Restoring a Faded Victorian Tiled Porch in Scotland

Edinburgh became an increasingly important city in the UK during the Victorian period. Although overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland’s largest city in the early 19th century, Edinburgh experienced expansion and industrialisation, and many areas which had been populated by Georgian architecture were rebuilt with Victorian buildings. Of course, this included many Victorian residential properties, many of which are still inhabited, and still have original Victorian tiled flooring. A lot of property owners choose to keep the original tiles rather than strip them out, and we specialise in restoring and maintaining them. I recently visited a property in Edinburgh to provide a deep clean and fresh seal for some Victorian porch tiles that were looking a bit worse for wear. The job was carried out over the space of two days.

Cleaning Original Victorian Tiles

On the first day of work, I arrived at the property and immediately began by stripping the floor of any old sealant. Sealers don’t last forever and are worn away over time requiring them to be routinely topped up with a fresh application, however in this case the sealer had worn off completely in most places allowing dirt to become ingrained in the pores of the tile, so the only course of action would be to strip off what was left, clean the floor and reseal. The old sealant was removed using a strong solution of our natural stone cleaner and stripper, known as Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, and our heavy-duty sealer and coating remover, known as Tile Doctor Remove and Go. This combination of products was applied and scrubbed into the stone using a black buffing pad fitted to a rotary machine. The floor was then rinsed to remove any excess chemical residue and the moisture was soaked up. Next, the floor was then burnished using a coarse diamond-encrusted burnishing pad to grind off tough stains and rinsed again with fresh water. Tile Doctor Neutral Tile Cleaner, which is an excellent pH-neutral cleaner for routine maintenance, was then used to complete the cleaning process and the tiles were left to dry completely overnight.

Sealing Original Victorian Tiles

On the second day of work, the tiles had dried off nicely overnight and I was able to return to the property to seal the tiles using five coats of Tile Doctor Seal and Go. This is a topical sealer which provides a high-quality low-sheen finish and protection against ingrained dirt and stains. In this case, the customer had opted for a sheen finish as opposed to a natural-look, matte finish. Comparing the before and after photos, it’s clear how significant a difference routine maintenance can make to the appearance and condition of these original Victorian tiles. The customer was very pleased with the outcome and I recommended the use of our Neutral Tile Cleaner for frequent cleaning in the future. Being PH neutral it won’t prematurely erode the sealer like many acidic supermarket products.




Source: Victorian Tiled Floor Cleaning and Restoration Service in Edinburgh

Deep Cleaning Victorian Floor Tiles

We had a great result on this Victorian tiled floor at a house in Musselburgh which is five miles east of Edinburgh and apparently one of the oldest towns in Scotland. If you take a close look at the photograph below you can see how dirty the tiles were before we got started. Cleaning Victorian Read more...

Deep Cleaning Victorian Tiles

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Refreshing a Shower Cubicle in Edinburgh

Keeping the tile and grout in shower cubicles clean is often a headache for homeowners and this cubicle at a house in Edinburgh was certainly no different. You can see from the photograph below that although the glazed ceramic tiles were in good condition they were being made to look grubby by the stained condition of the adjacent grout and there were also signs of mould build-up. If you catch this early you can overcome the problem spraying on a product called Tile Doctor Mould-Away however Read more...

Quick and Effective Bath Tile Refresh in Edinburgh

Here's a quick example of an interesting tiled shower cubicle at a property in Edinburgh that was well overdue for a refresh, including deep cleaning and recolouring do the grout lines that had become stained and mouldy. This is a problem that the majority of property owners experience due to the simple fact that shower cubicles come into contact with damaging acid-based shampoos and soaps on a daily basis. The short-term solution for this is to wash the shower cubicle down with water after Read more...

Removing Old Paint From Victorian Hallway Tiles

This job was at house in Polwarth, a small parish through which flows the Union Canal, running from Falkirk to Edinburgh. The client had requested a clean for a Victorian tiled hallway set in the narrow reception area of the house. The tiled floor had been painted over by the previous owners of Read more...

Maintaining Victorian Hallway Tiles

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Removing ingrained dirt from Terracotta Tiles

This Terracotta Tiled Floor in the lounge of a house in Edinburgh was ingrained with dirt from what must have been years of use since it was last given a thorough deep clean and seal. Cleaning Terracotta Tile and Grout This floor was very dirty so to get them clean a strong dilution of Tile Read more...

Regular Maintenance of Slate Floors

Natural stone products such as Slate need to be sealed for it to look its best, the sealer brings out the best in the natural features and also protects the stone from dirt becoming ingrained in its pores and once that happens it becomes difficult to clean effectively and starts to lose its Read more...

Dull Marble Tiles Re-polished

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Limestone Table Restoration

Here is a Limestone table that we stripped, cleaned and sealed in Edinburgh city centre. As you can see from the photographs below the old sealer/wax coating had started to deteriorate and wear off in places leaving the table looking dirty and the client hated the waxy/yellow shine finish it Read more...

Polished Limestone Bathroom Tiles Transformed in Merchiston, Edinburgh

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Polishing Limestone Bathroom Floor Tiles

We often come across tiled floors that have simply never been maintained after their original installation. This inevitably leads to problems: over time, the sealer starts to wear away, particularly in high traffic areas, allowing dirt and staining to become easily ingrained in the stone and Read more...

Travertine Floor Maintenance in Scotland

When we arrived at this property in Ayrshire, Edinburgh, it appeared as though the owner's Travertine tiled floor was in relatively decent condition. On closer inspection, however, we could see that the grout lines were quite dirty and, while there was still a visible shine to the surface, it Read more...

Putting new life into an Edinburgh Kitchens Flagstones

Our tiled floor restoration services have attracted a number of high profile customers over the years. In fact, not too long ago I was contacted about restoring a Flagstone tiled floor at a property in Edinburgh belonging to a Scotland international footballer. The tiles and grout were in real need of professional cleaning and sealing because it clearly had not experience adequate maintenance in a while. Here's a quick overview of how I was able to get the floor back to looking its best. Read more...

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Flagstone Tiles Rejuvenated at Home of International Footballer in Edinburgh

Our tiled floor restoration services have attracted a number of high profile customers over the years. In fact, not too long ago I was contacted about restoring a Flagstone tiled floor at a property in Edinburgh belonging to a Scotland international footballer. The tiles and grout were in real need of professional cleaning and sealing because it clearly had not experience adequate maintenance in a while. Here's a quick overview of how I was able to get the floor back to looking its best. Read more...

Edwardian Marble Floor Restoration

Windlestraw is a picturesque Edwardian manor hotel overlooking the Tweed Valley, near Walkerburn in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. One of the bathrooms in the manor was in the process of being refurbished when two layers of floor tiles were removed, unveiling an original Marble tiled floor dating back to the 1920s. After the top layers of tile had been removed the Marble was still covered in old adhesive and cement and although Marble is known for its quality and durability the hotel owner didn't want the building contractor to proceed any further in case they damaged it. The owner was keen to restore the Marble floor as an original feature so we were called in to set the situation right. Refurbishing a Marble Tiled Bathroom Floor To restore the floor I used two processes known as milling and burnishing. Milling literally involves grinding down uneven or rough surfaces using very coarse, diamond encrusted pads. The pads are usually used to resolve lippage issues on natural stone but in this case we needed to use the very coarse abrasive pads to grind off the adhesive and cement. I used a set of three coarse milling pads rinsing with water between each pad and starting with a 50 grit pad, before moving on to 100 and 200 grit pads. This process was very effective and Read more...

Antique Marble Lamp Base Restored in Fife

At this property in Fife, I was asked to restore not a tiled floor, but in fact a solid black Marble lamp base. The lamp base was particularly by scratched and damaged as a result of a lack of care and consideration by a removal company. It's a shame to see such a high-quality item suffer this kind of damage; nonetheless, I was keen to help with restoring it back to looking its best. I arranged to collect the base the next time we were working in the area of Fife, a historic area of Scotland which houses St. Andrew's, one of the world's oldest universities. The customer and I agreed that I would drop it back a week later following the restoration. Restoring a Damaged Black Marble Lamp Base Restoring the appearance of the Marble (and other high-end stones such as Limestone) commonly requires a process known as burnishing. To begin, we applied to the base the first of a set of four six-inch burnishing pads. This pad, which had a Coarse grit, was fitted to a small handheld buffing machine and used to burnish the Marble with a little water for lubrication. I then worked my way through the pad system to apply Medium, Fine and Very Fine grit burnishing pads. The process gradually improved the appearance of the base, managing to remove some of the lighter scratches; however, it Read more...

Restoring an Old Quarry Tiled Porch Floor in Edinburgh West End

The restoration of this old Quarry tiled porch floor was carried out at a house in the west end of Edinburgh famous for its historic buildings and cobbled streets. The tiles were very old (possibly Victorian) and a number had patterns painted on with a stencil at some time in the past and these had now worn away leaving mainly white paint, I'm sure the patterns looked great initially but years of wear and tear had certainly taken their toll on them. Cleaning Quarry Tile and Grout First the Read more...

Quick and Effective Bath Tile Refresh in Edinburgh

Here's a quick example of an interesting tiled shower cubicle at a property in Edinburgh that was well overdue for a refresh, including deep cleaning and recolouring do the grout lines that had become stained and mouldy. This is a problem that the majority of property owners experience due to the simple fact that shower cubicles come into contact with damaging acid-based shampoos and soaps on a daily basis. The short-term solution for this is to wash the shower cubicle down with water after Read more...