Refreshing a Victorian Tiled Hallway

Coalvile in the heart of the Midlands was a coal mining town and with that history has many period properties with traditional floors including the one in this post which has a Victorian tiled hallway. The tiles were in good physical condition for their age but were now looking faded and lifeless due to a build-up of ingrained dirt in the tile and were now overdue for a deep clean and re-seal.

Cleaning Victorian Hallway Tiles

Before I could seal the floor it would need to be stripped of any old coatings and in the process given a really good clean. To do this I applied a dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go and left it for to soak in to the tiles for about 15-20 minutes before scrubbing it in with a rotary buffing machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad.

Once the whole floor had been scrubbed it was washed down with water which was then removed using a wet vacuum. Stubborn areas were then re-treated and grout lines also scrubbed using more Remove and Go and a stiff brush. Last step of the cleaning process was to give the floor a thorough rinse with more water to remove any trace of cleaning product and then as much was as possible was extracted using the wet vacuum. I wanted to seal the floor the next day so it was important to get the floor as dry as possible.

Sealing Victorian Hallway Tiles

I returned the next day to seal the floor and the work I spent into getting it dry was well spent as the floor had dried fully overnight and I was able to seal the Victorian tiles with two coats of Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that enhances colour and occupies the pores in the tile so contaminates can’t become ingrained in there. Colour Grow also provided the matt finish the customer wanted.