I bought a old victorian house last year. I have taken up the old victorian tiled pathway as it was dangerous to walk on, in a dire state, tiles missing, it had heaved and the concrete had deteriated/blown. I broke out the old concrete and put a new slab in (approx 100mm depth) and it will be cured for a good 10 weeks at least. My question if anyone can help is the old tiles which I salvaged (approx 60%) are a bit of a mess and I need to clean then. What is the best way to go about this and products to use. Some are just dirty, some have old bits of concrete/grout over them when the tiles were laid over previoulsy, some have concrete underneath from where they salvaged by myself. I am not a proffesional tiler and my knowledge of products available is not broad. I am going to use Mapei Keraquick as an adhesive (can I use Keraflex? would it give me more working time?).
I am going to seal the slab with Primer G or can i do it with PVA or SBR.
What grout would you recommend as the tiles are the small black and white squares (53x53)/triangles/rectangles. (Probally use 1mm spacers..see below)
Also I have managed to keep approx 15% of the path and will be tying into this. The tiles look as though there is little or no gap between them. I will need to keep this layout and so am thinking of using 1mm spacers, though I know this is not good for expansion/contraction but it will be better than butting them together as I think that is how they were laid originally.
Any help on any of the above would be very gratefull as the Mrs is nagging me to get it done.

An interesting project and I wish you well!
Have you any pictures of the tiles.
At 53 mm square they will be the same size as Original Style tiles.
I'am sure there will be a debate as to saving 'original' materials and if you have only 60% are you intending making the rest up with new products.
Restoration/salvage can be an emotive issue but IMHO I would only save the original materials to use as a smaller unit somewhere and redo the main pathway in a 'modern' equivalent.
As for cleaning the concrete off the tiles - an angle grinder should do the backs and a cement cleaner the fronts.
A waterproof grey cement based adhesive will be suitable, grey grout (mapei) and a 1mm joint should be fine.
My main concern would be the 100mm depth of the concrete slab. Was it reinforced as I would have gone 200mm minimum.
Was there a reason for leaving some of the original path - tying in can cause an expansion crack so you may need to look at a decoupling membrane.
Have fun and don't forget the pictures.

P.S. - could be that this is a slightly bigger job than you imagined!

Thanks for response. Your right they are the same as the Original Style tiles and I have bought hopefully enough new ones to complete the job. ( I have scrubbed one or two up and they are to me a very similar almost exact shade). The slab is not reinforced but has some well compacted Type1 under so hopefully will not go anywhere!!!.

The main reason, was that the tiles were in a good condtion and the slab was fine, and the Mrs wanted to keep as many original ones as it would be "nice". I found myself loosing more tiles as the slab was getting better almost to 100% Loss so I thought to stop as would loose them all, so I decided to tie in. I will be grinding a few mm off the top of the old slab so the levels tie in. At present I cant get a photo as I am the other side of the country to my home.
The tiles are the 53x53 square in bulk/middle of path then have the tiangle ones around to create a straight line, then a few layers of black/white triangle and black rectangular tiles to close the path off and then i have edgings

I agree with you with the restoration point, not to offend anyone but I know I have made the job harder by tying in. The job is a difficult one, I know and I will be doing about 50 dry runs to make sure I get it right and i'll learn as I go..hopefully. Any tips to make my life easier would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sorry to be jumping on this one too late probably, but Craven Dunnill Jackfield in Ironbridge still MAKE these tiles- take a look at their web-site. Hope this helps rather than confuses........

I agree with TJ on this one -
When restoring Victorian floors and pathways we use a large diamond wet saw to skim the mortar off the backs as we are set up for it and have made a holding jig. You could use an angle grinder - watch the dust and sharp bits flying off - PPE required!
Recovery on sound / loose floors normally runs at 60% average.
Do not use PVA to prime under any circumnstances - No No No - use either a proper Acyrlic Primer or SBR slurry (1 part OPC to 2 parts SBR Neat)
I agree with TJ on the slab construction - steel reinforced would have been better - The main reason why these pathways fail is not the tiles but the concrete and subbase cracking up due to lack of proper construction and loss of hardcore below it due to settlement / washing out etc - This winter has been hard on the pathways in and around our area and we have loads of enquiries to restore them - Costs as ever are an issue and few folks are prepared to dig deep enough to get the job done properly.

Tiles - Once again TJ is spot on - [normal situation] and he hints at replacing all the path with new tiles - OS do Black and White and a new colour Dover White - which is bound to be a better match than std white to your originals - 10% more -- - Replacing the complete area - will look and perform better than mixing and joining two areas of different aged tiles. Also OS new tiles are 9mm thick and originals will probably be 1/2'' - 12mm.

Use a quality slow / standard setting adhesive with a flexible additive - TJ uses Ardex products I believe, we tend to use Std setting Nicobond or Granfix with Nicobond 2002 polymer.
Grout - super fine grey with polymer
Joints 0mm to 2mm depending on laying pattern - If you use Bal / Butec Rapid is only 50 microns partical size and it grouts even the tightest joints
Seal afterwards with two / three coats of a quality impregnator

PS - Craven Dunnill Jackfield also supply us with tiles - especially hand made encaustics and you will find their's will be 12mm for Black and Whites

Don't forget the photos -

Good luck

I dont think it will be preferable to match with the existing 15% if they are butted together when you are using spacers,I would prob leave a minute space and judge by eye.

Hi,
We may have the same path 53mm, diamond and triangle black and white tiles. We have just taken them up ourselves and unfortunately don't think we can we can restore ours (due to time constraints) so we have spare tiles....
I'm thinking of putting them on a salvage site as it seems such a shame to throw them away!?!
Alison

Alison

Recovered tiles are a funny business. If your selling to savage yards or sites be prepared to receive very little -- If your buying expect to pay quite a lot. Condition is key to the value.

If someone wants them, they are expensive, if nobody needs them they are not worth too much. Karl Marx claimed it was supply and demand.

Have some fun and make a few bob -- Good Luck

PS - Your tiles are very common and there are a lot around - they are old 2"" squares [1/2" thick] and today new ones are 53 x 53 mm [normally 9mm or 12mm thick]