Black and White Victorian Tiled Path Restored in Ewell

Having seen some of my other work this client contacted me about the restoration of their Victorian tiled path at their property in Ewell . It had various issues that would need resolving and although I was happy to restore it, I advised that it would be best to wait until the weather improved.

In the meantime, I went over to the property to survey the path, work out a restoration plan and provide a quote for the work. I could see It wasn’t the best of installations, it appeared to be built on mud as some of the edging had become unattached. It was dirty, having never been deep cleaned and about 30 tiles had been broken. All that being said it was definitely restorable so I gave them a price for the work, and they were happy to go ahead.

Cleaning and Repairing a Victorian Tiled Pathway

Having found a reasonable weather window, I was able to make a start on the structural issues. First, I needed to fully remove the detached edging which proved more difficult than expected resulting in the need to use a crowbar. With the edging removed the base was cleaned up and backfilled with self-levelling compound which takes three to four hours to set.

It was a warm day and I had plenty of other work to do while I waited, including removing the broken tiles with a power chisel being careful not to chip the surrounding ones. The detached edging had to be cleaned up with a tile cutter. I also prepped the tiles over the remaining pathway by soaking them in Tile Doctor Patio Cleaner. This would gradually seep into the tiles and remove any dirt.

After lunch the tiling was hand scrubbing with a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean. This took some time as they were small and fiddly. Once done the tiles were rinsed with water.

Once the self-levelling compound had set, I was able to start rebuilding the path using the original tiles setting them back in place to match the original pattern using a quick setting adhesive.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Pathway

Time was marching on and eventually the client’s children would start returning home from school, so I was keen to get the path completed before they arrived. Fortunately, it was a warm day and the tiles had dried so I moved onto applying a protective sealer.

For this I used Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an oil-based product rated for external use, the oil also helps to restore colour to the Black tiles. Before leaving I taped up the area, to ensure nobody walked on the tiles whilst the sealer was drying.

My client was very happy with the work I had carried out, the pathway now looked complete and provided a much more inviting entrance to the property. The new sealer would ensure dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away for which I recommended using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner.

 

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Pathway in West Surrey