We are in the process of cleaning and restoring this grand Victorian tiled hallway in Radlett WD7. I was quite surprised to find this stunning design in Radlett as mostly I find this style of Victorian tile design closer to London. The encaustic tiles in the pattern are very nice and this one actually cleaned up very well with minimal damage to the screed as we find quite often.
Here you can see the hallway that has now been deep cleaned. However it has not been waxed or sealed so looks quite flat. At this stage the tiles are incredibly porous as all of the dirty old bees wax and oils have been stripped out.
Here in the above pic you can see us repairing tiles that where broken or damaged. We will work our way through the floor replacing and marking work done with blue tape. This is the only way to prevent people from stepping on the wet tiles.
Colour matching and filling chips in Victorian floor tiles
We always spend a few hours going through all the tiles filling and colouring chips and cracks. We use specialist durable tile paints and ceramic waxes that work well on Victorian floor tiles. This process saves allot of money on the job as these tiles can be expensive to replace .
Hard wax or bees wax on Victorian floor tiles
In the above pic you can see the finished result where the tiles have been deep sealed, waxed and buffed. For this one we opted for a natural hard wax with bees wax mixed in it. Bees wax is permeable so allows things to breath and the homeowner mentioned damp issues present in the house. Other modern acrylic tile waxes that give the high shine look are a complete moisture barrier and will trap any rising vapours that will cause white patches in the wax. Bees wax and hard waxes are also easier to maintain.
