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Victorian Encaustic Tiled Floor Restoration West Bridgford Nottingham

Encaustic Tiled Victorian Floor Renovated in West Bridgford

Here we have an encaustic tiled hallway floor from the Victorian era laid in a beautiful geometric pattern at a property in West Bridgford Nottingham. Given its age the floor had survived well however there were many loose tiles that needed attention and it was overdue a restorative clean and fresh seal.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Floor Before Restoration West Bridgford Nottingham

Having visited the property, I was able to ascertain the extent of the repairs needed and created a detailed quotation for its restoration. My quotation was accepted and a date agreed for the work to start.

Cleaning and Repairing a Victorian Encaustic Tiled Floor

Before cleaning the tiles and re-sealing, the floor needed to be structurally sound so the first day was spent pulling out the 150 or so loose and damaged tiles. This was followed by removing the old adhesive and cleaning and repairing the foundation screed ready for the next step. I was able to re-use some of the original tiles, but I had also sourced replacements which needed to be cut to fit the pattern.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Floor During Restoration West Bridgford Nottingham

The tiles were dry fitted into position to ensure the geometric pattern of the original floor was replicated. Only then were they fixed into place using rapid set adhesive and grouted.

The tiles were left to set overnight, and I returned the next day to deep clean the whole floor. Tiled floors of this age don’t have the benefit of a damp proof membrane and so they can suffer from damp rising through the foundation. Because of this I like to use low moisture gel cleaning products to clean old floors, this keeps water usage to a minimum, increases drying times and reduces the likelihood of efflorescent salts appearing later.

In this case I gave the floor a thorough deep clean using Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel and Acid Gel combined. These are applied to the tiles and then scrubbed in with a coarse 200-grit diamond pad to remove the years of ingrained dirt.

The resulting slurry was removed with a wet vacuum and wiped down with microfibre cloths dampened with a small amount of water. Again, this method minimises moisture penetration into the floor.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Floor During Restoration West Bridgford Nottingham

The low-moisture system has the added benefit of keeping the tiles reasonably dry, so I was able to apply the sealer later that afternoon.

Sealing an Encaustic Victorian Tiled Floor

To seal the tiles Tile Doctors X-Tra Seal was applied. It’s a modern oil-based sealer that improves colour and is rated for external as well as internal use making it ideal for a hallway. Another feature of this product is that it’s fully breathable which is very important for period floors and won’t restrict moisture transmission through the tile.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Floor After Restoration West Bridgford Nottingham

For aftercare I recommended Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a pH neutral floor cleaner which won’t degrade the protective sealer.

Professional Restoration of an Encaustic Victorian Tiled Hallway in Nottinghamshire

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Porcelain Floor Tile and Grout After Renovation Beeston

20-Year-Old Porcelain Floor & Grouting Deep Clean in Beeston

Here we have a 20-year-old Porcelain tiled kitchen floor at a property in Beeston where I was asked to carry out a deep clean. The main issue was the Grout which had basically turned from what was a nice clean white to a grubby dark grey with accumulated dirt. The porcelain tiles were matt with an unusual, speckled pattern.

Porcelain tiles are generally easy to keep clean due to being impervious to water. The trouble is however that the dirt from the tile gets washed into the grout line during cleaning where it gets stuck in the cementitious grout, eventually causing it to discolour.

Porcelain Floor Tile and Grout Before Cleaning Beeston

I quoted for cleaning the tiles and giving the grout a deep clean to remove the dirt and restore its fresh white colour. Happy to have found a solution to their grout issues my quote was accepted and a date booked in the diary.

Cleaning a Porcelain Tiled Kitchen

On my return I decided it would make sense to focus on the discoloured grout first and review the tiles second. So, to help break down the soiling that had built along the grout line I started with an application of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean diluted 1:4 with water. This product is a strong alkaline degreaser that’s safe to use on all types of tiles and grout.

The solution was allowed to soak in for fifteen minutes prior to scrubbing with a rotary floor machine fitted with a nylon scrub brush. The brush works well on grout as the bristles get into the recesses of the grout lines. The brush was run over the grout lines first to get them as clean as possible and then moved over the surface of the porcelain tiles.

Porcelain Floor Tile and Grout During Cleaning Beeston

Once done the resulting slurry was removed with a wet vacuum and the grout inspected, any stubborn staining was then re-treated with more Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and scrubbed by hand.

Sealing a Porcelain Tiled Kitchen

The next step was to give the floor an acid wash to further clean up the tile and grout and to neutralise the pH level of the floor following cleaning with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. To do this I used Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up using a 1:10 dilution with water. It was applied to the tile & grouting and then brushed in before being rinsed off with water and extracted with the wet vacuum.

Porcelain Floor Tile and Grout After Cleaning Beeston

Finally, the floor was given a thorough rinse with fresh water and then dried with the wet vacuum. To speed up the drying times a floor fan was deployed which ensured the floor was dry before I left allowing the client could see how effective the work had been. There is no need to apply a sealer as the tiles are sealed during production.

Porcelain Floor Tile and Grout After Cleaning Beeston

Professional Renovation of a Porcelain Tiled Kitchen in Nottinghamshire

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Geometric Edwardian Tiled Hallway Before and After Renovation West Bridgford

Restorative Cleaning of a Edwardian Geometric Tiled Hallway in West Bridgford

1 Comment / Nottingham Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Steve Carpenter

The pictures below detail the restorative clean and seal of a Black & White Edwardian Geometric Tiled Hallway at a residence in West Bridgford near Nottingham. The tiles had previously been covered in carpet trapping years of dirt and soiling into the pores of the tile which were also stained with paint spots and traces of carpet adhesive.

These floors are amazing to look at, and it’s a shame that due to changing fashion trends over the decades, that many became covered with other inappropriate floor coverings. At least in the case the carpet was fixed with glue, I have worked on others before were tiles were smashed in order to secure gripper rods.

Edwardian Black and White Geometric Hall Floor Before Restorative Clean and Seal

I could see a lot of work would be needed to bring it back, however having restored countless number of Victorian and Edwardian tiled floors before I was confident we could achieve a good result and was pleased to get the go ahead to complete the work.

Restoring an Edwardian Tiled Hallway Floor

The first part of the cleaning process was to apply a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove & Go coatings remover allowing it to dwell and soak into the tiles and break down the adhesive and paint stains. The solution was then agitated using a black scrubbing pad to help break down the historic-soiling and soften the glue and paint so they could be carefully scraped off. This process generated a lot of soil which was rinsed off and extracted using a wet vacuum.

Old tile installations such as these were never designed to be covered as damp proof membranes were unheard of at the time. Instead the tilers of the day used a breathable lime screed to allow moisture to pass freely from the sub floor. This combined with coal fires of the day, and air movement kept a controlled temperature to ensure moisture didn’t build-up.

Covering these floors stops them from breathing and moisture inevitably can build-up and potentially lead to white salts to be deposited on the surface of the tile as it dries. To avoid this problem, which is known as Efflorescence, the salts need to be counteracted with the application of an acid. To this end my next step was to liberally apply Tile Doctor Acid Gel to the tiles and leave it to dwell for time. This process dissolves the efflorescence salts and also removes any other unwanted deposits such as grout smears from the tile.

The last phase of the cleaning process was to remove the Acid Gel and then rinse with water again to remove any trace of product. The floor was then dried as much as possible with a wet vacuum to remove moisture and then left for a few days to fully dry out.

Sealing an Edwardian Tiled Floor

On our return the floor was checked for dampness using a damp meter in a number of different places. All was well so the floor was then sealed in two stages, starting with an application of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that improves colour. Once the sealer had dried it was followed with a number of coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra which works really well on Victorian and Edwardian tiles adding a lovely subtle shine. Both these products are fully breathable which is vitally important where efflorescence is a concern. Otherwise, moisture will build up and causing staining and direct moisture into the supporting walls.

Edwardian Black and White Geometric Hall Floor After Restorative Clean and Seal

Once our Restorative Cleaning & Sealing process is complete you should avoid the use of steam cleaners and strong cleaning products as they can prematurely erode the sealer. Ideally we recommend you maintain the floor with Tile Doctors Neutral Tile Cleaning Solution which is pH neutral once it has been correctly diluted.

Original Edwardian Hallway Floor Professionally Restored in Nottingham

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