Talk to me about Victorian / Encaustic Hallway Tiles

[fabtigger]

We are doing up our house at the moment and wanted to add encaustic tiles to our hallway (its currently carpeted). We'd probably get a modern reproduction rather than reclaimed... my partner is an interior designer so she will pick a design that suits the house.

I wanted to know if anyone here had hallway tiles? Do you have any advice or warnings?

Do the patterns hide dirt, and are they easy to clean?

Do the tiles crack, or does this only happen when they are not fitted properly?

The original ones are still in place in my house.

The patterns don't hide dirt, so, regular clean/polish maintenance is best.

We have cracks in a few of them - down to clumsy clots more than anything!

We have original ones, which don't need much more maintenance than a wipe over every now and then. They don't show the dirt (possibly I have different colours to Wandering - ours are black, white, dark red and several shades of brown), but they do show the labrador hair. But then, everything does.

We're just about to put some in our new shower room. Our tiler advises sealing them, but using a matt sealant as otherwise the wear caused by people walking over them shows really quickly, and you need to get them resealed more often. The tiles are also being installed on a special mat.

Thanks for the replies so far. My partner also wanted to know whether they stain or mark?