Reviving an old tiled floor that's been under carpet

[Cloo]

Well, gsv's torn up the hallway carpet, revealing the lovely patterned 1900s tiled floor still underneath. It's in pretty good nick - certainly you'd be nuts to cover it up again rather than clean it up. There's some thick deposits of carpet glue, but they seem to rub off quite easily. Has anyone here ever dealt with this sort of thing?

There's a few loose tiles I think we can fix, and some gaps at the edge we could fill in with plain black tiles, probably.

I'll try to post some pics of it later - it really is a beauty, even in slightly scuzzy state!

 

[spanglechick]

Well, gsv's torn up the hallway carpet, revealing the lovely patterned 1900s tiled floor still underneath. It's in pretty good nick - certainly you'd be nuts to cover it up again rather than clean it up. There's some thick deposits of carpet glue, but they seem to rub off quite easily. Has anyone here ever dealt with this sort of thing?

There's a few loose tiles I think we can fix, and some gaps at the edge we could fill in with plain black tiles, probably.

I'll try to post some pics of it later - it really is a beauty, even in slightly scuzzy state!

my instinct is to say olive oil - but maybe i'm thinking od post hibernation tortoises' shells...

congrats, though - did you know it was there?

 

[extra dry]

good old floor wax and elbow grease.

Just be careful these tiles crack easily when walked on in high heels so make sure everyone takes their shoes off before walking on them. Other than that they are good floors, easy to keep clean, mop once a week, and polish every other month, adds value to the house too.

 

[Cloo]

Yes, we knew it was there. We suspected it might be after seeing a place a few doors up which was still a complete house rather than flats, and had it running through most of downstairs, and when we extended the side bedroom recently it became apparent it was still down.

It'll definitely be a real value-adder - it makes a big impression as you walk in and people always like period features. Interesting about people walking on it in heels. Luckily I hardly ever wear them, but it's something to bear in mind for guests!

 

[spanglechick]

i'm so jealous of your home ownership hon. but i'm happy for you at the same time. what's lovely is that those are the tiles your babe is going to be crawling on... *melts*

how long now?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I'm sure there's been summat on how to do this in either the Observer or Saturday Guardian mag...you know, the little section with stuff like "how do I get paint off a marble fireplace?" type thang...it might be worth doing a search.

 

[moose]

If they're encaustic tiles, you need to treat them with care. There's some info here about restoring and conserving them. HG make the best products for floor tiles - somewhere like Topps Tiles (do you have them darn sarf?) will be able to advice as to which one is the best.

 

[Cloo]

I read about HG stuff online - didn't know Topps had them, which is useful, as there are a few near us.

 

[moose]

Well oddly, HG products aren't on their website, although I bought some instore last week, so phone before you go so you don't drag yourself and the bump there for nothing!

 

[Cloo]

how long now?

Just under 5 weeks to c-section! Think I may be phoning a chappie to just come and finish off some of the DIY soon... I'm just not much good.

Mum has offered to help out in any way she can... I may put her and a family friend on the 'sorting out the floor tiles' duty while we're in our NCT class next week!

 

[Cloo]

Just looked at the website for HG www.homecareessentials.co.uk and it has some really useful stuff generally. I notice they have a specific remover for floor glues etc, so that could be perfect.

 

[vipper]

Might be worth giving grout remover a go to get the residual dirt off. Try a small area first though.

 

[equationgirl]

I'm sure I've read something somewhere about linseed oil for tiles, so you can seal them and make them eeasier to keep clean day to day.

 

[chico enrico]

just pour methylated spirits on it and set it alight. once the tiling is black and carbonised it should be brittle anough to just scrape off with a chisel or something.

maybe.

 

[Cloo]

I think I'll give that one a miss.

 

[Cloo]

BTW, here, at least, a piccy of the floor (as yet uncleaned). Cool, huh?

I spoke to nice people at HG cleaning stuff and they recommended what to get, so should be receiving 'super cleaner' and carpet glue remover liquids this week in t'post Found out the tiles aren't porous (ie, poured a bit of water on them, still there a while later), so that should mean they can take a bit of hardcore cleaning.

 

[moomoo]

That's a beautiful floor Cloo! Well worth the effort to clean it.

 

[Cloo]

Apparently the floor glue stuff you leave to sink in for a bit, and then it should be possible to scrape the sticky bits off, so that should deal with the gunky covered parts, which is the most alarming looking part at the mo.

 

[Wookey]

Fucking stunning, well done for saving it...

 

[Jazzz]

hydrochloric acid

 

[madamv]

Dont breathe in nasty fumes Cloo.....

5 weeks! W00t!

 

[Cloo]

Yeah, I'll be checking the labels on the cleaning stuff. Have potentially roped in my mum and a family friend to tackle the job anyhow. Hallway's now been filled up with tiling/woodworking crap again, but should hopefully get that into the basement tonight (gsv, not me on those damn stairs!) given that we chucked a load of old paint and stuff out of there yesterday.

 

[Cloo]

Well had a crack at a small corner with the glue-removing stuff. It does work, but it's a serious elbow-grease job! I think we'll need to spilt it between several people over a period, as i don't think anyone's elbow would survive too long at a time at it.

 

[HackneyE9]

What kind of loony-tunes puts a carpet down over tiles like that?

I have a similar-ish dilemma. Our porch has some gruesome lino on the floor, but under that are some quite funky 1960s grey tiles. The lino gunk is pretty well stuck-on, though. Any suggestions?

 

[Cloo]

Just a bump to say we've had a crack at it again and with the right technique, it seems we can get the carpet glue off without it being too time consuming. Think we'll have it all off (oo-er) by New Year, and then the whole thing just needs a hardcore clean.

Anyone ever used/hired industrial stylee floor scrubbers to clean tiles? The cleaner instructions suggest using them rather than getting down on the floor and scrubbing it yourself, so I reckon it might be a bit of a back-saver to use a machine!