Carmarthenshire Archives - Swansea Tile Doctor

Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Restoration Ammanford Swansea

Restoration of a Classic 1900’s Victorian Tiled Floor in Ammanford

A lady in Ammanford, just outside Swansea requested a visit to discuss the Victorian tiled floor she had discovered when lifting an old carpet in the hallway. Dating back to the 1900’s the tiles were in a poor state however she thought that it would be a real to leave them like that and it would be worth investigating their restoration. After all it would be a real shame not to make them a beautiful feature of the house.

Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Ammanford Swansea

We visited the property first to survey the floor and produce an accurate quote for its restoration. The floor was indeed very dirty and had several issues including carpet adhesive and plater that would need removing. Fortunately, it was in good physical condition and no tiles needed to be replaced and having restored floors in a worse state I was confident I could get it looking marvellous again. After discussing the steps and products needed to restore the floor a detailed quote was sent over for approval. She happily accepted the proposal, and a date was scheduled to complete the work.

Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Ammanford Swansea

Renovating an Original Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Work began with a handheld scraper to carefully remove large deposits of paint, plaster and adhesive before giving the floor a more intensive clean with a rotary machine. I used a coarse 200-grit pad with the rotary to work in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove & Go which as its name suggests is a specialist remover that breaks down old coatings.

Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor During Cleaning Ammanford Swansea

The abrasive pad cuts into the surface of the tile removing the contaminates and dirt in the process. The floor was rinsed and the soiled cleaning solution extracted with a wet vacuum as the work progressed. Several passes were needed and this was followed with a finer 400-grit diamond burnishing pad applied with more water for lubrication.

After doing this the floor was inspected again, and handheld diamond blocks applied to spot clean stubborn staining and bring the whole floor back to a clean consistent appearance.

After a final rinse and extraction of the floor I was happy the floor was as clean as it could be and was left to dry off for several days to give it sufficient time to dry out completely and ready for the next step of sealing.

Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Cleaning Ammanford Swansea

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

On my return the floor was tested for moisture with a damp meter to make sure it was ready to accept a sealer; applying sealer to a damp floor can lead to cloudy finish so best avoided.

The sealer chosen for this floor was Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating matt sealer that improves colour. Being an impregnator the sealer soaks into the tile occupying the pores and ensuring dirt remains on the surface where is can be easily cleaned away with neutral tile cleaner. This sealer is also fully breathable so will allow for moisture to rise thorough the tile; this is an important requirement for old floors which don’t have a damp proof membrane.

Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Cleaning Ammanford Swansea

The client was so very happy and kept just staring with obvious emotion at how the floor had been transformed. That’s the most rewarding part of this work, seeing how happy a client is once something that looked destroyed can be turned into something they love. Copied below is a testimonial they left for me on the Tile Doctor web site.

Warren was very professional very knowledgeable and helpful, he discussed and talked me through the whole process step by step. I would highly recommend him to anyone  By Llian M, Ammanford

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Carmarthenshire

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Diamond Pattern Victorian Hallway Floor Renovated in Llanelli

This job was carried out in a terraced property in Llanelli which had a Victorian Tiled Hallway laid in a diamond pattern that looking worse for wear and in need of some attention. The clients were a young couple who had moved in two years previously and had only recently decided they wanted the floor renovated. This was earlier in the year, so I was able to pop over to the property and take a detailed look at the floor before recommending a course of action to renovate the tiles.

Victorian Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Llanelli

Upon arrival the first thing we noticed was that the border had been laid with an inconsistent pattern, non- matching tiles had been patched in essentially filling voids as you can see in the images. The floor wasn’t terribly dirty however it wasn’t very clean either.

I discussed with the client replacing the non-matching tiles, so the floor pattern was uniform however they decided against it and were happy to just to have it cleaned and sealed. We can usually source either reclaimed original tiles or some great reproduction ones, so most floors can be restored if needed. I worked out a quote for the work and they were happy to go ahead.

If you have never been you should know that Llanelli is the largest town in the county of Carmarthenshire and famous for Rugby and the production of Tin. It is located on the Loughor Estuary, some 10 miles from Swansea and 12 miles from Carmarthen.

Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

With no tiling to do the first job was to protect the woodwork such as skirting and staircase with tape. Once done the process of cleaning began with the application of a 400-grit burnishing pad fitted to a buffing machine. The process is lubricated with water and the pad run over the whole floor two to three times to remove dirt and refine the appearance of the tile. Even after the first application of the pad we could see a massive improvement to the appearance of the tiles. To get right into the edges of the tiled floor we use a 400-grit handheld diamond block, this proved especially useful under the stairs where our buffer machine could not reach.

During this process, the water turns into a fine slurry which is rinsed off with more water and extracted with a wet vacuum. On this occasion the floor was not dirty enough to require any chemicals, the use of water and the machine was enough to get the floor cleaned up.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

This job was very straight forward, and we did not run into any problems at all. After allowing the floor to dry out for 24 hours we returned to seal the tiles checking first that the floor was sufficiently dry first using a damp meter. Fortunately, the burnishing method uses a lot less water than a chemical clean, so I was able to get straight on with sealing.

The client wanted a satin sheen finish, so I applied four coats of Tile Doctors Seal and Go which works well on Victorian tiles. The sealer really put the life back into the tiles and will protect them from staining going forward. It will also make the floor much easier to maintain and keep it looking good for much longer.

Victorian Tiled Floor After Cleaning Llanelli

I’m pleased to say the owners were very happy with the floor and recommended us to one of their friends who we also did some work for. For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. This is an everyday tile cleaning product that is sealer friendly and not prematurely reduce the life of the sealer which can happen with many household cleaning products which are simply too strong.