victorian quarry tiles

hungrynurse_2

Im re laying quarry tiles which were removed when the floor was relayed and have since spent the past 10 years in a pile at the bottom of the garden. Im using a chilsel & wire brush to clean them up as best as Im able, but does anyone know of anyway to restore the colour? The red are faded, but the black ones are more like a grey

Any ideas?

thanks

Alan_M_2

Clean up as much as you can and then grade the tiles according to appearance.

Keep the best ones for the more prominent areas and the lesser ones for cuts and around the edges.

The dirt in these tiles in ingrained into the surface itself so it will need quite an agresive process to clean them, normally this would be undertaken in situ then a mechanical polishing machine used with a strong alkaline cleaner.

I'm not sure what to do with them loose, you may be able to soak them in a solution.

Have a chat with THESE GUYS they'll probbaly have some products specifically designed for the job.

sparky40

I was talking to my tiler about saving and restoring some quarry tiles in the porch. He advised that caustic soda brings them up clean and sparkling. Take the obvious precautions i.e. gloves etc but this is supposed to work well.

I havent tried it yet as he hasnt yet laid the tiles in the rest of the house!!

hungrynurse_2

thanks alan for your advice, emailed them asking for recomendations, and their recommended polish, on further reading, is not recommended for high traffic areas, such as our hallway! Might try the caustic soda option first as a cheap starting point. Does anyone sell polish attachments to go on a drill or angle grinder?