How To Clean Victorian Terracotta Floor Tiles

The ancient romans used a variety of terracotta tiles in their villas and palaces for many centuries.

How to clean victorian terracotta floor tiles.

For ground in dirt use warm water and scrub gently with a soft brush. Cleaning victorian tiles for deep cleaning and heavily soiled and neglected areas apply a solution of tile doctor pro clean diluted 1 5 with water to the tiles directly. We often find that the beauty of these tiles are hidden under years of grime and neglect however all is not lost they can be restored see below for details. Never use a wire brush or other abrasive scrubbing material that may scratch the finish.

Leave to soak for ten minutes then agitate with a scrubbing brush or black pad fitted to a buffer machine. Terracotta tiles have been around in certain parts of the world for over two millennia in fact the word terracotta means burned earth. If after 15 minutes the water has soaked into the floor the tiles will need to be impregnated with boiled linseed oil. The floor stripper was allowed to dwell for 45 minutes before using the machine.

Tiles should then be mopped with a weak solution of washing up liquid in hot water. Doing this on a regular basis may help keep the tiles clean on the surface and mopping to a minimum. Encaustic tiles with their bright patterns have their own specific needs due to their increased porosity as they are not a single colour throughout like other floor tiles. You can apply a glaze to your terracotta tiles but this will alter the finish and feel of the tile.

Rinsing the terracotta floor with water. It s important to remove anything that is laying around on the surface of the terracotta floor such as pet hair baby toys food and dust. Victorian tiles are easily cleaned by firstly sweeping then vacuuming up any surface debris. Once this is done re seal them so that they won t absorb any further spills or dirt.

Victorian tiles cleaning and sealing. The best way to maintain these tiles is to clean them with an alkaline cleaner. Use a broom with soft bristles and sweep the tiles thoroughly. Test the porosity of your terracotta tiles.

Test your terracotta tiles for porosity by placing water in the middle of a tile. A hard wearing tile that gives a classic look to any space which is commonly found in the reception areas of older buildings especially in hallways. Only around 3 to 4 meteres of terracotta was cleaned at one time because the floor tiles dry very quickly when the seal is removed.