restoration Archives - Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

Damaged Victorian Hallway Floor Fully Restored in Headington

Restoration of Damaged Victorian Hallway in Headington, Oxford

This is a Victorian hallway floor laid in a classic Black and White diamond pattern at a property in the Oxford suburb of Headington. I suspect the floor is original and dates to 1890 when the house was built. Unfortunately, at some point in its recent past it was damaged during the installation of heating pipes and then backfilled with cement.

Here at Tile Doctor, we see this happen time and time again and have been brough into to restore many period floors such as this example. Gas and heating pipes are the most common reasons for digging up a floor but often the homeowner doesn’t know what to do to restore it so they either live with the defaced floor or more usually cover it with carpet or vinyl.

Victorian Hallway Floor During Restoration Headington Oxford

In this case the property had recently changed hands and the new owner was keen to have the floor restored to its original condition. Fortunately, here at Tile Doctor we are in contact with various companies that make reproduction tiles, so it is not a problem finding matching replacements. In this case I managed to find suitable replacements with a company called Original Features who specialise in reproductions. We visited site to have a look at the job and gave the owners a quote for the work which they were happy to accept.

Cleaning and Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

The first day was spent restoring the damaged floor by carefully cutting out the old cement backfill and replacing to a level that was just deep enough for the replacement tiles to fit. I then made up a concrete adhesive mix and smoothed this in the hole and laid the tiles making sure they were level with the original floor. This was then left to set overnight.

Day two’s focus was cleaning the floor, however given the age of the property I knew it would not have a damp proof membrane, so I was concerned about the use of too much water. Not wishing to exacerbate any damp issues I decided to go with a low moisture cleaning approach.

To do this a gel cleaner known as Tile Doctor Acid Gel was applied to half the floor and then scrubbed into the tiles using a rotary floor machine fitted with a coarse 100-grit diamond pad. Once done this was repeated on the other half of the floor. The tiles were then rinsed with minimal water and the soil extracted with the wet vacuum.

A 200-grit diamond pad was then fitted to the rotary machine, and this was used to further refine the appearance of the tiles using some water for lubrication. This was then followed by a series of Tile Doctor burnishing diamond pads with just water to rinse, clean and force a natural sheen on the floor, again a wet vacuum was employed to vacuum up the slurry. Last step before leaving for the day was to mop the floor with Tile Doctor Neutral Floor Cleaner and left the floor to dry.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Returning on the final day, I set about sealing the Victorian tiles with Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an oil-based sealer that enhances the Black and White colours in the tile. This sealer can also be used externally so it will cope happily with any damp issues that can occur on old floors.

Victorian Hallway Floor After Restoration Headington Oxford

Two coasts were applied allowing each one to dry before applying the next. When the seal was dry, I buffed the floor with a 3000-grit diamond pad to leave a hard-wearing natural sheen. The floor looked great, fully restored, and gave the homeowners a traditional welcoming hallway.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Oxfordshire

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Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Restored in Old Marston

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor, Old Marston

I received a call from this client in Old Marston around two miles north east of the centre of Oxford. They had lifted a lino floor in their kitchen and found an old Quarry Tiled floor underneath and decided to see if they could have it restored.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor Before Restoration Old Marston

I went over to survey the floor and could see that the tiles had been covered with a thin layer of levelling screed to ensure the lino didn’t sink into the recesses. I ran some tests to demonstrate how the screed could be removed which worked well and it was apparent that the tiles underneath were intact and could be renovated. I submitted a quotation for removing all the screed, deep cleaning the Quarry tiles and then sealing the tiles to protect them. The client was really pleased that we could restore the floor and the quote was accepted, with a date booked to do the work.

Removing Screed and Cleaning Kitchen Quarry Tiles

To start the work, I applied undiluted Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up worked in with a small carbide brush attached to a hand-held rotary buffer. The combination of the acid in the Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up combined with the scrubbing action of the brush were effective at removing most of the screed. The small bits of remaining screed were carefully removed by hand, using a floor scraper. The floor was then rinsed with water and the soil removed with a wet vacuum.

For the second phase of the cleaning process I applied Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel which was scrubbed into the floor with a stiff brush rinsing after with water and the soil extracted again using the wet vacuum. After cleaning the floor to remove the dirt I could still see some evidence of the screed on the tiles, so I decided to give the floor an Acid Wash using Tile Doctor Acid Gel which was scrubbed into the floor and rinsed off as before. Tile Doctor Acid Gel is of course an acidic product so once it was removed, I decided to rinse the floor with Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner to neutralise the pH levels in the floor. The wet vacuum was used again to remove as much moisture from the Quarry tiles as possible before leaving the now clean floor to dry off fully overnight.

Sealing a Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor

I returned to seal this floor the next day. First, I checked the floor was fully dry with the damp meter, it was within the recommended range, so I was ready to complete the sealing process.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor After Restoration Matt Sealer Old Marston

The client was not too sure if they wanted a matt or sheen finish, so I first put a coat of Tile Doctor Colour Grow on the floor to show them the matt finish. Colour Grow is an impregnating sealer that enhances natural colour and protects from within by occupying the pores in the tile. After reviewing the floor, they decided it was not for them, so I followed up by applying several coats of Tile Doctor Seal & Go which adds a nice sheen finish and is compatible with Colour Grow.

The combination of sealers worked very well together, and they were very satisfied with the final result and of course that we had been able to restore the Quarry tiles.

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor After Restoration Gloss Sealer Old Marston

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Kitchen in Oxfordshire

Quarry Tiled Kitchen Floor, Old Marston Read More »

Refreshing a Victorian Tiled floor in Oxford

1 Comment / Oxford Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning, Work History / Barry Woodward

The Victorian tiled hallway shown below had until recently been covered by carpet and was in surprisingly good condition for its age which is a testament to the durability of these floors. My client who lives in Oxford had managed to remove most of the glue that had been used to secure the carpet to the tile but found it had left an imprint on the floor. Unable to take the restoration any further we were asked to remove the ground in grime and seal the floor.

Carpet Covered Victorian Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Oxford

Restoring Victorian Quarry Tiles

My first task was to remove what was left of the carpet adhesive primarily with the aid of scraper which was used carefully along the edges. This removed the thicker parts of the glue but needed more work to remove all the traces; so a 50 grit disc fitted to a handheld machine was run around the edges of the whole floor to complete the job removing the residue and dirt in the process.

I then used a 50 grit milling pad attached to a rotary floor machine to remove the ground in grime and clean the whole floor. The floor was then rinsed with water to remove the soil that was generated afterwards and then the process repeated this with a 100 grit and 200 grit milling pad to fully restore the appearance of the tile.

This process took up most of the day so before leaving I gave the floor an acid wash using a mild dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up and then followed this with a good rinse and final clean with Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner.

Sealing Victorian Tiles

Having finished cleaning the floor I left it to dry off completely for three days to ensure it was bone dry before returning to seal it.

To seal I applied Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that protects the tile from within by occupying the pores in the clay, it also enhances the natural colours in the tile in the process and leaves a matt finish.

Carpet Covered Victorian Tiled Floor After Cleaning Oxford

The finished floor looks a lot brighter now it’s now free of all the dirt and glue marks, the new sealer will also ensure it’s easy to clean and keeps its appearance for some time to come.

Victorian Tiled Hallway cleaning in Oxfordshire

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100 Year Old Brick Floor Renovated in Oxford

1 Comment / Oxford Tile Cleaning, Work History / Barry Woodward

We were contacted by a customer living in Oxford who had a property with a brick floor in the living room that was in a bad state and in need of restoration. Brick has always been used as an alternative flooring material to stone due its durability and low cost. Oxford has a long history dating back over a thousand years so it not unusual to discover something like this in older properties.

The owner believed the floor to be over 100 years old and had been patched up in numerous places in the past with holes filled in with modern bricks and concrete. I was confident we could dramatically improve the floor but naturally give its long history it would never look like it was new again.

100 Year Old Brick Floor Before Cleaning

Restoring a Brick Floor

To remove the dirt I stated with the application of a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean, a high alkaline product that is our go to cleaning product. I applied the product to the floor and left it to dwell for twenty minutes before scrubbing into the brick with a black scrubbing pad fitted to a low speed rotary machine. The soiled cleaning solution was then extracted using a wet vacuum and the floor rinsed with water.

With a lot of the dirt removed I could see I would need to use something abrasive to remove the layers of concrete and give the floor a consistent appearance. Fortunately we a number of techniques we can use for dealing with these issues and in this case I opted to apply a series of coarse abrasive milling pads. I started with the 50grit grit pad which is applied by attaching it to a weighted floor buffer and lubricated with water. Then the floor is rinsed and the process repeated with a 100 grit pad and finally a 200 grit pad to finish the process. The pads use industrial diamonds to slowly grind down the surface and improve its appearance. After the final rinse I could see the floor was much improved, I then had to wait for the floor to dry off fully before I could seal it.

Sealing a Brick Floor

On my return the next day I checked the floor with a damp meter to make sure it had dried. All was well so I set about applying a sealer to protect the floor from staining going forward and also make it easier to clean. This sealer I opted for was Tile Doctor Colour Grow which protects the brick from within by become ingrained into the pores of the material and has the added benefit of enhancing the natural colour to bring back the redness of the brick in the process.

I appreciate the photographs are not my best but hopefully you can appreciate the improvement, certainly the customer was very pleased with transformation and left the feedback for me below. In fact they were originally of the opinion that it probably wasn’t salvageable so this was a major bonus.

We went from dirty old brick living room floor to shiny new (looking) floor in the space of two days. Barry called back immediately came round to have a look the same day then set a date and time and met every promise.

Professional Restoration of a Dirty Brick Living Room Floor in Oxfordshire

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