Repair

Victorian Hallway Floor Before After Restoration Nottingham City

Restoration of a Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor in Nottingham City

This Victorian Tiled Hallway at a property in Nottingham City is a fantastic example of what can be done to restore an old floor. If you take a good look at the before photographs on this page, you will see not only was the floor dirty but there were many missing tiles that needed replacing to make the geometric pattern whole again.

Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor Before Restoration Nottingham City Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor Before Restoration Nottingham City

We were contacted by the property ownerto repair the floor and the clean and seal to protect them. Initially the customer thought that only small repairs were required, however after inspection our survey highlightedextensive repairs were required. As part of the survey the missing, loose, and damaged tiles were counted to work out how many replacements would be required. Fortunately, I was able to source a good match from The Vintage Tile Company.

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Floor with Matching Replacements

To begin we focused on carrying out the extensive repairs which included rebuilding the sub floor with cement screed were necessary. Original tiles were repurposed where possible otherwise the replacements were carefully cut tiles to size to match the geometric pattern.

Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor During Restoration Nottingham City

Once a section of tiling was complete it was fixed in place with a rapid setting flexible adhesive. There was a lot of meticulous tiling to do so the repairs took some time to complete.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Next, we set about cleaning the tiles using low-moisture cleaning products to remove the ingrained dirt from the pores of thetile. This was done using Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel, a strong alkaline-based gel cleaner that is used to break down dirt and grime. With these old floors, it’s important to keep the use of water to a minimum so not to exacerbate any inherent damp issues. The cleaner was left to dwell for a short period before being agitated with a scrubbing pad. This process releases the dirt and the resulting soiled cleaning solution is then extracted using a wet vacuum.

This was followed by giving the floor and acid wash using another gel product made by Tile Doctor called Acid Gel. The acidic content of the product counters any efflorescent salts in the floor and cleans up the tile even further by removing old grout smears.

Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor During Cleaning Nottingham City Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor During Cleaning Nottingham City

These products were used alongside Tile Doctors abrasive floor pads which use industrial diamonds of different grades. For the corners and difficult to reach places they also provide handheld Diamond blocks. The combination of products deep cleaned the floor removing old coatings, paint spots and ingrained historic soiling in the process.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Once deep cleaning was completed the Tiles were sealed with Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is a specialist colour enhancing sealer that’s fully breathable which is an important feature when sealing old floors that don’t have a damp proof membrane.

Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor After Restoration Nottingham City

As you can see from the photographs, the restoration was a massive transformation making our customer very happy. Before leaving I took time to explain how to look after the floor including the importance of protecting the integrity of the sealer by using a ph. neutral tile cleaning product such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner for regular cleaning.

 

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Nottinghamshire

Restoration of a Victorian Geometric Tiled Floor in Nottingham City Read More »

Damaged Edwardian Tesserae Floor Before After Restoration Nottingham City Centre

Edwardian Tesserae Mosaic Floor Restoration in Nottingham City Centre

Late last year we were awarded a contract to Repair and Restore a Tesserae Mosaic floor at prestigious property in the Lace Market area of Nottingham City Centre. The property was once Watson Fothergill’s office who is a famous Victorian architect who ran his business from the site in 1897 until 1912 when he retired. He designed over 100 Victorian & Edwardian buildings from 1864 mainly in Nottinghamshire and some further afield. They were mainly in the Gothic Revival and Old English Vernacular Style.

Tessera Mosaic Floor Restoration Waton Fothergill Building Lace Market Nottingham City Tessera Mosaic Floor Before Repair Lace Market Nottingham City

Inside the property is an Edwardian Tessera Mosaic Clay Floor on three small landing levels in the entrance & stairwell. Through historic building movement, inherent moisture issues, and a lorry crashing into the property a couple of years ago. The floor had developed structural movement cracks. This had resulted in sections of the tiles being raised or lowered and others becoming cracked, damaged and loose. Previous repairs to stabilise the damage had been carried before, but this has mainly involved just filling cracks.

Tessera Mosaic Floor Before Repair Lace Market Nottingham City Tessera Mosaic Floor Before Repair Lace Market Nottingham City

Repairing Edwardian Tesserae Mosaic Flooring

Repairing the damage to the floor was long and painstaking work which took three days. We started by removing the makeshift repairs and meticulously rebuilt the damaged areas replacing the damaged loose tiles, and levelling the floor were possible until it was back to a uniform appearance.

Tessera Mosaic Floor Before Repair Lace Market Nottingham City Tessera Mosaic Floor After Repair Lace Market Nottingham City

Once the repairs were complete, we carried out a low-moisture restorative cleaning process which took a further two days. The process involves using Tile Doctor Remove & Go coating and contamination removal product which is first sprayed onto the floor and left to dwell for ten minutes. The floor is then scrubbed with a set of Tile Doctor abrasive burnishing pads which level off the raised tiles and hone them to remove years of ingrained soiling. The resulting slurry is removed by vacuuming and lightly damp wiping with microfibres cloths to ensure the use of moisture was kept to a minimum. We use a low moisture cleaning system to minimise the risk of efflorescent salts appearing on the floor as it dries out; old floors are prone to this problem as they were installed without a damp proof membrane which is a relatively modern invention.

Sealing an Edwardian Tesserae Mosaic Floor

The building is being converted into accommodation and heating had not yet been installed when we carried out the work in December 2018. As a result, it was necessary to force dry the floor with portable heaters and air movers.

Only when we were happy the floor was dry did we apply a sealer. For this situation I used four coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer that seeps into the pores of the clay tile protecting it from within. This restored colour to the tiles and being a fully breathable product will allow the floor to breath and pass moisture vapour from the sub floor. Again, this is a very important consideration due to the lack of a damp proof membrane, if moisture was trapped below the tile then it would slowly spread out towards the walls resulting in rising damp.

Tessera Mosaic Floor After Restoration Lace Market Nottingham City Tessera Mosaic Floor After Restoration Lace Market Nottingham City

 

Historic Tesserae Mosaic Floor Restoration in Nottingham

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