Victorian Tile Restoration Guide for DIYers and Professionals

[AMARONE]

Hi
I am a complete novice when it comes to tiling so I'd appreciate the forums advice on a project I am currently undertaking.
Victorian Tile Restoration Guide for DIYers and Professionals

I am in the process of renovating a property that has a run of Victorian tiles in the hallway. They have fallen into a state of disrepair , the lines have gone out due to the settling of the floor over the years and towards the back of the hallway, tiles have been taken up some time in the past leaving bare concrete under the carpet.
I am looking to replace these tiles with Original Style tiles throughout the entire hallway but would like to know if my tiler should simply lay the new tiles over the existing, or take them up? Some of the tiles are already loose enough to pick off the floor by hand but the others are fixed pretty well.
Would best practice be to leave these in-situ and not bond the new base to them, thus protecting them or take them up all up and level the entire hallway floor again ? Laying over them would create significant additional height to the door threshold so I'd appreciate thoughts on how this could be mitigated, too.
Finally, has the forum had experience with Original Style or Mosaics by Post , the latter seem to offer a similar tile pre-set on some kind of adhesive backing, which would appear to be easier to lay. Or are there any other viable Victorian tile suppliers as the cost per sq/m for OS tiles is eye watering and will take significant time and money to lay professionally.
Any comments, advice or guidance on best practice would be gratefully received to prevent a very costly disaster from happening.
Images of the hallway are attached or on my profile.

 

[Unused Account 1]

If they are down solid and no movement just self level the other area ,if any movement whatsoever ,lift and level ,do it right once ,good luck

 

[Flintstone]

You really need somebody with experience of these tiles who can carry out the work for you to a level it deserves to be! Where do you live? We have one or two on here

 

[AMARONE]

My thanks to all Forum members for the comments so far. I'm posting the link to Mosaics by Post and welcome any feedback / reviews on them as a
I get a sense by the notes of caution mentioned above that I will need as much advice as possible as it sounds like it could be a world a pain if done by an inexperienced tiler. If anyone on the Forum can offer any recommendations within the Warwickshire area that could undertake this job by all means let me know..... or as before, any best practice advice. Thanks

 

[Simon Dale]

You need timeless John

 

[AOS TIling]

Not my patch but in the first instance I would advise you that the installer should be making the decision as to what prep is required and if you do t have confidence in that element of his or her work, then they shouldn’t be allowed near such a project. I mean that in good faith. A good source of recommendation should be your tile supplier, most should have at least one trusted and experienced installer that they are able to recommend. If you can get a recommendation from that source, you should still be checking his / her credentials as already advised. When these go wrong, if only slightly, they are fit for nothing else other than a re-install. With their popularity rising in recent times, inexperienced fixers are having a go with sometimes poor results. Project I start the week after next is the third attempt (not by me I might add) so the client has learned a very expensive lesson. First guy was inexperienced but had a go, second guy was a bluffer with experience but hadn’t, to the best of our knowledge, been pulled out before.

A correct installation is worth every penny, or so I’m told

 

[david mccullough]

i fairly certain that if you lift the existing tiles you may find a 2-3 inches of mortar and gravel, or even clay, below the tiles no dpc, the tiles are the dpc, there wasn't plastic in those days,

 

[Dan]

Victorian Tile Restoration Guide for DIYers and Professionals