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Neglected Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway Floor Restored in Wanstead

The photographs below are of an original Encaustic Tiled hallway floor at a Victorian period house in Wanstead. As you can see from the photos this floor had clearly suffered years of neglect. Originally it was covered with a carpet and more recently had vinyl tiles stuck to it. Multiple sections of the floor had damaged and loose pieces and one section next to the cupboard had a hole in it with all the tiles around it missing.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway Floor Before Restoration Wanstead

Having surveyed the floor, I came up with a restoration plan to repair the damaged areas and then restore the appearance of the tiles including applying a protective sealer. The quotation was accepted and a date set for the work to commence.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway Floor Before Restoration Wanstead

Cleaning and Repairing a Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway

First the sections of damaged substrate had to be rebuilt, so the original tiles had to be carefully removed so a new substrate could be installed and interlocked with the original to provide a structurally sound floor including the section with the hole.

Before this work started however, I went to great lengths to source the original salvaged encaustic tile pieces needed to make the floor whole again. It took a while to find some of the décor pieces as they are quite rare and in limited supply, but I found them. Once all the replacements had been sourced work started on the floor’s reconstruction the damaged and loose pieces were replaced and set in place with a modern adhesive.

After leaving the floor to set overnight work restarted the next day to clean the whole floor using 100 and 200-grit diamond pads which were worked into the tiles using water for lubrication. These pads do a great job of restoring the appearance of old encaustic tiles like these and will remove any patterns that have been ingrained into their surface from the previous floor coverings. The floor was rinsed after each pad had been applied and the soiling rinsed off with more water and then extracted with a wet vacuum.

After an inspection the now clean floor was given a final rinse and dried as much as possible with a wet vacuum.

Sealing a Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway

The floor was left to dry out and I returned later to apply Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is a protective sealer that improves the appearance of the tiles and prevents dirt from becoming ingrained in its pores. Tile Doctor X-Tra seal is an impregnating oil-based sealer that is fully breathable, an important consideration when dealing with old Victorian floors that don’t have a damp proof membrane.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway Floor After Restoration Wanstead

The project took some time to complete but the result was transformational and my customer was very happy with the result. This old floor which is a valuable period feature has now been brought back to life and made good for another 100 years.

Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway Floor After Restoration Wanstead

Before leaving I took time to mention the importance of using a pH neutral tile cleaner such as Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner for after care cleaning.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Encaustic Tiled Hallway in East London

Victorian Path Renovated in Hackney East London

Red and Black Victorian Tiled Pathway Restored in Hackney East London

1 Comment / Hackney Tile Cleaning, Victorian Tile Cleaning / Walter Croft

The picture below is of a Red and Black Victorian Path leading up to a house in Hackney; which according to my client had never been maintained since they moved in and that was 31 years ago.

The years had taken their toll on the tiles and the path had numerous problems including missing and damaged tiles, grout was missing or had fallen out, the colours in the tiles had faded, weeds were growing through and at some point in its long history a repair had been made which had messed up the pattern.

Victorian Pathway Before Restoration Hackney East London

It always makes a pleasant change to be asked to carry out work outside especially given then hot temperatures we have experienced in the Southeast recently; however, you do have pick the right weather window. I inspected the path and discussed with the client the process needed to renovate it. They were happy to go ahead with my quote and we arranged a time to return later in the month keeping one eye on the weather as a nice dry day would be needed.

Repairing a Black and Red Victorian Tiled Path

Being outdoors, for a change we didn’t need to tape any surrounding areas to protect them from the clean, so we were able to get straight on with repairing the path. This started by carefully lifting out the damaged tiles and the cement which had been used to backfill the places where tiles were missing. At this point I could see 15 tiles would need replacing in total.

I also dug out the channel between the adjacent Sandstone patio and the Victorian pathway so it could be tidied up. The foundation was cleaned up and I was ready to lay out the replacement tiles in a matching pattern to ensure a good fit and that they would be level with the surrounding tiles. I also sorted out the pattern making it an even, symmetrical design throughout the path.

Victorian Pathway During Restoration Hackney East London

Once I knew everything would fit, the tiles were all set in position used a slow setting adhesive that would allow for a few corrections as it went off. Before leaving for the day, I grout in the tiles using a smoke grey grout colour and left instructions for no one to walk on the path.

By the end of the first day the path was looking much healthier.

Deep Cleaning a Black and Red Victorian Tiled Path

The second day was all about cleaning and with the adhesive set I was able to give the whole path a mechanical scrub with a coarse 50-grit Diamond pad lubricated with a dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean with is a strong alkaline cleaner. This combination really gets into the pores of the tile to lift out the ingrained with dirt. The soiled cleaning solution was the vacuumed away with a wet vax and the process repeated with a 100 and then a 200-grit diamond grit pad but with just water this time. The finer pads refine the finish of the tile after the application of the coarse 50-grit pad. After another rinse and extraction, the floor was inspected and worked on the really bad tiles using a set of diamond blocks to get right into the dirt.

Last step in the cleaning process was to give the tiles an acid rinse using a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Grout Clean-up which does a number of things including neutralising the ph level of the tile, countering any efflorescent salts in the floor and cleaning off grout smears.

My final step for the day was to fill in the channel between the Sandstone patio and the pathway with some an Easy Joint compound in a mushroom colour.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Pathway

The dry weather continued so I was able to return the following day to seal the tiles and protect them from the weather. The tiles need to be dry before being sealed so their moisture readings were taken with a damp meter. The meter showed little to no moisture which was perfect. The weather helped massively in this process although it was a little too hot for me sometimes!

I used Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal to seal the floor, it’s an oil-based sealer that enhances colour and structure in the tile to bring out the Red and Black colour, its fully breathable and has built-in UV protection. Due to being outside and exposed to the sun this was clearly the best sealer for the job. I put 1 coat on, buffed off the excess and then left it for half an hour before putting another coat on.

Victorian Pathway After Restoration Hackney East London

The path looked new by the time I had finished, and I had a very happy customer who has now asked me to quote for a clean of their back garden patio.

Professional Restoration of a Victorian Tiled Pathway in East London

Red and Black Victorian Tiled Pathway Restored in Hackney East London Read More »