Restoring a Victorian Hallway Floor with Craven Dunnill Replacement Tiles in Stoke Golding

The Victorian Floor was in Stoke Golding a small village near Nuneaton Warwickshire. Some years ago, the client had decided to tile over the original Victorian geometric tiled floor with a modern tile. Back to the present day and their tastes had changed and so they decided they preferred the classic look after all and wanted the old floor restored. The process of removing the modern tiles however caused quite a bit of damage to the old floor and in the process managed to damage a large section of the sub floor.

After surveying the floor, I could see that as well as the obvious, the floor had dropped by the door to the lounge so this would need repairing and the tiles by the kitchen door had been removed and would also need replacing. Happy for me to do the work I worked out how many replacement tiles would be needed to renovate the floor. The tiles were then ordered from Craven Dunnill who have been in operation since 1872 and still make the same tiles to this day.

Cleaning and Repairing a Craven Dunnill Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The first day on the job involved removing tiles and screed from the damaged sections, cleaning up the rubble as I went. The now exposed subfloor was built up to the right height by adding self-levelling screed which was left to set before more work could be done. Once the new screed had set the replacement tiles were cut and laid using a flexible adhesive. The damaged tiles in the floor where also removed and replaced where needed.

The next step involved deep cleaning the whole hallway floor, first using Tile Doctor Remove and Go and then followed up with Tile Doctor Acid Gel using 200 and 400-Grit burnishing pads to really get the tiles clean and bright again. I hand finished the corners and edges with handheld burnishing blocks of different grades and then left the floor to dry overnight.

Sealing a Craven Dunnill Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The next morning, I inspected the floor to check it was clean and dry however, it also revealed a few more cracked tiles that were not obvious the day before. These were removed and replaced as before.

The floor was then pre-sealed using a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer followed up with a few coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra. The combination of the two sealers brings out the colours in the tiles whilst providing hard wearing protection that will keep the dirt out of the tiles. Both sealers are breathable which is an important consideration when sealing old floors like this one which don’t usually have a damp proof membrane.

Due to the amount of tiling work needed that job was completed over a two-week period however the floor looked amazing when finished and well worth the effort. Given the history of the floor I’m sure the fully restored floor will add a lot of value to the property, certainly my client was very happy with the finish.

Source: Craven Dunnill Victorian Floor Restoration Service in Stoke Golding, Nuneaton