometric Victorian Tiled Floor After Renovation Stoke-on-Trent

For aftercare I recommend the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which as its name suggests has a neutral pH. This is important as many floor cleaning products contain bleach which can strip the protective sealer off a floor leaving it vulnerable to ingrained dirt.

Professional Restoration of a Geometric Victorian Tiled Hallway in Staffordshire

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Victorian Hallway Floor Restoration Shenstone Lichfield

Detailed Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restored in Shenstone

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

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

Detailed Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restored in Shenstone Read More »