We’ve recently started work on a lovely geometric floor laid approximately 1904. What was immediately apparent was the tiles had raised into a hump in the centre of the floor. This is always a cause for concern as it’s far more than a simple case of tile de-bonding, here we have an adhesive bed that has separated from the original concrete base.

Obvious causes for this shift would the lack of movement joints between different substrates and year of moisture absorption and resultant expansion / contraction over time.

It is hard to see on the photo below but when the tiles and adhesive bed was removed there was almost 60mm to make up before the tiles could be re-laid.

Ironically this floor had been restored in the past; not by the current owners might I add. But it was completely bodged with bathroom wall tile adhesive, plumbers mait and old silicone; what fun we had removing that from tiles over a 100 years old.


Once removed all the tiles needed to be graded and as much grout and mortar removed to allow the tiles to be refitted. This is one of the most time consuming tasks as it requires a huge amount of dedication, labour and time to remove the mortar without damaging the ageing tiles; but worth it.