This client had recently moved into an older property in Bridgend and having pulled up the previous hallway covering had found a heavily soiled Victorian tiled floor underneath. However, for some reason we never discovered the answer to it only ran from the porch to the foot of the stairs which I guess explains why it had been covered up and neglected.
The client asked if we would be able to restore the existing Victorian floor and if would be possible to extend the tiling throughout the hall continuing the original pattern. Cleaning the original floor and completing the tiling work didn’t present a problem however it can be tricky finding tiles to match the pattern of the original floor. Unsure if it could be done, I offered to do some research and get back to him once I had found a workable solution.
Fortunately, there are still a few suppliers that produce tiles and after speaking with other members of the Tile Doctor network I was able to source matching tiles. The owner was still keen to proceed and so I agreed a price, placed an order for the tiles and scheduled a date to start the work.
Cleaning and Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor
Before starting the tiling work, I applied a latex levelling compound to bring the height of the floor we were going to lay up, level and flush with the existing Victorian floor. After allowing the latex to dry and now having an equally level surface, we were ready to begin laying.
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Laying a tiled floor to match an existing pattern is a tricky process as your constantly having to check the geometry of the pattern as well as keeping everything in line with our levels. Another issue we ran into with this job was the new tiles that we had ordered, all differed in width from the originals which made it a very long strenuous process having to cut them to fit.
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Once the floor was laid and had dried out it was time to turn our attention to the original floor which needed several deep cleans. For this we used Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was worked in with a black scrubbing pad to release all the ingrained dirt from the tile. The dirt was then rinsed off and extracted with a wet vacuum.
Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor
The job took eight days in total and ended with the application of five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go sealer. Each coat is left to dry before applying the next. This seal gives the floor protection and a lovely finish. This final step of sealing really brought both floors together and left the subtle sheen finish the client requested.
For aftercare I left the client a bottle of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, which we recommend for cleaning sealed tiled floors. Neutral clean has a pH neutral formula which won’t harm the sealer like stronger cleaners which can prematurely strip a sealer off the floor.
Source: Victorian Tile Cleaning and Sealing Service in Reading
Covering the Swansea area, Adrian Iacono is your local Stone, Grout and Tile renovation expert and an agent of Tile Doctor, the largest Tile, Stone and Grout restorative Victorian network in the UK who have developed the products and techniques to handle a multitude of issues surrounding tile, stone and grout, internal and external, domestic or commercial.