Cleaning Victorian Tiles

Hi, apologies for the repeat post, I hadn't seen this forum when I posted yesterday, but I think this might be more appropriate here.

I am new to the forum, and would really appreciate some advice if possible please. We have recently moved into a Victorian house that has what I believe is the original tiled floor in the hallway. Unfortunately it seems to be suffering from several years of neglect - it has old paint and plaster in a few places and was generally quite marked. I have given it a scrub with Lithofin tile restorer twice in the last week - both times have made a good improvement in the general appearance of a lot of the tiles, but there are still several patches of what look to be greasy marks, and now also I think I have created some salt marks following the washing of the tiles. These white marks have worsened over night as the tiles have continued to dry. Having done some reading, I think I might need to do an acid wash - will this help with the greasy marks as well as the salt marks, or should I be doing something to help get rid of those before the acid? I would then also like to seal the floor to help protect it and maintain it (it's a heavy traffic area in the hall) - if someone could suggest the best sealer for the job I'd also be really grateful. Thanks very much, really appreciate any advice.
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Hello,

I am by no means an expert tile restorer, however, have had experience in cleaning various old tiles through my own renovation projects. I recently did some work on similar mosaic tiles and had to use an acid cleaner. I was very worried of having to turn to acid since it can be quite aggressive.

After using it though, it's not as bad as I'd feared since you are always in control of the two main factors - contact time and solution strength.

I would start by getting some acid-based tile cleaner, there's a few brands available but they will all be a Hydrochloric acid solution. I would opt for the strong stuff, as you will be diluting it with water at your chosen ratio anyway. (Bostik, HG, Tile Doctor, QEP etc)

I would try a small area in the corner first, to make sure for whatever reason it does not ruin the tile finish (unlikely, but better safe than otherwise). I used various ratios but started at roughly 10 parts water to 1 acid. I ended up with closer to a 5:1 ratio for what I needed.

I would also have the following ready:

• a small tray for the diluted acid, which will have a scouring brush in it as well
• a bucket of water and sponge used for mopping up the acid residue
• another bucket of water and sponge for washing

You also need:
Decent quality long-sleeved cleaning gloves.
Plenty of large scouring pads.
3-4 large sponges - like the ones you use to wash a car type.
Clear safety glasses.
Time and patience.

I then did the following... (more experienced individuals can correct my process, please do if it's not right). It worked for me, although I still have more cleaning to do.
Starting with a 0.5m2 ish area apply the diluted acid with the scouring pad, not too much but a film that won't dry out too quickly.
Lightly scrub it into the tiles.
Leave it for 10 minutes, but keeping edges wet so it doesn't dry out.
Go at it hard with your scouring brush for 5-10 mins/until your arms ache.
Use your first bucket and sponge to mop up the residue, wring and clean the sponge each time.
Then use your second bucket, keep a bit of water in the sponge, and thoroughly wash the area. I repeated this twice.
Replace your second bucket with fresh water, move on to next section.


I believe that the efflorescence you are seeing will be the result of the tile drawing out salts from underneath. So even after the acid wash, after some time, you might see it coming back. I'm no expert as I mentioned, but to my logic, if you were to seal the tile after cleaning, this should stop the natural drawing up of the salts since the surface of the tile is not as breathable so it would not draw up the damp and salts as readily? This is just my logic, and I would like others to correct me/share their opinion.
Countering that, I woudl asume that you actually want the tile surface to be breathable so I'm not sure what the right answer is.

All the best,

Gwyn