Dudley Tile Cleaning Archives - Birmingham Tile Doctor

Victorian Tiled Office Hallway Floor Before After Restoration Tipton

Victorian Tiled Office Hallway Floor Restoration in Tipton

A property company contacted me regarding a large Victorian tiled hallway at their head office which dated from the late 1800’s. The floor had been neglected for some years and recent restoration to the building had taken its toll making the once glorious floor look very tired.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Tipton Before Restoration

I visited the property in Tipton located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. I surveyed the floor and could see that the intricate patterns although dull and uninspiring at present would be truly stunning once restored and would create a real focal point for the building. I discussed with them what could be done to renovate the floor and the process needed.

We agreed a price and a timescale, and the job was booked in. The only complication being the employees who I would need to work around so they were not unduly inconvenienced.

Cleaning/Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

When I returned I started by focusing on deep cleaning the tiles. To do this the floor was given a coating of a strong solution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which was left to dwell for ten minutes. To work the solution into the tiles I used a 200-grit diamond pad which was attached to a weighted rotary machine, this really got into the ingrained dirt in the pores of the tiles.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Tipton During Restoration

The floor was then thoroughly rinsed off with water and the soil extracted with a powerful Airflex wet vacuum. After this I inspected the floor and could see the tiles still needed more work, so the whole process was repeated the process until I was satisfied.

Given the age of the floor I highly doubted it was unlikely to be protected by a damp proof membrane, so I was concerned about efflorescence salts appearing as the floor dried. To counter this and to further clean the tiles I then applied Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up and again went over with the diamond pad. Being an acid-based product, it will neutralize any alkaline salts present in the floor and in the alkaline cleaning solution used earlier. The floor was rinsed off thoroughly afterwards and died as much as possible with the Airflex.

I then reset some loose tiles, one in particular was right by the front door and had been irritating the staff for years catching the door! They would definitely be pleased to see that problem resolved. Luckily there were no damaged tiles that needed replacing so it was just a repair needed. Some areas were also re-grouted with a matching grout. This immediately improved the look of the floor.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Tipton During Tile Repair

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The floor was left to dry for a day, then I returned to apply a sealer which would protect it from dirt becoming ingrained. After checking the moisture levels were acceptable with a moisture meter, I sealed the floor firstly with a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that enhances the natural colour in the tile. Once this was dry it was followed with multiple coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go, this works really well on Victorian tiles and gives the floor a lovely low sheen finish. Once finished the floor was restored back to its former and has given the building back is wow factor.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Tipton During Sealing

I left my client some Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to maintain the floor with going forward. This is especially formulated for the regular cleaning of sealed tile and stone and will help maintain its’ delightful finish. The customer was very happy with the results and even called me next day to say that their customers were already making impressive comments about it when entering the building.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Tipton After Restoration

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Office Hallway in Birmingham

Victorian Tiled Office Hallway Floor Restoration in Tipton Read More »

Terrazzo Tiled Floor Before and After Renovation Dudley

100+ Year Old Terrazzo Hallway Rejuvenated in Dudley

1 Comment / Dudley Tile Cleaning, Terrazzo Floor Cleaning, Work History / Kieron Norton

This post follows on from the Victorian Tiled floor article I published earlier, if you recall I was asked to restore a Victorian Tiled Hallway at a house in Dudley and there was a section that was Terrazzo, so I thought it would make sense to write about this separately as the cleaning method is different.

Both period floors were original, having been installed when the house was built over 100 years prior and whilst Victorian tiles are quite the norm in these properties it’s quite unusual to find Terrazzo as this was mostly used in large public buildings.

There was a crack running across the floor which is quite a common problem with Terrazzo as it’s laid in one piece like concrete and any movement in the ground will cause stress leading to a crack. Unfortunately, the only way to resolve this properly is to have a Terrazzo expert relay that section of the floor which would prove expensive.

Terrazzo Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Dudley

Terrazzo is the by-product of broken pieces of stone, often Marble, Limestone and Granite, which rather than being wasted are set into to a cement screed and poured onto the floor, then once the screed is set it is grinded to a polish.

Cleaning Original Victorian and Terrazzo Tiles

The polish on Terrazzo will eventually wear down with use and to restore the appearance it needs to be burnished with a series of pads with different grits from coarse to fine.

So, to start the renovation I gave it a general clean with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mainly to remove any grit before burnishing. Next, the Terrazzo tiles were cleaned using a coarse 400 grit pad fitted to a rotary machine and lubricated with water. This process removes dirt and any coatings such as sealers and the floor needs to be rinsed afterwards to remove the slurry that is generated.

Then to build back the polished appearance, the floor is burnished with an 800 grit medium pad followed by a 1500 grit fine pad. Less water is used this time, but you do need to rinse the floor again after each pad to remove any slurry gets generated during the process. Once this was done the floor was dried with a wet vacuum and left to dry off fully overnight.

Sealing a Terrazzo Floor

The next day, I returned to the property and started with a damp test to make sure the floor was dry and ready for sealing. The floor was dry so I finished the Burnishing process by applying the last pad in the set which is a 3,000 grit (very fine) pad that adds the final polish to the Terrazzo.
To protect the floor from staining and dirt becoming ingrained in the pores of Terrazzo it was then sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is a colour enhancing impregnating sealer that protects from within. Once the sealer had dried the floor was buffed with a white pad.

Terrazzo Hallway Floor After Cleaning Dudley

The floor looked a lot cleaner and shiner at the end and the customer was very happy with the transformation.

Deep Cleaning and Polishing an Old Terrazzo Floor in Dudley

100+ Year Old Terrazzo Hallway Rejuvenated in Dudley Read More »

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before and After Cleaning Dudley

100+ Year Old Victorian Tiled Hallway Restored in Dudley

1 Comment / Dudley Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Kieron Norton

It may sound impossible to restore tiles that are over a century old back to something resembling their original condition but in fact it’s something we do all the time. With the right cleaning products and techniques, fantastic results can be achieved.

An example being this work I did for a customer in Dudley. They had seen previous examples of Tile Doctor’s work and wanted to have their 128-year old Victorian tiled hallway which had been covered in carpet previous restored to its best possible condition. Dudley is a town in the West Midlands that is often touted as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution so there are lot of period houses.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before Cleaning Dudley

When I first went over to survey the floor I could see that restoring these Victorian tiles would be a significant job involving deep cleaning, tile repair and sealing. Upon closer inspection of the tiles, I realised that there was also a small area that met the hallway which was actually Terrazzo. This was to be cleaned and sealed too however I’ll deal with that in a separate post as the process was different.

Cleaning Original Victorian Tiles

To start the restoration, I treated the floor with Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong alkaline tile and grout cleaner, leaving it to dwell for a short period to start breaking down the heavy soil build-up.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor During Cleaning Dudley

While the Pro-Clean was soaking into the tile, I carefully scraped off the paint that had been dropped on the tiles during decorating at some point in the past. Next, I fitted a rotary machine with a 200-grit diamond encrusted burnishing pad – which is very coarse – and put it into action to remove deeply ingrained dirt from the tiles.

When this process was complete, the floor was thoroughly rinsed with water and the resulting slurry was soaked up with the aid of a wet vacuum. I repeated this process around the edges of the hallway, where the tiles were particularly badly ingrained with dirt and marked with carpet glue deposits. The floor was given a final rinse with water and the wet vacuum used again to remove as much moisture from the floor as possible before leaving it to dry off overnight.

Before leaving however I had to complete the tiler repairs which involved removing the loose tile and mortar and then setting them back into place. There was also quite a lot of re-grouting that needed to be done on various areas of the floor.

Sealing Original Victorian Tiles

The next day, I returned to the property and ran damp tests in various places to ensure the tiles had dried. Given that these tiles are particularly old, I was conscious that that the floor very likely lacked a damp proof membrane and so damp issues could be a real possibility. We always ensure that floors are completely dry before sealing them as excess moisture can damage the performance of the sealer.

Thankfully, the tiles had dried out and, so I was able to start sealing them with four coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which added a nice sheen finish and will protect the floor going forward.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor After Cleaning Dudley

Before leaving I left the customer with a bottle of Neutral pH tile cleaner to help maintain the tiles appearance. The customer was very happy with the results and commented that all the hard work had paid off to leave the floors looking great!

Full Restoration of a Period Victorian Hallway Floor in the West Midlands

100+ Year Old Victorian Tiled Hallway Restored in Dudley Read More »

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Birmingham Tile Doctor

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