We were contacted by a letting agent who managed a large town house in Goring by Sea that had been turned into flats. The area they wanted dealing with was the entrance hall where the original Victorian tiled floor had been covered over with linoleum tiles backed with a bitumen based adhesive and after removing the tiles the floor was now in a terrible state. I was confident that they could be restored however in extreme cases like this there can be no guarantee of the end result so I set their expectations accordingly.

Victorian Tiles Goring by Sea Before Renovation Victorian Tiles Goring by Sea Before Renovation

Restoring Victorian Floor Tiles

I started the job by softening the old adhesive with an application of Tile Doctor Remove and Go which was left to soak into the tile before using a paint stripping blade to carefully lift it off. This process had to be done over the entire area before I could start on the cleaning and once finished the floor was given a good rinse.

The tiles were now mostly free of the adhesive but were very grubby so I started over but this by time by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a powerful tile cleaning product designed for use on stone, tile and grout. The solution was left to soak into the tile before being worked into the remaining dirt and grime using a buffing machine fitted with a scrubbing pad. One done the floor was thoroughly rinsed and any areas that needed it were spot treated.

Sealing a Victorian Floor Tiles

The floor was left to dry out for a few days after which we came back to seal it with four coats of Tile Doctor Pro-Seal which is a penetrating sealer which gave the desired natural look finish and will provide long lasting stain protection by soaking into the pores of the tile and preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. You have to wait for each coat to dry before moving on to the next so it did take a while.

Victorian-Tiles-Goring-by-Sea-After-Renovation-3 Victorian Tiles Goring by Sea After Renovation

This was a tough job but certainly well worth the effort both the letting agents and residents all said how great the floor now looked.
 
 
Source: Tile, Stone and Grout Cleaning Service in West-Sussex