Tiling reclaimed Victorian hearth tiles - general advice needed

joe90mitch

Hi,

We've recently got our original Victorian floorboards restored upstairs - we would quite like to place decorative hearth tiles in the gaps where the hearths used to be. I'm wondering about the best way to go about this, it's our first house so I'm somewhat new to DIY but am thinking/hoping this should be a job I can manage myself? Tried googling it and there's so many articles online about laying floor tiles, but am wary there may be some specifics I should know about considering (a) it's a hearth rather than typical floor tiles (b) we're sourcing reclaimed Victorian tiles and am wary they may need specific grout etc? Could be completely wrong here.

We've sourced some reclaimed Victorian hearth tiles off ebay. They have a layer of grout/mortar (?) on the back - I assume I need to remove this before re-grouting. What's the best way to do this? Tried it with 2 different chisels and it took a little off, but am wary of cracking the tiles.

One of the hearth areas has the original tiles in, sadly cracked into hundreds of pieces. Beneath it is a layer of mortar (?), then beneath that an orangey sand. Do I remove all this and then work upwards from there, or do I leave the layer of orangey sand and work from there? Is there a specific grout/mortar/cement I should use for each step?

We're also wanting to replace the skirting boards in these rooms as they used to be carpeted and there's now a big gap. I assume it would make the most sense to remove these before doing this work?

Then... finally - my partner really wants a decorative iron fireplace adding to one of the bedrooms. I'm presuming this would be better to do before adding the decorative tiles in that room? Or does it not really matter?

Thanks in advance

stuart45

Using a hammer and chisel is always a bit risky with old tiles. Anything lime or cement based will break down with brick acid. Put some in a tray and allow the acid to come up to the base of the tile and leave them for a day or so and the mortar should go to sand. 
Have you got a photo of the area you want to tile? When you say sand, is it loose sand?

joe90mitch

Thanks @stuart45, will buy some brick acid and give that a shot. I'm presuming when you say allow to come up to the base of the tile you're meaning don't let the decorative front of it come into contact with the acid?

Below is a photo of the area and yes the sand is loose. I'm presuming (maybe incorrectly) that it's original?   The top left corner with the speckles of white paint is the cracked tile, then beneath it a layer of dark grey grout (?), Then beneath that seems to be the lighter gray mortar/concrete, then finally beneath that is the loose red sand materia with bits of broken mortar/concrete in.

stuart45

The fill probably is quite deep. Under the floor there is normally a fender wall which surrounds the fire place and holds the fill, which would be filled with rubble, some old sand to fill the voids and then lime/sand mortar to bed the tiles. You could take out the mortar, leave the sand and re-bed the tiles with lime mortar.

stuart45

joe90mitch said:

Then... finally - my partner really wants a decorative iron fireplace adding to one of the bedrooms. I'm presuming this would be better to do before adding the decorative tiles in that room? Or does it not really matter?

Thanks in advance

I normally do the back hearth and tiles first, then put the fireplace in as the front can sit on the tiles. Here's one I did in our house upstairs, only it's a piece of slate, not tiles.

joe90mitch

Brilliant, thanks so much for all the advice. 

joe90mitch

Follow up question, sorry I'm a complete novice at this. Sand and rubble makes sense. I then need to fill with lime mortar to the correct level - is there a specific type I need to use for this or any lime mortar will suffice?

And do I fill it to the correct level and then lay the tiles onto it, or is it a case that I leave I to set and then apply more to the back of the tiles and lay them at that point.

stuart45

It depends how thick the bed is going to be. If it's a couple of inches I would stick a level base down first. When deciding how thick your bed for tiles is going to be check the thickness of the tiles if they are different thicknesses. You want around 10mm for the thickest if using a sand/lime mortar, but the thinner ones will be more. If using tile adhesive the bed is a lot thinner, but you need a level base and the tiles need to be the same thickness.

stuart45

joe90mitch said:

 I then need to fill with lime mortar to the correct level - is there a specific type I need to use for this or any lime mortar will suffice?

Sorry, missed that question. I would use an NHL lime, as an air lime takes so long to harden up.