Tile Repair Archives - North Lincolnshire Tile Doctor

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restoration Mablethorpe

Neglected Victorian Tiled Hallway Rebuilt at Mablethorpe Air B&B

Last year I was asked to restore a Victorian tiled floor in the hallway of a property in Mablethorpe which was let out to Holidaymakers. Mablethorpe has a beautiful long sandy beach and is very popular seaside resort, however being so close to the coast does leave it exposed.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before Restoration Mablethorpe

Like many old floors it had certainly seen a lot of wear and as well as a deep clean and seal I identified numerous tiles that would need replacing. None of this was an issue and as part of my quote for restoring the floor I agreed to source the tiles from a specialist supplier.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before Restoration Mablethorpe

Happy with my quote a date was set for the end of the main season for my return to do the work.

Repairing a Damaged Victorian Tiled Hallway in Mablethorpe

Work started with the repair work and I set about carefully removing the broken and loose tiles, I say carefully as its quite easy to disturb adjacent tiles when doing this and I didn’t want to make the job any bigger. Unfortunately, I discovered that the base beneath the tiles had crumbled in several areas so there was nothing for it but to remove large sections of tiling so it could be rebuilt.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor During Restoration Mablethorpe

As many of the original tiles were cleaned up for re-use as possible and once the base had been repaired, I was able to start reconstructing the tile floor to march the original pattern. This is careful work and involves cutting and shaping a lot of replacement tiles to match the original pattern and dry fitting them until I the design had been reproduced.

Once I was happy with the pattern the tiles were stuck into place and grouted. It was meticulous work and took several days to complete.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Mablethorpe

The floor was left to set before returning to do a deep clean with Tile Doctor Remove and Go scrubbed into the tiles with a black pad fitted to a rotary machine. The floor was then rinsed with water and the slurry extracted with a wet vacuum. This product as its name suggests is a coatings remover and tile cleaner that does a good job of removing old sealers and dirt.

Next the floor was given an acid wash using Tile Doctor Acid Gel which was pasted onto the tiles and then brushed in. This product also cleans the floor and being acidic this product neutralises the floor following the use of Remove and Go which is a strong alkaline. It also dissolves any salts that may be lying dormant in the floor which is a common problem with floors of this age that don’t have a damp-proof membrane.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor During Restoration Mablethorpe

After this the floor was rinsed and wet vacuumed to remove as much moisture as possible. Once done the floor was left to dry out for a couple of days.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway

The last step in the restoration was to apply a protective sealer to the tiles which would improve the finish and add protection. Sealers work by keeping dirt on the surface where they can easily be cleaned away and for this floor, we had chosen Tile Doctor Colour Grow.

Colour Grow is a hard-wearing impregnator that soaks into the pores of the tile protecting it from within and as its name suggests improves the colours in the tiles in the process. This product is also fully breathable which is an ideal feature when choosing a sealer for old floors like this one.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Restoration Mablethorpe

Once complete the floor was structurally sound and should last another 100 years. It also looked much cleaner and brighter and most importantly my client was very happy with the result.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Restoration Mablethorpe

For aftercare I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which un-like many of the stronger products you find in supermarkets won’t impact the sealer and reduce its life.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Lincolnshire

Neglected Victorian Tiled Hallway Rebuilt at Mablethorpe Air B&B Read More »

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restoration Lincoln

Restoration of a Carpet Covered Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor in Lincoln

This client contacted me because they were renovating their house in Lincoln and wanted to know it was possible to restore the Victorian tiled floor they found underneath the carpet. They had seen previous work of mine on-line and so confident I could help they decided to get in touch to see what could be done.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before Renovation Lincoln

I went over to survey the floor and could immediately see it needed a lot of work. The floor was covered in all sorts of contamination, carpet adhesive, paint, plaster, cement, years of dirt and there were several areas of crumbled tiles that would need replacing.

I measured up and worked out a restoration plan along with the materials I would need to get the job done. Later that day I emailed over a quote to the owner, and they gave me go ahead to get the work done.

Deep Cleaning and Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor in Lincoln

I started work by deep cleaning the floor tiles with Tile Doctor Remove and Go, this as its name suggests is a coatings remover that can deal with quite a lot of problems. A strong dilution was made and sprayed onto one section of floor at a time where it was left to soak in for roughly twenty minutes. The tiles were then scrubbed to soften the contaminates and I used a steamer and a scraper to get off as much of the glue as possible. Once done the soiling was rinsed off with water and extracted with a wet vacuum.

The initial treatment did well to remove the glue etc, but I could see more work was needed to really deep clean the years of dirt out of the Victorian tiles. For this I applied another Tile Doctor product called Nanotech HBU Remover, HBU stands for Heavy Build-Up. This was applied and extracted in the same way as before.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor During Renovation Lincoln

Next step was to carry out the repairs that were required which were mainly around the door thresholds. I’m not sure what it is with thresholds, but I guess this is generally where two floors meet, and the floor can experience some movement. To ensure a perfect match the owner had agreed for tiles to be removed from under the stairs so they could be re-used for the repairs. The space under the stairs was due to be boxed in as part of the renovations so you would never know.

With that done I moved onto the next step of giving the floor an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Acid Gel. This cleans up the tiles further by removing grout smears, dissolving efflorescent salts in the floor and the acidic nature of the product also neutralises the pH level of the floor after the use of strong alkaline cleaning products earlier. The floor was rinsed again afterwards, and then dried as much as possible with the wet vacuum before leaving it to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor in Lincoln

I left the floor to dry out for several days before returning to seal the tiles. Applying a sealer to damp tiles can result in a patchy appearance to on my return I checked the moisture levels first with a damp meter to ensure they were dry enough. The readings were fine, so I was able to apply a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a breathable colour enhancing sealer. This is a super durable product which will give great protection to the floor, especially when it is in a high traffic area such as a hallway.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Restoration Lincoln

Once the work was completed the floor looked so much better and I’m happy to report that both the husband and wife were amazed at the transformation. Before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare and recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to maintain the floor. This is a pH neutral product which will is mild enough to use every day and won’t harm the sealer. It’s supplied as a concentrate so you only need a small amount of cleaning fluid to clean the floor and so a one litre bottle will last some time.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Lincolnshire

Restoration of a Carpet Covered Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor in Lincoln Read More »

Victorian Hallway Floor Tile Restoration Lincoln

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restored in Lincoln

1 Comment / Lincoln Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / William

I was asked to restore this Victorian tiled hallway floor at a property in Lincoln which as you can see was in quite a state. I don’t have the full history of the floor but essentially there were two large sections of missing tiles including under and in front of the stairs. these areas had been back filled with cement to level the floor so it could be covered with lino.

Victorian Tiled Floor Before Restoration Lincoln

I’ve seen plenty of Victorian floors in my career, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. I discussed a price for the work which they were happy to accept and booked in a date to start.

Victorian Tiled Floor Before Restoration Lincoln

Cleaning and Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The first job was to carefully remove all the cement from in front of the staircase and cut back the cement around the back of the staircase along the hall. The owner planned to create an understairs cupboard so there was no need to remove all of it as the cement floor would eventually be hidden.

With the ugly cement removed, the floor sections were brought level ready for tiling with a self-levelling compound. I had managed to source replacement tiles ready for the restoration, so then the next task was to use these to tile the floor following the existing pattern. Once they had set, I then grouted the floor.

Victorian Tiled Floor During Restoration Lincoln

The next step was to deep clean the old and new sections of tiling for which I used Tile Doctor Remove and Go. This was left to dwell and soak in for fifteen minutes before being scrubbed in with a Black pad. The residue generated was then rinsed off and then extracted with a wet vacuum. The tiles were then inspected, and stubborn paint splashes were spot treated with more product until I was happy the floor looked clean.

The next step was to give the floor an acid rinse with Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up, this counters potential efflorescence and neutralises the pH level of the floor after using Tile Doctor Remove and Go which is alkaline. Efflorescence is a common problem with these old floors which don’t have a damp proof membrane and have been covered with rubber underlay or lino which prevents moisture rising through the floor. The floor was then rinsed and extracted again and left to dry out for a couple of days.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

On my return I checked the moisture level of the tiles with a damp meter to make sure the floor was dry before starting. All was well so I sealed the floor with four coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which enhanced the colours in the tile and produced a lovely matt finish. Colour Grow is a breathable sealer which will allow for any moisture to rise through the tile and evaporate at the surface, this is an important feature for old floors that don’t have the benefit of a damp proof membrane.

Victorian Tiled Floor After Restoration Lincoln

The floor looked so much better after the work was complete and my client was amazed at the transformation that had taken place. For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a gentle but effective tile cleaning product that won’t harm the sealer.

Victorian Tiled Floor After Restoration Lincoln

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in North Lincolnshire

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restored in Lincoln Read More »

Victorian Hallway Floor Repair and Renovation Gainsborough

Renovation of a Beautiful Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor in Gainsborough

1 Comment / Gainsborough Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / William

The photographs below were taken during the renovation of a Victorian tiled hallway floor at a property near Gainsborough. The floor was in good condition except for several areas of missing tiles which had been back filled with cement.

Victorian Hallway Floor Before Renovation Gainsborough

There were also two doorway sections where the owner wanted additional tiles adding to match the original. Fortunately, there was a large entrance matting covering more tiles, so I was able to take what I wanted from there to carry out the repairs.

Victorian Hallway Floor Before Renovation Gainsborough

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Work commenced with the tiling work carefully removing the tiling from under the entrance matting and then cleaning them up. The matting was then dropped into the floor so it was level with the tiles.

The sections that had been replaced with concrete were then carefully scraped out and then prepped to take the tiles level with the existing floor. I dry fitted the tiles first cutting some of them as required to match the existing pattern.

Victorian Hallway Floor During Renovation Gainsborough

Once I was happy with the pattern, they were then secured in place with a rapid setting adhesive and then grouted. There were a couple of areas that needed this attention and the two door thresholds so this work took up the whole of day one.

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The next day the adhesive and grout had set and I was able to turn my attention to getting the floor clean and removing any remaining sealer. To do this I applied a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go and left it to soak in for twenty minutes. The dwell time gives the product time to work into the tile and break down the old sealants and dirt. The floor was then scrubbed using a black pad fitted to a rotary machine and you could see the dirt lifting out of the tiles.

I worked in sections and used a wet vacuum to extract the dirt that had been released from the tiles. Once done I inspected the floor and spot treated any areas that needed more work.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The next day the moisture levels of the tiles were checked with a damp meter to ensure they were dry enough to be sealed. The readings were fine, so I was able to apply a couple of coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a breathable colour enhancing sealer. This is a super durable product which will give great protection to the floor, especially when it is in a high traffic area such as a hallway.

Victorian Hallway Floor After Repair and Renovation Gainsborough

My client was very happy with the result and hadn’t really expected it to come out as well as it did. Before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare and recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to maintain the floor. This is a pH neutral product which will is mild enough to use every day and won’t harm the sealer. It’s supplied as a concentrate so you only need a small amount of cleaning fluid to clean the floor and so a one litre bottle will last some time.

Professional Renovation of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Lincolnshire

Renovation of a Beautiful Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor in Gainsborough Read More »