restoring tile floor - best procedure

[Simon]

All,

My 1920's hallway floor is covered with coloured tiles - these are porous and the colour of each tile is all the way through the tile, not just on the surface.

I have hired an industrial scrubber and plan to try and clean 80 odd years of grime, and several layers of polish off them!

I just wanted to check, what's the best procedure to follow and the best / most efficient way you seal, then polish the floor?

I was thinking:

1. Scrub floor until clean - mop up excess water. Clean floor again with clear water?
2. Wait 2 days to dry out floor trying to keep floor clean as possible.
3. Using a brush, apply floor tile sealant to the whole area.
4. Wait a day - apply another coast of sealant.
5. Wait a day - apply polish to floor.

Any reccomendations on the sealer / polish or any other gems of information? Thanks!

[Andrew Gabriel]

My parents have what I think are the same tiles in their last two houses, but not multi-coloured. How you treat them depends on how much on-going maintenance you are prepared to do. When you dress them, they initially look very good, but the dressing itself quickly deterorates making the tiles look bad and hence needs redoing quite frequently (my parents found annually, my neighbour does their every

6 months I think). In their current house which was bought whilst being built, they gave the builder strict instructions not to do anything with the tile surface, and neither have my parents in the subsequent nearly 50 years, and they've been completely maintenance free. They don't look as good as when newly cleaned and dressed, but nowhere near as bad as such tiles when the dressing needs redoing. So, you have to decide on looks verses maintenance effort. (In a kitchen with fat and grease around, you would probably have to dress them.)

[Mary Fisher]

I agree 100% There's far too much emphasis on making and keeping things looking as god as new. Including people.

We can't help leaving evidence of our life in a house, the footprint of history on tiles is not unpleasant.

Some people pay a lot for 'distressed' timber and antiques with a patina; conservation is now undertaken on historic properties rather than restoration. I believe that we should value such evidence of aging. A friend hated her a nasty flat in London which had such tiles, they were the only thing she liked about it. When she moved to Kent she took them with her.

This is often said but I can't understand it. How much fat gets on a floor? If it does it can easily be wiped up while it's fresh. It's not a problem.

Life's for living, not looking at our belongings.

Mary