Amazing Restoration of a Victorian Path in South London

Here we have an old Victorian tiled path in front of a property in Battersea which was very much worse for wear. Tiled in a red and black diamond pattern it had seen a lot of use and weathering and the owner now wanted it renovating or improving at the very least.

 

I was asked to pop over to the property, survey the path and provide a quote for its restoration. Hopefully you can appreciate from the photographs the numerous cracks and missing tiles. It was certainly going to need a lot of work to improve its appearance, which I was happy to do but I had to lower the expectations of the owner as it would never be perfect. We agreed a price for the work and booked the job in.

 

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Pathway

Before starting work we tried to source salvaged tiles that would blend in with the originals, but unfortunately, we couldn't find any that were a close enough match, so had to make do with modern tiles. These are still suitable but the metric sizing makes it a little tricker.

Work started by digging out the broken and loose tiles and then cleaning what could be salvaged. Once removed the base was then cleared of debris and where required rebuilt with cement. There were numerous affected areas, so it took quite some time to complete. Finally with the preparation done the tiles were re-laid using a mixture of original and new. The new tiles being metric had to be cut to shape as needed. The repair work was extensive and took two days to complete.

 

Cleaning a Victorian Tiled Pathway

On day three the replaced tiles had set, and I was able to clean up the whole path by scrubbing in Tile Doctor Oxy-Gel which being a gel cleaner doesn't require a lot of water. This was then followed by giving the path an acid rinse using Tile Doctor Acid Gel which further cleans the tiles and again being in gel format doesn’t require a lot of water and is much easier to control. After each stage in the cleaning process the soils were extracted with a wet vacuum.

I recommend the use of gel cleaners on old tiles like this example as they were laid before the invention of the damp proof membrane and less water means it dries quicker. This was important as it was planning to apply a sealer the next day and the tiles must be dry to achieve the best result.

 

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Pathway

The weather held out and after leaving the path to dry overnight I confirmed they were dry the next morning with a damp meter. Two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow sealer were applied to the tiles which is a fully breathable sealer that works by soaking into the tile, occupying the pores and thereby preventing dirt from becoming ingrained there. With the dirt forced to remain on the surface they are much easier to clean. This product also contains a colour enhancing formula which helps improve the deep Red and Black colours in the tile.

 

The tiles responded very well to the treatment and transformed the appearance of the path. Expecting only a small improvement my client was over them moon with the difference.

 

Source: Victorian Path Restoration Services in South London

South East London Tiler Demonstrates how to Restore a Damaged Victorian Steps

This client in Chislehurst wanted to create a better first impression as their front Victorian tiled step looked tired and had been damaged by long term settlement in the sub floor. They ideally wanted to keep the original tiling but thought it would have to be replaced. The problem was that one section of the base had dropped and the tiling had cracked either side of this.

 

After visiting the property, I told the client that it could be repaired with matching reproduction tiles and fully restored. My client was happy with this suggestion, and they agreed to go ahead with my quote on that basis.

 

Repairing a Victorian Tiled Path and Step

Our workload has been busy this year so I returned as soon as I could and started by carefully lifting the tiles from the dropped section and all the cracked tiles that had been affected. Before retiling I had to underpin the original base and raise the level with new concrete. Once this was done, I left the property for a few days so the new concrete base could cure fully. When I returned to the job, I set about fixing the replacement reproduction tiles in place laying them down in the same pattern as before, again these needed time for the adhesive to set so I left the property once completed.

 

Restorative Cleaning of Victorian Tiles

I returned again a few days later to clean and seal the tiles. I first used Tile Doctor Remove and Go to remove any ground in dirt and old sealers that may be on the original tiles. As these tiles were outside and open to the elements, I needed to remove some blackening from the tiles and used Tile Doctor Patio and Brick Driveway Cleaner to get that off. I put this on the tiles and let it dwell for a while, adding water to it to keep the tiles wet. It was a small area so to help lift the dirt out of the tile I scrubbed the tiles by hand. Once done the whole area was rinsed with more water and the soil extracted with a wet vacuum. The next step was to bring up the appearance of the tiles and remove further dirt with the application of a 100 and then 200-grit milling pad. These pads are applied with water for lubrication and do a great job of deep cleaning the tiles and hone up the face of the tile to ease the sealing process. It was a small area, and the weather was good so it wasn't too long before I could move onto sealing.

Sealing a Victorian Tiled Path and Step

When the tiles were dry, I applied two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow and then once this had dried, I applied a coat of Tile Doctor Stone oil. Both these sealers are impregnators, which soak into the pores of the tile to enhance the appearance and natural colours of the tiles.

 

It took a half few days to fully restore the path, fortunately Chislehurst is very close to my base in Bromley and so I was able to do some other work in between. The step looked new afterwards and my client was very impressed with the completed job.

Source: Victorian Step Cleaning and Repair Service in Chislehurst