Quarry Tiles

[Gordon’s Place]

Hello all!

I have a late Victorian mid-terrace - 1890s. When I bought the property there was carpet over the living room tiles and Lino across the kitchen tiles. There was evidence of damp on the carpet when lifted. The living room floor has been exposed for a number of years so should have ‘dried’ post carpet. The floor now looks a little shabby. There are marks that look like a spill (but it’s dry to touch so I assume it’s ’in the tile now’) and these hard off white areas and texture. There is evidence that Lino has been glued to the floor at some point. Part of the floor has also been damaged and cemented over.

I have cleaned it once with a Tile Doctor product I forget which and used a floor scrubber but I didn’t have a wet dry vac and my mop got wrecked pretty quickly. I’ve used Tile Doctor Remove and go and NanoTech on part of it which didn’t remove the white textured stuff on the tile. I’ve buffed with diamond pads. Does anyone have any helpful suggestions? It’s definitely not efflorescence FYI.

 

[Cubist]

A stiff bladed paint scraper may be worth a try on the adhesive residues and to loosen any salt crusts on the surface - just be careful not scratch the tiles face. Sadly you may need several attempts to clean them as the salts will have permeated the full depth of the tile and as the room warms more will be pulled to the surface. A wet vac is vital with the cleaning agents used to ensure thorough removal of the acids from the cleaning solution with the water - a mop will be neither use nor ornament.

I'm intrigued by why some of the red tiles have large very bright areas and patches of white mottled stains. Are the white mottled areas rougher or smoother to the touch?

 

[Gordon’s Place]

A stiff bladed paint scraper may be worth a try on the adhesive residues and to loosen any salt crusts on the surface - just be careful not scratch the tiles face. Sadly you may need several attempts to clean them as the salts will have permeated the full depth of the tile and as the room warms more will be pulled to the surface. A wet vac is vital with the cleaning agents used to ensure thorough removal of the acids from the cleaning solution with the water - a mop will be neither use nor ornament.

I'm intrigued by why some of the red tiles have large very bright areas and patches of white mottled stains. Are the white mottled areas rougher or smoother to the touch?

Thanks for taking the time to reply. My first attempt at a clean had a major amateur mistake - no wet dry vac. I do have one now and I did use it when cleaning my kitchen floor but this is not in as bad of a condition fortunately.

I have no idea why some tiles have white on them. It’s hard and textured to touch. I’ve tried giving it a scrape. No good. Tried a heat gun. Did nothing. As you can see in the bottom picture, some tiles are deep red whilst some are not and this was post another clean and it had dried out a little. I can only think the white patches are some sort of old adhesive from when a Lino was glued down. ChatGPT suggests it’s old bitumen that has oxidised