Victorian Tile Sealing Archives - Swansea Tile Doctor

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before After Renovation Neath

Victorian Tiles Hallway restoration in Neath

1 Comment / Neath Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work by Category, Work by Location, Work History / Adrian Iacono

This enquiry from Neath came from an elderly gentleman who was moving into a care home in the near future and wanted his Victorian tiled hallway renovated before the property went on the market. He mentioned he didn’t think it was that dirty however it could do with a clean and reseal.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Clean and Seal in Neath

We arranged to call in one morning and take a look at the tiles and whilst there we completed a test clean so we could provide an accurate price for renovating the floor. For the clean I applied Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, the purpose of this was to see whether and how fast the dirt would shift and also to get an idea of the condition of the floor beneath the layer of dirt.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Test Clean in Neath

The test clean went well and the owner was happy to accept our price and suggested that as we had already made a start we might as well continue. Fortunately, there were two of us that day and I only had a couple of other quotes in the area, so I was able to crack on. I should mention this work was done at the beginning of 2020 before the COVID-19 lockdown.

Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

All sorts of detritus gets walked into hallways so we began by using a hand held scraper to take off anything that sat upon/above the floors surface. This also makes the cleaning process that little bit easier for us. The earlier test clean had enabled us to establish which cleaning methods and products would work best on the floor so it was just a question of putting the plan into action.

The process involved applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to the floor, leaving it to soak in for ten minutes and then working it with a coarse 400-grit diamond pad fitted to a rotary buffer. More water was applied for lubrication where required and the soil produced afterwards was rinsed off and extracted with a wet vacuum. The pad is encrusted with industrial diamonds and cuts into the tile and removes a very thin layer leaving the tile very clean.

After extracting the soil, the floor was inspected, and we noticed that there were a few tiles throughout the floor that needed more work. To deal with these we used hand-held diamond blocks of varying grits to remove the ingrained dirt and bring the tiles back to life.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The client was over the moon with the results of the cleaning and we scheduled a date of the following week to come back and seal the tiles. We also discussed sealers and he had asked if we could leave the floor with a shiny finish. With that in mind we recommended Tile Doctors Seal and Go which works really well on Victorian tiles. It is also water based and so doesn’t produce a smell as it dries.

On our return the floor was given a quick wipe down and once dry sealed with four coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go which will add protection and make them easy to keep clean.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Cleaning Sealing in Neath

Once complete the floor looked great and very welcoming, just what you need when selling a property as initial impressions always count.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Swansea

Victorian Tiles Hallway restoration in Neath Read More »

Victorian Hallway Floor Tiles, Mumbles, Swansea

I was called to a property in the Mumbles area of Swansea, one of my favourite places and in fact listed in 2018 Best Places to Live. In the UK report, The Sunday Times listed Mumbles as the best in Wales, so it is always a pleasure to visit this area.

The hallway at the property had a lovely example of a classic Victorian Tiled floor containing a very detailed pattern consisting of expensive blue square and triangular shaped tiles. The tiles were a lovely and unusual pattern and in good physical condition with no cracked or replacement tiles required. It had however, been some time since the floor was last cleaned and sealed and so they contacted me, their local Tile Doctor representative to renovate the floor for them. The owners of the house recognised that it’s well worth preserving original features like Victorian tiled floors as period floors like this are in demand and add value to a property. They were therefore keen to get it back to its’ near original state.

Victorian Hallway Floor Tiles Before Cleaning The Mumbles

Cleaning/Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

To restore the appearance of the tiles I used a 200-Grit diamond encrusted burnishing pad to remove the dirt and restore the condition of the tiles. This is run over the floor using water to lubricate and then rinsed off with water afterwards to remove the soil that is generated. This was then followed up with a 400-Grit pad which cleans and restores the surface which is left roughened after the application of the coarse 200-grit pad. This pad is again applied with water and then the floor rinsed afterwards to remove the soiling and the water is extracted using a wet vacuum.

The next step was to acid rinse the floor using Tile Doctor Acid-Gel, this is an important step for old Victorian tiled floors which have no damp proof membrane. It neutralises any inherent salts in the floor which rise through the tile from evaporation leaving unsightly white deposits on the surface. The acid gel is left to dwell for a short time and then it is scrubbed into the tile with a deck brush and then removed using the wet vacuum, the floor was then given a final rinse to neutralise it before sealing. However, for that to happen I needed the floor to be dry so after cleaning the floor I left it to dry off overnight.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The next day I came back to the house to seal the floor. The floor had dried out nicely due to the fine weather, I quickly did a moisture test to be sure, then I was ready to move on to the sealing process.

The Mumbles area is close to the coast, so for this project I decided to use Tile Doctor Colour Grow which being an impregnating fully breathable sealer would cope better with the salty sea air. Colour Grow is a matt finish sealer that seeps into the tile occupying the small pores and in doing so prevents dirt from becoming ingrained there, it’s also a colour enhancing product that improves the colour in the tile.

After I had finished the floor was left looking restored, fresh and the vibrantly coloured pattern shone through. The client was very happy with the end result.