Victorian tiled floors were popularised during the 19th century and continue to be in fashion to this day. However they do need to be properly maintained and many homeowners need assistance with this as was the case with this customer in Edinburgh. Their Victorian tiled hallway floor was very dull due to several layers of ingrained dirt, and was also marked in numerous places by paint splashes from decorating. The customer was unable to deal with these issues themselves, despite trying several times with everyday cleaning products and called us in to restore the floor back to looking its best.
Cleaning a Dirty Victorian Tiled Hallway
To begin, I mixed a 50:50 solution of Tile Doctor Pro Clean and Tile Doctor Remove & Go which creates a powerful cleaner/stripper solution. Pro-Clean is a high alkaline cleaner, while Remove & Go is specifically designed to break down adhesives, paints and any old surface sealer.
The solution was sprayed onto the tiled floor and left it to dwell for 5-10 minutes. It was then thoroughly scrubbed into the floor, and any excess residue was promptly extracted using a wet-vac machine.
The area was too tight to allow for a heavy rotary machine fitted with a scrubbing pad, so I opted to complete the cleaning process by hand. To ensure a high quality clean in lieu of the absent rotary machine, I scrubbed the floor three times over, successfully removing all of the paint marks and ingrained dirt in the process.
After cleaning it was important to neutralise any excess chemicals left over on the tiles, and I did this by washing the entire floor with Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner. A wet vacuum was used to remove as much moisture from the floor as possible and then it was left to dry fully overnight.
Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor
On the second day, I returned to the house to seal the newly cleaned Victorian tiles. The customer specifically requested a natural, non-sheen finish for the surface seal; now normally I recommend Seal and Go for Victorian tiles however it does leave a shiny finish and so I switched to Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer that met the client’s requirements and has the additional benefit of improving the natural shades and colours within the tile. Three coats were applied to fully protect the tiles allowing the floor to dry between each coat.
Sealers protect your floor from staining and enhance the floor of the stone, however they do wear down over time depending on floor traffic and what products are used to clean the floor (don’t use anything even mildly acidic) and this is when dirt can become ingrained in the stone, so if you do want to keep your floor looking its best talk to Tile Doctor their regular maintenance service that will ensure your sealer is kept topped up.