Floor Restoration Archives - West Surrey Tile Doctor

Quarry Tiled Floor Restoration Cranleigh

Cement Screed Covered Quarry Tiled Floor Restoration in Cranleigh

This Quarry tiled floor was discovered in an old cottage in the Surrey village of Cranleigh. The new owners had found the quarry tiled floor under an old carpet and wanted to have it restored as an original feature. Unfortunately, it also had a covering of concrete screed over a large percentage of it. This is a fairly common practice when laying vinyl or carpet over tiles as it ensures a completely flat surface.

Quarry Tiled Floor Before Restoration Cranleigh

From experience, I knew returning the tiles to a decent state would be possible but it’s difficult and unpleasant work. None the less I was happy to do the restoration and having visited the property to survey the floor I came up with a restoration plan that I was happy with. This evolved into a quote which the owners were happy to accept, and a date set for the work to commence.

Cleaning a Quarry Tiled Living Room

To remove the screed, I started with a power chisel fitted with a serrated attachment and started to carefully chip away at the screed. This is noisy and messy work, so I shut myself off from the world wearing eye protection goggles and ear defenders. Slowly the cement screed came away and was bagged up for removal.

Once I’d cleared the area of screed, a heavyweight buffing machine was introduced to the floor. Heavy iron bars were attached to the front to increase traction with the tiles and make cleaning and burnishing more effective. With the machine ready the quarry tiles were covered in a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, and this was left to soak in for ten minutes.

A coarse 200-grit diamond pad was fitted to the machine and then run over the floor to work in the cleaning solution. This abrasive pad cuts into the surface of the tile to remove the years of dirt and grime. This is an aggressive, wet process but the cleaning solution captures the dirt and dust minimising the mess. Once done the floor was rinsed with water and the soiling extracted with a wet vacuum.

Attention was then directed at the grout which had to be hand scrubbed for the best results using more Pro-Clean. The whole floor was then inspected and any stubborn areas of staining were spot treated using the same process. Once I was happy with the condition of the tiles the floor was left to dry out overnight ready for sealing the next day.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Living Room

Quarry tiles don’t particularly like aggressive cleaning processes and it can cause their colour to fade, however there is little alternative when they are this bad. With this in mind, I had decided to seal them with a colour enhancing sealer called Tile Doctor Colour Grow. This product is an impregnator which works by soaking into the pores of the tile, protecting it from within and ensuring any dirt remains on the surface, it also leaves the matt finish the client had requested.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Restoration Cranleigh

Other sealers are available that offer a sheen or shiny finish however this client had a couple of dogs whose claws can damage a topical sealer, so an impregnator was the best option.

Quarry Tiled Floor After Restoration Cranleigh

I returned a month later with some reclaimed tiles to fit around the front of the fireplace
For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is ideal for the regular cleaning of sealed tiles and won’t impact the integrity of the sealer.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Floor in Surrey

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Victorian Tiled Hallway Restoration Camberley Surrey

Express Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway floor in Camberley

1 Comment / Camberley Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / Rupert Mcloud

A lady from Camberley had been asking me to restore her Victorian tiled hallway for over a year. This was not due to me I should mention, she’s a shift worker so it had been difficult to schedule a time to visit the property and survey the floor, also she didn’t want her husband to be there as the restoration of the floor was to be a surprise.

We did however mange to get that organised and I was able to inspect the floor. It was very dirty and well overdue a deep clean and seal, however, before that could happen it would be necessary to replace several broken tiles. Fortunately, she had a stash in her garden shed that were in reasonable condition which would do the job very nicely.

Happy with my quote the next hurdle was to agree a date for the work, so we had to delay until such time when the husband would be away.

Repairing and Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Camberley

When I finally came to do the work, I started by removing all the broken tiles. I used a serrated edge power chisel for this work taking care not to disturb the adjacent tiles. The holes that are left have to be totally cleared out so the new tiles can slot straight in. Annoyingly the replacement tiles were slightly thicker than the existing ones, so I had to dig down a couple of millimetres to ensure a level floor.

Victorian Tiled Hallway During Restoration Camberley Surrey

The next step was to clean the floor using Tile Doctor Acid Gel. This is an excellent product that removes ingrained dirt. I brushed it over the floor with a soft brush and left for twenty minutes while I had my lunch in the van. Being a gel it is very easy to control and more importantly you don’t use much water during the process, this means the floor dries quicker and it won’t exacerbate any potential damp issues. This is always a consideration with old Victorian tiled floors as they don’t have a damp proof membrane underneath.

I then sprinkled a covering of water to keep it damp while I introduced a weighted buffer machine to scrub the floor. Attached to the machine was a 100-grit diamond pad. This removes surface dirt leaving a very clean tile. A small amount of water is used to help lubricate the process and all waste was removed with a wet vacuum cleaner.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway

The work needed to be done in a day, so I used floor fans and a heater to get the floor dry and ready for sealing.

During this time the replacement tiles were slotted into place sticking them down with rapid set adhesive. Another little job that needed doing was to address a gap between the skirting board and the tiles which the client asked my advice over. Always happy to help, I agreed to fill it with transparent mastic.

Once the tiles were dry, I sealed them with Tile Doctor Seal and Go Extra. This gives a sheen finish that enhances colour and last years.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Restoration Camberley Surrey

Before leaving I took time to discuss aftercare cleaning and recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, it is a gentle but effective product that won’t harm the sealer.

I never got to find out what her husband thought of the the floor, but my client was certainly happy with the transformation once I had finished.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in West Surrey

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Victorian Tiled hallway Floor Before After Restoration Weybridge College

Astonishing Victorian Floor Restoration at Weybridge College

1 Comment / Victorian Tile Cleaning, Weybridge Tile Cleaning, Work History / Rupert Mcloud

I was asked by the facilities manager of St Georges College in Weybridge to survey a Victorian tiled floor for restoration. Having worked there for twenty years he lifted a carpet over the summer in the main reception of the original building as part of renovation work. Underneath he found an original Victorian mosaic tiled floor dating back over a hundred and fifty years to when the school was established. However, for some reason in the distant past they had been partially covered with concrete levelling screed and just to make it more challenging for me the carpet had been secured with adhesive.

Victorian Floor Before Renovation Weybridge College

After visiting the school to survey the floor I could see this going to be a very challenging job for one person. Fortunately Tile Doctor has a network of over 50 specialists like me all around the Country, so I reached out to neighbouring East Surrey Tile Doctor Mick Conlon who is also very experienced in floor restoration. Together we broke down the job into sections, e.g. remove the adhesive, remove the screed, hone the tiles, repair any missing, broken or damages tiles and finally seal. All in the work would take five days to complete.

Removing Carpet Adhesive from Victorian Floor Tiles

The first task was to smother the surface in Tile Doctor Remove and Go which in turn was covered by plastic sheeting. By trapping the product under a plastic sheet, it couldn’t dry out and thereby remains active for longer.

Victorian Floor During Adhesive Removal Weybridge

After a couple of hours, it had broken down the adhesive which we swept up and disposed of. This was unpleasant work which required us to wear protective gloves, masks and goggles.

Removing Cement Screed from Victorian Floor Tiles

On day two we turned our attention to the removal of the concrete screed and cleaning up the tiles. This was done with a process called honing. A circular 200-grit pad was attached to a floor buffer and run over the tiles using water for lubrication. The honing pad is impregnated with industrial diamonds which gradually cuts through and removes the screed covering.

Victorian Floor During Screed Removal Weybridge

After several hours the tiles began to reveal themselves. It also became apparent that after over 100 years of thousands of pupils walking over them some of the tiles were somewhat dipped in the middle. Using a handheld buffer these areas had extra attention with a very coarse 100-grit diamond pad. This process took most of the day with one man honing whilst the other constantly rinsed the floor with more water and extracted the waste.

Replacing Broken Victorian Floor Tiles

Once the tiles were totally free of concrete screed it exposed several broken and missing tiles. Some tiles had been removed and not replaced but back filled with concrete. Fortunately, I had managed to source matching reclaimed tiles was able to cut and fit replacements. All holes and cracks were filled so the floor was ready for sealing the next day.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor

Given the age of the floor and the high amount of floor traffic this floor would receive I advised against using a high shine sealer and recommended an impregnating breathable matt sealer instead. There were two main reasons for this, first old floors don’t have a damp-proof membrane installed so it’s important to use a sealer that will allow the floor to breath and allow moisture to rise through the tiles. Secondly, only an impregnating sealer which soaks into the pores of the tile would cope with the anticipated heavy footfall.

Victorian Floor After Sealing Weybridge College

With that agreed several coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer were applied to the tiles leaving the floor looking great and completely transformed. At end of the last day the headmistress came to give her approval as did the whole secretarial staff. My favourite word was “astonishing”. Hard to disagree.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled College Hallway in Surrey

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