X-Tra Seal Archives - Oxfordshire Tile Doctor

Quarry Tiled Floor Restoration at 400-Year-Old Listed Inn Chiselhampton

This picture below is of an old Quarry Tiled floor at a pub in Chiselhampton called the Coach and Horses Inn which dates to the late 1600’s. The building is listed and has undergone a restoration work by the new owners who called me to look at the Quarry tiled floor.

Old Quarry Tiled Pub Floor Before Restoration Chiselhampton

I paid a visit to the site to survey the tiles and provide a quote, it was immediately clear the floor was in a very bad state, in fact the site foreman said to me “I don’t suppose you can do anything with this, we’re gonna cover it up”. I love a challenge and I carried out a test and found under the rubble, bitumen, plaster and paint was a lovely red floor. Well, they were a little surprised I took it on but I was delighted and got the job!

Restoring and Replacing Old Quarry Tiles

First, I went around with a floor scraper to remove as much of the dusty surface as I could.
I then covered the floor in Tile Doctor Acid Gel and scrubbed it with a 100-grit diamond pad, this revealed that patches of the floor had missing tiles and had been back filled with concrete. I managed to source some replacement tiles from a reclamation yard and replaced the concrete with the tiles. The floor was starting to look great again.

I then covered the floor with Tile Doctor Acid Gel for a second time, but this time scrubbed with a 200-grit diamond pad. The floor was then rinsed with water and a sponge so as not to get the floor too wet. Old floors like these don’t have a damp proof membrane so can take a long time to dry and excess moisture in the floor can increase problems such as efflorescence leaving salty deposits on the tiles. Using gel cleaning products and a minimal amount of water gets around this problem. The floor was then left to dry overnight.

Sealing Old Quarry Tiles

The next day I returned to seal the floor and started by confirming the tiles were dry by taking several moisture readings with a damp meter. All was well and I was able to move onto the next step.

To seal the floor, I used two coats of Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which brought out the red colour. This is a breathable impregnating sealer; it has an oil-based resin formula so it provides great water repellence and stain protection properties. It’s perfect for internal areas which have moisture issues and can also be used externally.

The first coat revived the colour of the red quarry tiles and the second coat, added a nice subtle sheen. To finish I buffed the floor with a 1500-grit burnishing pad attached to a high-speed buffing machine which produced a natural looking sheen.

Old Quarry Tiled Pub Floor After Restoration Chiselhampton

By the time I had finished the floor was completely transformed and looked great much to the surprise of the foreman. For aftercare I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner to ensure the floor remained in this condition for the long term. The product is pH neutral so mild enough to use daily without compromising the newly applied seal.

Professional Restoration of a Quarry Tiled Pub Floor in Oxfordshire

Damaged Victorian Hallway Floor Fully Restored in Headington

Restoration of Damaged Victorian Hallway in Headington, Oxford

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

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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