Using Gel Cleaners to Restore a Minton Tiled Hallway Floor in Wigan Greater Manchester

Earlier this year I was contacted by a homeowner from Wigan who could not believe it when they took up the old hallway carpet to reveal a lovely, but neglected, Victorian Minton tiled floor. Although the carpet had offered some protection It was covered with paint splashes and marks and there were some loose, cracked, and missing tiles.

Whilst the clients had removed as much paint of as possible, lots of splashes remained. They wanted it cleaned, made sound, and missing tiles replaced before sealing also, if possible, have the cemented door threshold replaced with matching tiles. Basically, they wanted to retain the character of the floor and only replace where necessary.

Deep Cleaning Old Victorian Floor Tiles

To begin, I took moisture readings over all areas due to be worked on; an old floor like this will have been laid before Damp Proof Membranes (DPM) were made standard so its useful to get a baseline moisture reading. Next the floor was cleaned using Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel which was scrubbed into the tiles using 50 and 100-grit pads fitted to a rotary floor buffer running at slow speed. Gel cleaners are ideal for use on floors without a DPM as they use less water which keeps the moisture levels lower. The resultant soiling was then extracted using a wet vacuum and the floor inspected. Stubborn marks and inaccessible areas were spot treated by hand with more Oxy-Gel and Tile Doctor Nanotech HBU Remover.

The next step was to give the tiles an acid wash using another gel product by Tile Doctor called Acid Gel. A 200-grit pad was used to work this into the floor and then it was removed using the wet vacuum as before. This product serves two purposes, first it will counter any efflorescent salts in the tile and second it neutralises the pH level of the floor following the use of the alkaline cleaning products used earlier.

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Floor

The floor was Left to dry overnight, and I returned the next day to make the tile repairs discussed earlier. Victorian floors are still popular to this day so finding replacement tiles that match the originals isn’t a problem although they do need to be cut to fit the original size and pattern.

Using the replacements and unbroken original tiles I was able to re-sit the loose tiles and replace the missing and damaged tiles whilst maintaining the character of the original floor.

Sealing Old Victorian Hallway Tiles

The floor needed to be dry before applying the sealer and so before getting to work I checked the floor with the damp meter and compared it with my previous readings. The use of gel cleaners had worked a treat, and the readings were all within range.

The sealer applied was Tile Doctor X-Tra Seal which is an impregnating oil-based sealer designed to occupy the pores in the tile so dirt can’t become ingrained there. This keeps the dirt on the surface where it can be easily removed. X-Tra seal is fully breathable and rated for indoor and outdoor used so will cope easily with any dampness rising through the floor.

The job took three days in total and on returning home on the last day and seeing the results the customer immediately commented “I love it, great job thank-you”. They also left the following review the Tile Doctor feedback system.“Kevin was very responsive and talked us through exactly what the job entailed. We’re extremely pleased with the end result, just how I wanted my 130 year old minton tiles to look.”

For aftercare cleaning of sealed Victorian tiles, I recommended using Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner which is a mild but effective tile cleaner that’s safe to use on sealed tiles. Its important to use a cleaning product like this as stronger product can erode the sealer.

Source: Minton Tile Cleaning and Restoration Products and Services in Wigan Greater Manchester