Replacement Tiles

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Repaired and Restored Haringey North London

Reviving a Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway in Haringey North London

This client owned a property in Haringey, North London, which had a classic Victorian tiled floor laid in the hallway. Unfortunately, the floor was in a bad state, the tiles were dull and dirty and there was a missing section by the bottom of the stairs that had been back filled with cement. Fortunately for him however his neighbour decided to remove their front path which was made with matching tiles and so he was able acquire replacements from him. He then contacted us to see if we could use those tiles to fill in the missing ones and revive the whole floor with a clean and seal at the same time.

Victorian Tiled Floor Before Restoration Haringey

Before quoting for the restoration work, I paid a visit to the property to survey the floor. I can give quotes from photographs, but much prefer to visit and conduct a test clean, and in this case, I was able to check the spare tiles he had acquired. From that I emailed a quote which the client was happy with, so we arranged a date to return and do the work.

Victorian Tiled Floor Before Restoration Haringey

Cleaning and Reviving a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

This was a large job, so I teamed up with Jackson Davis the Central London Tile Doctor and whilst Jackson started on cleaning the floor, I took the reclaimed tiles outside and carefully grinded off the excess cement and adhesive from them and cleaned them by hand. We managed to do this by about 3pm. Jackson and I work on a lot of jobs together so it made sense to work as a bubble from the beginning of Covid so we could continue to work together, with two of us on the job it also means we can get the job done quicker.

Cleaning the floor involved applying a 200-grit diamond burnishing pad to the tile lubricated with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove and Go, the slurry was then rinsed off the floor with more water and then extracted with an industrial vacuum. The process was repeated on stubborn areas until we were satisfied the tiles were really clean.

We then moved onto carefully removing the cement from the floor at the bottom of the stairs and cleaning up the base. Once done the newly renovated replacement tiles were laid in place using a rapid setting adhesive which meant they could be grouted later that day before heading home. The floor was then left overnight to dry off.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

We then returned the following day and took some moisture readings with the damp meter. The readings were within the expected range, so we were good to go ahead and apply the sealer. If the floor is not dry the seal will not cure properly, and this can lead to a patchy finish.

Victorian Tiled Floor After Restoration Haringey

Three coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow were applied to seal the tiles. This is a colour intensifying impregnating sealer that works from with and will gives the Victorian tiles durable protection, ideal for a high traffic area such as the hallway. In addition, Colour Grow is a fully breathable sealer so it will allow for moisture to rise through the tile and evaporate, this is critical for floors of this age that will not have the benefit of a damp proof membrane installed under the floor.

Victorian Tiled Floor After Restoration Haringey

The hallway is now looking transformed by the work we did, we certainly thought so, but more importantly our client was very happy with the result and now has the floor he hoped for.

 

Professional Restoration of a Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway in North London

Reviving a Classic Victorian Tiled Hallway in Haringey North London Read More »

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before and After Cleaning Palmers Green

Victorian Tiled Hallway Rebuilt After Heating Installation in Palmers Green

The owners of this property in Palmers Green, North London had uncovered an original Victorian hallway floor during renovation work. However, the priority was to have a new central heating system installed so they had to make a decision to allow the heating engineer to rip up part of the floor in order to lay new pipes.

With the floor now missing a large section most customers would agree to have the hole back-filled with concrete and then have lino installed on top, however keen to have the floor restored as an original feature they reached out to Tile Doctor who have a lot of experience in this field.

Our brief was to infill the excavated section and reinstate the floor with new original style Victorian tiles to match the existing ones.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Cleaning Palmers Green

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway

The existing floor had been covered in Carpet which had been secured using carpet gripper fixed to the floor using adhesive, there were also old paint splashes from decorating that would need to be removed. Our first job therefore was to remove the glue and paint by applying a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Remove & Go which is a coatings remover especially designed for use on tile and stone. The product was applied, left to dwell for about twenty minutes and then scrubbed into the floor, this softened the paint and glue which could then be carefully scrapped off tile tiles.

The next step was to give the floor a deep clean with a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean to strip off what remained of old sealers and extract any ground-in dirt from the pores of the tile. Naturally this work had to be done in two sections due to the missing tiled section and then once complete each part of the floor was given a good rinse and the slurry extracted using a wet vacuum.

The floor was then inspected and a second clean was carried out to remove any stubborn staining or residue followed by a steam clean.

Rebuilding a Victorian Tiled Hallway

Following the two stages of cleaning we checked the existing floor pattern and prepared the hallway by levelling the floor in preparation for inlaying the new tiles which were chosen to offer the best possible match. We were able to source reclaimed tiles that would match up to the pattern and during this phase of the restoration work we carried out any loose tile and grout repairs and re-grouted the newly laid tiles.

Sealing Victorian Hallway Tiles

With the original tiles clean and the hallway rebuilt we left the floor to dry off fully overnight.

On our return we first checked the tiled were dry and that the grout in the new section was clear of any grout smears from the tiling work. Happy with the condition of the hallway we first applied a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that will protect the tiles from within by occupying the pores within the tile, it also enhanced the colours in the clay tile.

Once the first coat of sealer was dry it was followed by five coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which adds further layers of protection and adds a nice subtle satin finish that works really well on Victorian tiles.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Cleaning Palmers Green
The work went very well, and the sealer consolidated the new and old tiled sections to form a seamless floor.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Restored in North London

Victorian Tiled Hallway Rebuilt After Heating Installation in Palmers Green Read More »

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