Earlier this year I was contacted by a homeowner in Cardiff to see if anything could be done to save their Edwardian tiled hallway floor. They had previously contacted another local company who advised to remove the floor and have it retiled. They felt upset to hear this news, having discovered the tiles under the hallway carpet and realised they must be original from when the house was built in 1910. Ideally, they wanted this original feature restored and so they reached out to us.
Having spoken to them over the phone I was happy to re-assure them that the floor could be restored and arranged a visit to survey the floor and carry out a cleaning test to see what could be achieved.
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The floor although in a bad way was very impressive, someone had clearly spent a lot of time laying down a mosaic of what must have been thousands of small square tiles arranged in a repeating geometric pattern. During the visit I realised extensive tile repairs would be required however the sample clean proved successful and the clients were delighted.
I worked out a quote for the restoration which they were happy to accept, and a date was arranged for my return.
Repairing and Cleaning Edwardian Mosaic Floor Tiling
Work started with tile repairs which were done with replacement tiles cut to size, secured with adhesive and grouted in. The floor was then left to set hard before moving onto the next step of cleaning.
Before the carpet had been installed a thin layer of self-levelling cement had been spread across the floor and this had to be removed. To do this I carefully scraped off as much cement as possible along with paint splashes and remnants of plaster all of which were marking the tiles. The waste from this was then swept and bagged up.
To get the floor clean, a mixture of Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU and Pro-Clean were mixed together and applied to the surface working on one square meter at a time. The solution was rinsed, worked in with a Black scrubbing pad and then rinsed again before being extracted with a wet vacuum with clean water and then vacuumed away.
After carrying out the same procedure on the rest of the floor I then started the second procedure which was to apply Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up using wire wool to remove all the cement residues. Again, this was rinsed off with clean water and vacuumed away as I worked.
These two processes removed all the dirt and contaminants from the floor leaving the tiles clean, after a final rinse I used the wet vacuum again to get the tiles as dry as possible and ready for sealing the next day.
Sealing an Edwardian Mosaic Tiled Hallway Floor
The clients wanted a satin shine finish so after leaving the floor to dry overnight it was tested for moisture the next day and this confirmed the floor was dry enough for their desired sealer application.
The choice of sealer was Tile Doctor Seal & Go which produces a lovely satin finish and highlights the colours. Another advantage is being a water-based product it doesn’t leave a smell as it dries.
The floor responded really well to the treatments and I’m please to say the owners were delighted with the final result and eager to recommend Tile Doctor to their family and friends.
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The sealer will protect the floor by ensuring dirt remains on the surface where it can be easily cleaned away using a sealer sensitive tile cleaner such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner.
Completing over 2,000 renovations every year, Tile Doctor is the largest and most respected restorative Tile, Stone and Grout cleaning network in the UK. We have perfected numerous related services so whatever or wherever your problem, call us on 0345 512 01222 for help and advice.