Victorian Minton Tile Cleaning

Victorian Minton tiles are often neglected, hidden under years of dirt and grime, sometimes even completely covered underneath subsequent floor installations. If you have aged or worn Minton tiling in your home and would like help restoring it to its former glory, Tile & Stone Medic are here for you!

Professional cleaning

You may be surprised at how much of an improvement a professional clean and restoration can make to those faded Minton tiles. We have many years of experience working with Minton floors in all kinds of conditions and often they can be made to look as if they’ve been freshly installed. If you’re thinking of replacing your old Victorian tiles we’d suggest first considering a restoration. Minton tiles are wonderfully unique pieces and restoration offers a cheaper and, in some cases, more attractive finish than modern alternatives.

If you’ve recently uncovered some Minton tiles in your home, we’d generally advise getting a professional to take a look. In some cases we’ve seen carpets or tiling glued down to the surface of Victorian floors and attempts to remove it without the right tools and chemicals can damage their surface beyond repair. Since colours fade over time and Minton tiles are often very old, finding replacement tiles to drop in that properly match the existing Minton units can be a bit of a challenge.

Specialist restoration cleaning

Once Minton tiles have been uncovered, we have a variety of equipment and modern chemicals we use in order to cut through the years of dust and accumulated dirt on the surface of the tiles. By only using the most appropriate solutions, we’re able to do this without risking damage to the tiles themselves. Once all dust and debris has been removed we would advise applying a water resistant seal to the tile.

Minton tile sealing and protection

Again, we carefully choose the most appropriate sealant for your Minton tiles, bringing out the colour of the original tiling as much as possible whilst achieving long-lasting protection. A proper seal is a great value solution since it resists spillages and stains and can preserve its freshly cleaned look for months afterwards. Once restored, the only maintenance required will be occasional dusting and hoovering and a top up of sealer once a year or so, the rest of the time you can put your feet up and enjoy the beautiful patterns that were once hidden!

Get in touch today for a chat about our Victorian Minton tile restoration service and find out how we can help bring your victorian minton tiled flooring back to it’s former glory!

FAQs

The process we carry out will depend on your specific floor and the use that it gets. There will be variations for different materials and the finish that you wish to achieve. The process will also be impacted by the full scale of work that we carry out, for example which types of cleaning and restoration are being performed. It is not unusual to apply several layers of sealant if this is necessary and appropriate.

Firstly, a floor should always be sealed when it is first laid. Get in touch with us straight away if this hasn’t been carried out already. It will also need periodic sealing in order to protect the floor on an ongoing basis. How often sealing is required depends on a number of factors such as the specific material used for your flooring and the kind of use it has to survive. For example, a bathroom with natural tiles that is frequently exposed to water may require sealing more often than porcelain tiles in a kitchen. Frequent maintenance, such as sweeping and hoovering up the dust and grit that erodes floors when trodden on can help. Once the sealant is worn away, not only will scratches be more likely, the risk of staining or permanent damage from liquids is drastically increased as there is no protective layer to prevent absorption. If in doubt get in touch with our team of friendly technicians who can discuss your needs.

We have a range of high quality Faber products which will help protect your floors from damage. As every type of floor is different and has myriad uses, we will consult with you to work out the best way to protect your investment. We can apply topical sealants which form a protective layer on top of the floor, or if needed an impregnating sealant, which will be partially absorbed into the stone or tiles. There are many variations of these sealants and as each floor type has unique characteristics and vulnerabilities we can work with you to find and apply the the best kind of protection.

Absolutely. If this was not carried out by those who fitted the floor get in touch immediately to ensure that the appropriate protection can be applied as promptly as possible. We would recommend that this is carried out once the flooring is in place as this means the grout, which is generally more porous, will also be protected.

We apply a sealer to a floor in order to protect it. Different types of floor, both manmade and natural stone, are vulnerable to different sorts of damage. They can all be harmed by chemicals to a certain degree, even by the acid in food and drink spillages, as they will be very slightly porous. As well as this, they can be worn away by physical damage. Even foot traffic can have a big impact if dust or grit has built up on the floor, since it increases abrasions. A sealant will reduce the chance of a spill becoming a stain by reducing the floor’s ability to absorb liquids. It can also help protect the appearance of the floor by forming a protective barrier. A sealant won’t prevent all damage and it will still wear away over time, but it will help your floors last longer, helping protect your investment. Sealants will even help protect your floor from UV radiation which can lead to fading over the lifespan of a high value stone or tiled floor. We can consult with you to find the best sealant for your floor and the type of use it gets to make sure it receives the best form of protection.

The only way to know for sure is to take up a small part of the floor in an inconspicuous area. If you don’t feel confident in doing this we suggest you get help from an experienced pro.

We stock a range of advanced sealers that are designed to protect from everyday wear and tear such as spillages and allow for damp mopping of paw prints or claw marks. Eventually the sealer will break down and need to be reapplied, but it should provide a high level of protection for at least 12 months or so.

Yes we can, securing loose tiles is a simple job for a professional and we’d be happy to help

Whilst we can’t guarantee a 100% exact colour match, on many occasions we have successfully replaced Minton tiling and our customers have been extremely satisfied with the results.

We work with a network of suppliers who can help. Get in touch to discuss your needs.

Whilst we may use specialist chemicals in the course of our work, we can assure you that by the time we leave all residues will be gone and your tile or stone flooring will be perfectly safe for everyone to use. We work to extremely high standards of health and safety, conducting proper risk assessments where appropriate and never putting you or anyone else in danger.

We always work in the most considerate way possible. Work will be tailored to your needs and will fit around your schedule where possible. We avoid bringing loud or bulky machinery into your home and when a job is complete we thoroughly clean up after ourselves to leave your space looking as tidy as it did when we arrived.

Yes, ideally if you want the job done to the best of our ability, then all furniture, kick plates in kitchens etc should be removed. However, don’t worry we will help you manage this.
Absolutely! we are always happy to show you our insurance certificates or down load them to you if so required.
Once we have spoken to you in more detail we will be able to give you an idea of the time allocation required to restore your floors to a high level.