Restoring Tiled Hall Floorway - Photo Attached

[frankenfurter]

I'll see if I can get my son to resize the images, as they're pretty big around 12 meg pixel or something. We only do the victorian & edwardian stuff, not even thought of natural stone - but being in a niche has its rewards.

We saw a mad idea the other day where someone had covered the vic floor with floor tiles cut to look like geometric tiles, colours and all. Must have took an age to have some glorified lino in the hall.

 

[TilingLogistics]

Stone I don't have a problem with! The bigger the challenge the better! I am a bit scared of the complicated Victorian & Edwardian. Repairing the odd patch or tile is OK and I enjoy cleaning them and restoring the old look. I have been to see some that have had about 200+ tiles in a Sq Yd and those I leave alone. I haven't got the confidence for those. PM me your details and if I get any other complicated ones I will pass them on to you

Kev

 

[White Room]

Sadder when you sit talking to mrs on a night out about it, only for her to join in

They just don't understand mate

 

[Cedere]

Hi,

I've started doing this work commercially having set out a year ago to just focus o geometric victorian halls and paths. What I find works best is to use the Aqua-mix range of problem solvers. See www.aqua-mix.co.uk

Strip any remaining seal away, then use nanoscrub, applied with a white nylon pad. You'll find that using a slow speed drill with a circular attachment works well. If the tile sare really filthy, put a paste of heavyduty cleaner fluid, poultice powder and nanoscrub down with a paint brush, work it in with a scrubbling brush (lightly), then put sheets and sheets of wet newspaper down on top. (Just put down some newspaper and sprinkle liberal amounts of water on top.

Then leave it for 24-48 hours. The longer the better. If you need to walk on the floor, put down some bin liners or heavy duty rubble sacks.

Come back to it, remove the paste, scrub it, wipe it, then repeat with the nanoscrub.

Viola. You are ready to colour enhance (I use a Fila product), one-three coats. This is a nightime job, letting it dry whilst folk sleep. Then back to the Aquamix product after you're happy with the colours with a sealer and then day after with floor shine and hardener.

I normally reckon on 2 hours per square metre in time, spread over the week (for a client). Nice thing is that it's relatively easy work and can be done at the end of each day, working its magic overnight.

My clients have all been thrilled. And the floor renovation will last for years 95-10 I reckon) depending on footfall.

if anyone out there has short cuts or better suggestions please share! Two words of warning - some of the proocesses can get funey - especially the colour enhancing, so plenty of ventilation. Not easy sometimes given that it's best done at night - unless you can absolutely guarantee no-one walking on the floor for 4-6 hours.

Second, some of the aquamix products (not all) are more corrosive than others, so read the label. If it says not to kneel on the product, they mean it.

Kevin

 

[frankenfurter]

I normally reckon on 2 hours per square metre in time

Surely your not taking 2 hours to do a square metre? Of that two hours, how long are the tiles left with water on them?

 

[TilingLogistics]

Hi,

I've started doing this work commercially having set out a year ago to just focus o geometric victorian halls and paths. What I find works best is to use the Aqua-mix range of problem solvers. See www.aqua-mix.co.uk

Strip any remaining seal away, then use nanoscrub, applied with a white nylon pad. You'll find that using a slow speed drill with a circular attachment works well. If the tile sare really filthy, put a paste of heavyduty cleaner fluid, poultice powder and nanoscrub down with a paint brush, work it in with a scrubbling brush (lightly), then put sheets and sheets of wet newspaper down on top. (Just put down some newspaper and sprinkle liberal amounts of water on top.

Then leave it for 24-48 hours. The longer the better. If you need to walk on the floor, put down some bin liners or heavy duty rubble sacks.

Come back to it, remove the paste, scrub it, wipe it, then repeat with the nanoscrub.

Viola. You are ready to colour enhance (I use a Fila product), one-three coats. This is a nightime job, letting it dry whilst folk sleep. Then back to the Aquamix product after you're happy with the colours with a sealer and then day after with floor shine and hardener.

I normally reckon on 2 hours per square metre in time, spread over the week (for a client). Nice thing is that it's relatively easy work and can be done at the end of each day, working its magic overnight.

My clients have all been thrilled. And the floor renovation will last for years 95-10 I reckon) depending on footfall.

if anyone out there has short cuts or better suggestions please share! Two words of warning - some of the proocesses can get funey - especially the colour enhancing, so plenty of ventilation. Not easy sometimes given that it's best done at night - unless you can absolutely guarantee no-one walking on the floor for 4-6 hours.

Second, some of the aquamix products (not all) are more corrosive than others, so read the label. If it says not to kneel on the product, they mean it.

Kevin

Hello Cedere! A few weeks ago you were asking advice on sealing grout now you are restoring Victorian and Edwardian flloors? If you are Au Fait with Aquamix products why are you mixing them? I personally would not put any of my customers through that nightly process. I work small areas at a time.



Kev

 

[Branty]

I was thinking about these floors the other day.
Some of these floors would have been old enough to go onto lime mortar. If that is the case, could there be an issue of leaving liquids to dwell on the surface? We all know that when lime gets wet, it goes soft.
Just a thought.

 

[The D]

Hello Cedere! A few weeks ago you were asking advice on sealing grout now you are restoring Victorian and Edwardian flloors? If you are Au Fait with Aquamix products why are you mixing them? I personally would not put any of my customers through that nightly process. I work small areas at a time.



Kev

People in glass houses really should not throw stones.

 

[TilingLogistics]

People in glass houses really should not throw stones.[/quote

]

Dean,

I am an Aqua Mix Trained Operator and considering that I use most of their products and use them in large quantities on an almost daily basis I am happy to offer anyone advice on their products. Furthermore, I have no financial links to them. The facts are I have tried all the popular branded products and I prefer Aqua Mix nearly everytime with two exceptions. A lot of people knock Aqua Mix having never even tried the range.

I would be very surprised if anyone could get Aqua Mix floor shine and hardner to adhere to a floor after it has been treated with an intensifying penetrative sealer.

Aqua Mix products tend not to mix well with other products which is down to the different carriers they use for example Aqua Mix Enrich & Seal has no carrier it is a unique product and therefore will not mix with another product.

Kevin

 

[Branty]

What about lime mortar, any opinions?

 

[frankenfurter]

I was thinking about these floors the other day.
Some of these floors would have been old enough to go onto lime mortar. If that is the case, could there be an issue of leaving liquids to dwell on the surface? We all know that when lime gets wet, it goes soft.
Just a thought.

Hi Branty,

You raise a very valid point with regard to dwelling liquids on these tiles, and to be honest this point really gets on my ***. A large majority of our work is rectifying problems caused by both DIY mishaps and lack of technical knowledge of the 'professional' in either the mortar material or the tile composition. In short you should never ever dwell a product on a historical floor, especially ones of lime or compressed sand base. To the professional restorer this is as important as tanking is to professional tilers.

Too much liquid or even reapplication of smaller amounts of liquid over time to achieve a dwell time can have disastrous effects, efflorescence being just one of them - if the cleaning product is good enough you don't need a dwell or huge amounts of water.

Much of the problem comes from using products which are designed more for natural stone, right from the start these are not suitable for restoration purposes as they do not react quickly enough; hence the required dwell time. Other than that the major ingredients in these products are nothing better than the DIY products freely available, they're are just dressed a little better.

This week alone I've quoted on 3 floors and will be repairing another 2 next week, all of which have been screwed up by poor technique and knowledge. At least in the past home owners would carpet over the tiled floors if they couldn't sort it out, now they are more than prepared to pay big money for someone to screw it up royally.

 

[Branty]

Im not going mad then!

 

[TilingLogistics]

Im not going mad then!

Don't kinow about that:lol:

Of course your not! Thats why you only treat small areas at a time! This applies to modern installations of natural stone as well. Even on large installations I only treat 1- 2M2 at a time.

Kev

 

[Novicenick]

I've read about the miracles of Aqua Mix and I'm pretty impressed.

I've got a Victorian Mosaic black / white floor in my hall (7m x 2.5), that I would love for someone to restore. It's got a few loose and damages tiles, but in general, it's in reasonal condition. Since I've had the house, I've been looking for someone to restore it in South Wales. A guy came round the other day and said he would use acid to clean it then, three days later, polish it up by hand.

As I have not found anyone else, I'm tempted to get him in, but the thought of acid on the tiles is a concern for me.

I would be very interested in the comment of the experts, or a name of a person in South Wales who comes recommended.

 

[TilingLogistics]

I've read about the miracles of Aqua Mix and I'm pretty impressed.

I've got a Victorian Mosaic black / white floor in my hall (7m x 2.5), that I would love for someone to restore. It's got a few loose and damages tiles, but in general, it's in reasonal condition. Since I've had the house, I've been looking for someone to restore it in South Wales. A guy came round the other day and said he would use acid to clean it then, three days later, polish it up by hand.

As I have not found anyone else, I'm tempted to get him in, but the thought of acid on the tiles is a concern for me.

I would be very interested in the comment of the experts, or a name of a person in South Wales who comes recommended.

Hi

Welcome to the forums! Acid is a broad spectrum product. I would advise you get a method statement from anyone doing restoration work. Think about it! Its easy anyone can walk into a property and say I can do that! This is where half the problems arise with cowboys because hardly anyone checks. I certainly wouldn't let anyone loose on my Victorian/Edwardian floor without at least seeing a test area and some similar work they had done. Remember you can't pop down to Topps or B & Q and relace these.

Having said all that I will be happy to come and do a test area for you and give you a quote we work Nationwide! Please PM, e mail or telephone me with some more details.

Regards

Kev