One of the best things about buying an older house (I'm talking <1940's) is that, more often than not if the previous owners have been kind, they will have at least one or two stunning original features, whether that's stained glass windows, Victorian cast iron fireplaces or stunning Parquet wood flooring.
And so, it was less than 2 hours after collecting the keys to my very own 1930's house, that I found myself kneeling on the hallway floor ripping up the carpets to see if I could find some original tiles underneath. The hope of finding them there was one of the reasons I'd bought the house!
To my delight, as I peeled back the carpet, there they were! However decades of being stuck under a carpet hadn't done them any favours! They were covered in years of grime, adhesive, nails, grip (and paint?!) which had lead to a fair bit of cracking along the edges as well as a couple of missing tiles in places.
Prior to buying my own place I was a complete DIY novice, so tidying these up without professional help (so pricey!!) seemed like a challenge.
Using a combination of internet advice and reading ingredients lists from available products in my local DIY shops, I managed to get a combination of products which made the job so much easier - I just wish I had taken more photos to illustrate just how bad they looked beforehand. The image above makes them look so much cleaner than they actually were!!!
So here's a step by step of how I cleaned them up...be prepared for hours of manual labour!!
Step 1 - Initial Clean
First just wash away all the light dirt with soapy water and a sponge scourer - don't use anything rougher than a sponge scourer though as you might scratch or chip the tiles!!
Step 2 - Heavy Duty Clean
Next you want to use a slightly more aggressive cleaner for the more stubborn dirt. I tried HG Power Cleaner (in the yellow bottle) but this was no where near as effective as a product called Vitrex Heavy Duty Tile Cleaner which has a red lid. This does a fairly decent job of getting rid of some of the harder dirt. It says on the bottle it is supposed to also remove adhesive but it struggled with the thick adhesive used for the carpet grips. That's where the next two products come in...
Step 3 - Removing adhesive and paint
The next job was removing the thick layers of adhesive (from the carpet grips) and splodges of paint that went across the entire floor. Again after trying several different products on offer from my local DIY shop, the best two products that worked well together were the Nitromors All Purpose Paint and Varnish Remover (the green bottle which has ethyl acetate and methanol in it - not as bad as the old dichloromethane version) and the Evo-stik Adhesive Cleaner. Both of these smell rather strongly of solvents so try to keep doors open to aerate where possible.
So first off you want to apply the nitromors to small localised sections - don't do the whole floor at once! I did about a square foot at any one time. And a little goes a long way. I only used two little pots (350ml each) of the Nitromors for my hallway.
After leaving it for 10 minutes of so to get to work, you can start scraping it (and the adhesive/paint along with it) off gently using either a sponge scourer again or I also bought a scrubbing brush for this as it still requires some effort. You might find that because the Nitromors is so thick and gloopy it dries up fairly quickly when you start scrubbing it off. When this happens I found the adhesive then started sticking to other bits of the floor and the brush as I was scrubbing.
This is where the second product comes in - Evo-stik adhesive cleaner. Splashing a little of this onto the floor before the Nitromors has chance to fully dry up made sure the adhesive stayed dissolved. It also helped with cleaning the brush regularly between scrubbing each section since it stays dissolved. You need to make sure whilst you're using these two that you have a little bucket of the Heavy Duty Tile Cleaner solution to regularly clean your brush with and stop it just spreading the adhesive everywhere.
I'm not going to lie, it took quite a while for me to get the tiles looking how I wanted them (~2 full days hard graft). I'm sure a professional might have got it done a little sooner, but they would also have charged alot more. I only spent ~£40 on cleaning products!
Step 4 - Fill in the gaps
Hurray!! Now the hard part is done!! Once you've successfully got rid of all the adhesive and paint your tiles should be looking spotless - although probably a little dull since they won't yet have any sealer on. Before applying any sealer just check whether there are any gaps where tiles or missing or chips etc. I used a fab little product called Milliput Epoxy resin (bought it in black and white) as I had a large, awkward shaped gap near the foot on the stairs (see the image below). If I could have got a spare tile to put it in I would have but unfortunately this wasn't an option but the Milliput worked rather well. It also worked on the chips and cracks caused by the nails in the carpet grips. Simply put on a pair of latex gloves and mould it into whatever shape you need to fill gaps/cracks etc.
Step 5 - Sealing
Now for the fun part...sealing the tiles. There are plenty of options for tile sealers but I found that HG were the most well rated amongst professionals in the business. You can also choose whether you want a matt, satin or gloss appearance. I preferred the satin sheen so opted for that. The product is called HG Protective Coating Satin Finish (comes in a white bottle with a browny/terracotta coloured label). Its super easy to apply and you only need ~2/3 coats depending on the level of protection you need and it takes a couple of hours for each coat to dry.
Step 6 - ...Aaaand relax!
6) Time to celebrate and pour yourself a (big) glass of wine...you've successfully managed to restore your own little piece of history! Feel free to mop it whenever it gets dirty, the sealant does a good job of staying put, but I normally give it a top up (1 coat) every 6-12 months or so.
So there you have it!! Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about the process or the products I used. I'm happy to help if I can. And please subscribe if you're wanting to hear about more DIY projects! :)
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