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Stained Victorian Hallway Floor Renovation Attleborough

Renovation of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Attleborough following Building Work

A client in the town of Attleborough, Norfolk contacted us about her Victorian tiled hallway following a recommendation from a neighbour. She wanted to get the floor renovated and had been struggling to find someone with the appropriate knowledge and experience to complete the work. She had tried to clean the floor herself but had little success and decided it was time to call in the experts.

Stained Victorian Hallway Floor Tiles Before Cleaning Attleborough

The whole house was being renovated and unfortunately the contractors working in the property had not taken care to cover up the hallway floor and it has subsequently become covered in all sorts of mess including a lot of plaster and paint. I explained that this would not be an issue and we were confident that we could remove all the contaminants and restore the floor to its former glory.

I created a quote for doing the renovation which would take two days, one to clean and one to seal. Happy with my quotation, we scheduled a date for our return which was to follow the conclusion of all remaining building works.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Floor in Attleborough

Before starting the renovation of her floor, our first job was to cover the walls and skirting with masking film to protect the newly plastered walls from splashes during cleaning. Next, with a focus on removing the paint splatters, a generous quantity of Tile Doctor Remove & Go was sprayed onto the tiles and left to dwell for ten minutes so it could get to work breaking down the dirt and softening the paint. Then using a black scrubbing pad fitted to our Klindex rotary buffing machine, the solution was scrubbed into the surface to remove as much of the contaminants and old now-ineffective coatings as possible. Once done, the resulting slurry was extracted away using an industrial wet vacuum.

The next step was to treat the floor to an acid scrub using Tile Doctor Acid Gel which was applied and left for five minutes before working in with a coarse 100-grit diamond pad. This treatment has a lot of benefits for tiled floors and is great for removing old cement, grout smears and other contaminants such as efflorescence salt deposits. Being acidic it also neutralises the pH of the floor following the use of Remove and Go earlier which is a strong alkaline. The floor was then wet vacuumed again and the process repeated with a finer 200-grit pad.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Floor in Attleborough

The floor was left to dry out overnight and then on our return it was tested with a damp meter to ensure it had dried and was now ready for sealing. The moisture readings were good, so we were happy to go ahead and apply the sealer.

We had discussed finish options with the customer earlier and as a result Tile Doctor Seal & Go Extra was chosen. This is a fully breathable exterior grade product which provides high stain resistance and is perfect for high traffic areas such as hallways. It improves the colours in the tiles and has a low sheen finish so does not make the floor look too shiny. Five coats of sealer were applied leaving each one to dry before the next was applied.

Stained Victorian Hallway Floor Tiles After Cleaning Attleborough

My client was amazed how well her floor had come up and was delighted that the building contractors had not permanently ruined it! For aftercare cleaning I recommended the use of Tile Doctor Neutral Cleaner which is a highly effective yet gentle tile cleaning product that doesn’t damage acrylic finishes.

 

Professional Victorian Hallway Floor Renovation in Norfolk

Renovation of a Victorian Tiled Hallway in Attleborough following Building Work Read More »

Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor Before After Restoration Kings Lynn

Carpet Covered Victorian Hallway Tiles Restored in Kings Lynn

As is often the case in years past and for whatever reason many homeowners covered their decorative Victorian hallway tiles in a variety of products from carpet to laminate flooring. These days the trend has reversed and quite rightly many homeowners now realise the value a tiled floor can bring to a property and look to us to have it restored.

Our client had purchased a property in Norfolk seaport of Kings Lynn and, on lifting the dirty old carpet and decaying underlay in the hallway, discovered a beautiful tiled entrance hall. It was obvious that a previous owner had decided to lay carpet over the tiles as an easy way of hiding the result of careless renovation and decorating which had resulted in a thick coating of plaster, paint, carpet tape glue and various other contaminants which had become firmly stuck to the surface. There were also two small rectangular black and brown tiles missing behind the front door which had been damaged during the removal of some old lead pipes.

Victorian Tiled Hallway Before Cleaning Kings Lynn

This was clearly a job which would need somewhat more than a scrubbing brush and a bottle of Flash!

Cleaning a Victorian tiled floor

Our first job was to remove as much of the solid contaminants as possible by hand with floor scrapers and a steamer which softened the more stubborn lumps. We then applied Tile Doctor Remove & Go which is a powerful alkaline stripper to the whole area, left it to dwell on the surface for twenty minutes and then scrubbed it in using a rotary machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. The resulting slurry was then power rinsed and extracted away using our Ninja machine which is a high-power industrial vacuum. Any remaining patches where the carpet tape had been stuck down were spot treated using Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU which made short work of the hardened glue.

The result was a clean floor, but the surface still felt slightly rough and pitted, a problem which we resolved using the rotary machine fitted with a 200-grit diamond burnishing pad followed by a 400-grit pad with a little 400 grit honing powder which left the surface smooth, silky and ready for the application of a sealer.

Finally, we acid washed the whole area using Tile Doctor Acid Gel, a slow release product which would neutralise any remaining chemicals, improve new sealer adhesion and inhibit the future production of any efflorescence salts. We had used a fair amount of water during the cleaning process, so we left the floor to dry off thoroughly overnight with assistance from our commercial dehumidifier.

Sealing a Victorian tiled floor

On our return the following day, we discussed the sealer options with the client and recommended using microporous Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that seeps into the pores of the stone protecting it from within. It will provide an excellent fluid resistant seal whilst enhancing the natural colours in the stone, additionally it’s fully breathable thereby enabling any moisture trapped under the floor to rise through the floor and evaporate. This is important on old floors like this where no damp-proof membrane was installed. The sealer was applied with a paint pad in tow coats and allowed to dry for an hour before buffing the floor with a hog’s hair pad to give a rich natural-look sheen finish.

Victorian Tiled Hallway After Cleaning Kings Lynn

The Victorian tiles responded well to the treatments which were completed in two consecutive days. My client was extremely pleased with the results and left the following comment:

“My floor was in poor condition after being buried under carpet as well as many, many years of paint and muck. I enjoyed the time they spent at my home and wouldn’t hesitate to use (or recommend) the Tile Doctor service in the future.”

 

Professional Victorian Hallway Floor Restoration in Norfolk

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Large Terracotta Tiled Floor Before After Cleaning Docking

Flood Damaged Terracotta Tiled Kitchen Floor Rescued in Docking

Luckily for this client in the village of Docking in Norfolk, the water pipe under her kitchen sink burst the day before she left for a four-week holiday in the USA, so at least she was able to turn the water off at the mains and minimise the damage before leaving for the airport… every cloud, as they say!

On her return she found that the Terracotta tiled flooring had dried out perfectly but unfortunately, the acrylic sealer had suffered badly as the evaporating moisture came up through it and the entire surface of the floor had developed a milky-white bloom. Our client thought that complete replacement of the whole floor, which ran from a large kitchen diner through to a long utility room with separate storage cupboards and a WC would be the only option. Fortunately, before investigating that expensive option she gave Tile Doctor a call in the hope that the floor could be saved.

Large Terracotta Tiled Floor Before Cleaning Docking

Deep Cleaning Water Damaged Terracotta Floor Tiles

In order to remove the damaged acrylic sealer, we applied a strong dilution (1:2) of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean mixed with a little Tile Doctor Remove and Go. This was scrubbed in along with a small amount of honing powder using our 17″ rotary machine fitted with a medium nylon brush before being power rinsed and extracted to remove all the chemicals and resulting slurry.

The grout lines, corners and edges where the original sealer had been applied more thickly were then further cleaned by hand with Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU Remover, HBU stands for Heavy Build-Up and this is a useful product for tackling stubborn areas.

The floor was then finished off with very fine honing powder applied with water and a black scrubbing pad before being rinsed and extracted again. Finally, the whole floor was acid washed with Tile Doctor Acid Gel to neutralise all remaining cleaning agents and counter act any efflorescence salts which may appear in the future before being left to dry thoroughly overnight with the assistance of our dehumidifier.

Sealing Terracotta Floor Tiles in Docking

On our return the following day, the floor was thoroughly damp tested and found to have dried extremely well enabling us to start applying the new sealer straight away. The client had specified a muted shine surface for her floor, so we chose to use Tile Doctor Seal and Go.

Terracotta is made from clay which is quite a porous material so seven coats were needed to completely seal the floor. This would provide optimum fluid resistance along with the mid-sheen finish she had requested.

Here’s what the client had to say when we’d finished:

I am delighted with the work carried out. The terracotta tile floor of my kitchen was in a terrible state following a flood and it has been restored to an excellent condition. A very professional and personal service which I am happy to recommend.

Large Terracotta Tiled Floor After Cleaning Docking
 

Renovating Terracotta Floor Tiles in Norfolk

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