Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Flip

Original poster

Victorian tiled floor???

12 replies

Flowertop · 21/11/2009 11:08

Hi, our house is victorian, lived in 3years. We have a tiled floor in hallway which we don't like but have done nothing with it as thought it was the original victorian floor - it does look like it. Had a man around this week who specialises in cleaning floor tiles and he seems to think the floor is not the original and that a lot of these house had replicas put down in the 60/70's. He also said that if the flooring was original then the building would be listed. Music to our ears if not original as would love to get rid and put in some lovely new tiles but don't want to do this if they are original. How can I find out for sure? He said one way of telling is that our floor is completely flat and if original there would be uneven places. Can anyone help please?xx

OP posts:

mejon · 21/11/2009 12:05

Difficult to say - I'm a bit that he thinks a house with an original Victorian floor would be listed - surely that would mean there was thousands of them? As for many people putting down replicas in the 60s and 70s - weren't most people ripping out things like Victorian fireplaces etc. and replacing them with 'modern' versions rather than replicas?

Have a look here. I think I found this website or a similar one quite helpful when we had an Edwardian house with an encaustic tiled floor and needed some information.

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 21/11/2009 12:07

How odd. wouldn't they have covered them with something else in the 60s / 70s.

What do your neighbours have?

You'd have been told when you bought te place if it was listed.

Sounds wrong to me.

bigstripeytiger · 21/11/2009 12:10

It seems odd to me. Victorian tiling isnt enough to make a house listed.

SolosScrapingUpForXmas · 21/11/2009 12:12

Agree with mejon. Highly unlikely to be listed! Maybe that fellow will take it all out and take it away for you...and sell it.

Could you not cover it over rather than rip it out? put hard board over the tiles, then tileover? such a sad shame to rip out original 100 year+ fittings...

Lauriefairyonthetreeeatscake · 21/11/2009 12:12

Yes, check with neighbours. I don't agree with the 'flatness' or otherwise though as I once had a beautiful victorian tiled floor and it was beautifully flat and well laid.

I doubt very much it would be listed though.

You could tile over it but on top of a think slice of mdf (sort of like a floating rug of tiles) to preserve what's below.

Lauriefairyonthetreeeatscake · 21/11/2009 12:13

x-posted with solo

bigstripeytiger · 21/11/2009 12:14

He said that the original floor would be uneven but that a 60's/70's floor would be flat? .

More likely to be the other way round IMO. I have a victorian tiled floor, and the quality of the tiling is amazing.

nightshade · 21/11/2009 12:22

just to warn you that if you do pull it and it is original, you may be in for a shock.

damp proofing and concrete weren't available then!

might cost you more than you bargained for to have to dig down, damp proof and concrete before retiling.

notcitrus · 21/11/2009 12:40

Keep the floor! I have a Victorian tiled floor that's not been looked after but it's perfectly flat. I live in an area of streets of Victorian terraces and semis and none are listed although a couple streets of posh ones are now in a 'conservation area' which only means they can't convert into flats.

I would strongly suspect the chap would like to rip up your tiles and sell them - replacement tiles cost a fortune because that's the only way to get them!

SolosScrapingUpForXmas · 22/11/2009 14:04

I think that craftsmen in the Victorian era would've been very good at their work, thus making the tiled floors very flat.
The more I think about it, the more I think that fellow was after your tiles for free ...definitely jog him on Flowertop.

SparkyToo · 22/11/2009 21:10

If you don't like it I'd get rid of it. I know so many people that have held onto their Victorian fireplaces (that look really drab and dreary) when their only replicas anyway!

ICantFindAFreeNickName · 24/11/2009 23:02

It would depend how long I planned to live in the house.
If you are only going to be there a couple of years, then I would keep it as it could be a good selling point. Maybe cover with a long runner, if you really dislike the tiles.
If you are intending to be in the house for a long time, then take them up or cover them if you really do not like them. However if you do take them up be prepared for a lot of preparation work & expense before you are ready to lay anything else. Phone around reclaim yards etc, to see what price you will get for the old tiles. We tried to replace a few of our that were cracked & ended up paying a fortune for them.

Flip