This is a typical colorful geometric type Victorian tile clean and restoration in a hallway in North London N8 ( Muswell Hill , Haringey
As you can see the hallway tiles are in a sorry state with years of built up deeply ingrained dirt, grime and old waxes and oils.
Deep cleaning the Victorian tiles.
The first step is always deep cleaning of the tiles to draw out everything. It’s actually quite satisfying as it comes out in a dark sludge. I always call the customer at this point to show them 😂
In some cases when allot of tiling repairs is required I will do the cleaning at the end instead .
Tiling repairs to Victorian tiles
After the tile have been deep cleaned and sealed I can do the tile repairs for all the broken, cracked, badly damaged, stained and just about anything that the customer doesn’t like the look off. One needs to be very careful when chiseling out the tiles as damage can easily be caused by inexperienced hands! I use the reproduction Victorian tiles and purchase big squares to make the tiles on site. If you try arrange the tile sizes they are always a bit off!
When replacing Victorian tiles with new ones I will usually put tape over the tiles or patches of repairs as it’s nearly impossible not to step on them if not clearly marked
These fancy encaustic patterned Victorian tiles in the above pic are worth a small fortune.
They are very unusual and we where quoted £1200 to have one made up by a tile making specialist. Usually encaustic are around £30/40 per tile and £300-£400 if there needs to be a mould made up. But these ones in the pic where not the usual!
Chip repair & touch ups to Victorian Tiles
To save time and money on replacing so many tiles in an original Victorian style hallway it is much more effective and cheaper to just fill and or touch up the tiles that are not too badly damaged. It kind of adds to the character of the whole thing and there is the added bonus that the newer tiles do look a bit different when used to replace damaged originals. A chip touch up looks reasonable and you still have the original tile in tact. The final waxing with a mild sheen does seem to blend this type of thing in. Only the most durable tile restoration paints are used for this.
Final Waxing of Victorian hallway tiles
The customer wanted easy to maintain option with a medium low sheen finish. So we decided to seal it , color enhance it and then go straight bees wax.
Bees wax is straight forward to apply and buff. It dries quite hard and protects the tiles. Its breathable which is very important in these e old Victorian properties. This is how they used to be maintained back in the day and many of the hallways are in good shape , so that does say something for the traditional methods!
I do this work all over North London including Crouch End, Barnet , Hampstead Heath, Highgate, Muswell Hill so please get in touch if you restoration work done. Thanks [email protected]