How to clean Victorian Minton Floor tiles
It is a fact that you will not achieve professional results by using shop bought cleaning products, 'professional tile cleaning products' and the advice of DIY programs, DIY websites, forums and heaven-forbid your neighbour. Cleaning Victorian tiles is a serious undertaking that can go wrong very easily.
In just a few minutes on Google, I have found some ridiculous advice on websites, obviously from people know nothing about the tiles at all. One even stated the difficulty level as easy; absolute nonsense.
We can say this based on the amount of floors we are called in to save when the above methods have been used. We care about period floors; so should you.
Here are some of the dumbest suggestions we have found so far online
- Wire wool - scratches the surface of tile very easily, dirt then clings to the scratches
- Sandpaper - basically abrades the clay tile away, tile is now more fragile
- Brick acid - just think about it, Sulphamic acid poured on to your floor?
- Caustic soda - May cause bleaching and discolouration
- High alkaline cleaner dwelled for 10 - 15 minutes - Bleaches tiles permanently
- Paint stripper - Application movements will be etched into the tiles permanently
- Boiled linseed oil - Oil dies, stains and then discolours your floor, very hard to remove
The internet is a great source of information. But if that information comes from muppets that have absolutely no idea of what they are advising then you should really think twice about following it. Restoring a Victorian floor really doesn't cost the earth; less per hour than paying an apprentice at the local garage to tinker with your car.