How to Rebuild and Restore a Victorian Tile Floor

The photos below are of a 1.7 metre by 3 metre Victorian tiled floor at the entrance to a property in Prizet, south of Kendal. As you can see the hallway and porch was in a poor state due to old age and neglect. Some tiles were cracked, missing and stained with cement, and what I suspect was carpet adhesive. One of the tiles had a four-inch hole down to the cellar where a soil pipe was installed previously when the room was used as a downstairs W.C. The client was doubtful that we would be able to restore the floor but thought it would be worth contacting us just in case.


I visited the property to take a proper look and found their description of the floor was accurate and clearly overdue some serious attention. I also noticed that some point in the past cracked tiles had been removed and replaced with cement. However, I was confident the floor could be restored and gave them a price for the restoration which they were happy to proceed with.

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

Work started by rebuilding the worst part of the floor which would require the services of my partner Russell. This involved removing the existing tiles, then preparing the concrete base which needed to be level and smooth before we started tiling.


We had previously managed to source very similar tiles which would be needed to replace those that were missing or damaged. Once the floor was prepped, the replacements were cut to fit taking care to ensure they matched the original pattern. Once cut they were fixed in place with flexible adhesive. We recommend the use of flexible floor adhesive on old floors due to the potential movement and the flexible floor adhesive doubles up as a grout as well. The floor was then left overnight to dry.

Deep Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

On day two the floor was deep cleaned using a 100-grit resurfacing pad followed by a 200-grit pad and then a 400-grit burnishing pad. The pads are attached to a rotary machine and the floor is rinsed with water and the soil extracted with a wet vacuum in-between.

We then finished the clean with an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Grout Clean Up. This is needed to remove the cement stains from the surface of the Victorian tiles and neutralise any potential efflorescent salt issues in the tiles. Another advantage is the acid slightly etches the tiles making a better bond with the sealer.

The floor was given another rinse with water and then the wet vacuum was pressed into surface again to extract the fluids and get the floor as dry as possible before leaving for the day.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Hallway Floor

We returned on the third day and first checked the floor was fully dry using a moisture meter. Four coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow were applied to achieve a strong enduring seal that will cope well with the traffic coming through the entrance.

Colour Grow is a colour intensifying sealer that provides durable surface protection to the tiles, but at the same time allows the surface to breath which is important in a floor such as this where no damp proof membrane is present. The results speak for themselves I was particularly happy with the area where we had repaired the hole, it was barely noticeable.


Many thanks to my customer for sending over the before photos and for leaving the following testimonial.

“Great restoration job done on our Victorian hall and porch tiles including replacing broken tiles and cleaning. Now looking better than ever. Russell was very professional and knowledgeable. Nicola F. Kendal”


Source: Victorian Tiled Floor Cleaning and Restoration Service in Cumbria