These lovely Victorian floor tiles at a property in Burton upon Trent had been previously covered up and secured with adhesive. This had left the tiles badly stained around the edges and there were also loose tiles in both door thresholds.
After visiting the property to understand all the issues I was able to re-assure the owner the floor could be put right and worked out a detailed quote for its restoration. The quote included all the products I would need to clean up the tiles, remove the adhesive and then seal the floor. It also included relaying loose tiles and replacing some tiles with reproduction tiles due to cracking.
The quote was accepted and a date set for the work which would take three days.
Repairing Damaged and Loose Tiles in a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor
The first day was spent removing damaged tiles in both doorways and replacing them with reproduction tiles that I had managed to source and were a match to the originals. I managed to find these at a store called Original Style who specialise in period tiling.
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The loose and cracked tiles were carefully removed along with old cement and grout that had secured them. The replacement tiles were cut to size as request and the foundation rebuilt where needed before securing the replacement in place.
Once this was done the floor was left overnight to set.
Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor
The second day was spent deep cleaning the floor. I initially had to remove the glue from around the edges so scraped off as much as I could. Then I used a combination of a wallpaper steamer and a wire brush along with a 60-grit diamond block to break down the stubborn stains embedded in the tiles.
I then cleaned the whole floor with a weighted rotary machine fitted with a 50-grit diamond pad to work in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. The resultant slurry was then removed with a wet vacuum, and the process was repeated where it was needed.
Once I was happy with the appearance of the tiles, I grouted the floor and left that to set after removing the excess grout.
The next step was to treat the floor to an acid wash using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up, this further cleans up the tiles by removing grout smears and counters any efflorescent salts that may be present in the floor. This was then rinsed off and extracted with the wet vacuum.
The floor was then mopped with cold water to neutralise the floor and then dried out as much as possible using a dry pod air dryer.
Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor
After leaving the floor five day to dry we went back and to seal the floor with five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go. This leaves an attractive satin finish to the floor which worked really well and transformed the tiles with a subtle shine.
For aftercare cleaning I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a ph neutral tile cleaner that’s safe to use on sealed floor.
If you have a Victorian tiled floor and it has become dull, dirty or difficult to maintain, a professional assessment and test clean can help establish what is possible. Contact us now 0345 512 0122 to arrange a fee survey.