Hi,

After spending a lot of time with Nitromors and a scraper at the weekend I’ve removed 6 layers of paint to reveal the original (100 year old) tiles in our porch. Pretty pleased with how they look (I quite like the crazing) apart from the fact that many of them have these marks on that I can’t seem to shift.

It looks like old selotape, but isn’t at all tacky and the usual sticky stuff remover doesn’t touch it. I’ve also tried White spirit and a rag, as well as some polish with a sponge/buffing attachment to my drill.

I can’t even tell if it’s surface mounted or scraped into the glaze. I wondered if other tiles might have been stuck on top of them at some point in the past and if it’s the remains of tile adhesive…

Any suggestions as to what it might be and how best to remove it?

Cheers,
V

Have you tried scraping with a Stanley blade to see if it’s some residue left behind by adhesive. If not and it’s “in” the tile may be there for good. Good luck, lovely tiles.

Thanks Marin, I’ll give the Stanley blade a try later.

Lovely tiles you have there, well done for persevering

Without being able to feel the surface, it looks like the glaze has somehow become etched. If you wet them does it disappear until dry?

I’d try a little T-Cut (or similar) on one patch to see if it helps.

a product i use a lot for polishing out and cleaning very gently is bicarbonate of soda. It is superb for removing residue and polishing dulled areas. You can use it dry or with a damp cloth, it is super gentle so takes a lot of elbow grease but it sounds like you may be used to that. It’s similar to tcut in action but way less aggressive.

Alternatively if it’s not a residue problem I would try a wipe of oil across a trial area and see if it takes out the dulling. Any oil would do, olive or vegetable oil.

Thanks for the tips.

I’ve just tried wetting it, I’d say the marks become less obvious but don’t disappear completely.

Stanley blade on it’s edge doesn’t appear to shift anything although it does catch lightly. Using the point did scrape something off, but I’ve a feeling it was glaze being scraped rather than any residue.

MrsV spent a lot of time scrubbing at it with “Pink Stuff Miracle Cleaning Paste” (Possibly contains Bicarb – at least there’s similar sounding stuff in the ingredients) the other day, it ended up looking cleaner, but didn’t shift the marks.

I’ve been using Meguiars Ultimate Compound (a bit like T-Cut) with the buffing sponge attached to my drill, I had high hopes for that, but it doesn’t seem to have touched it.

Just tried a bit of cooking oil and that’s had the best effect so far, a bit like when wetting it but more-so, you can still just about see it from some angles, but it’s a lot better. Presumably it’s not a lasting solution though 🙂

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Looks like where the glaze is no longer attached to the tile underneath.

The lines and spacing look qute uniform,Looks like they may have been tiled over in the past and thats the remains of tile adhesive that has etched into the surface of the glaze.

You could try rubbing in a solvent with fine wire wool to see if that removes it, or if you have access to one of those handheld steamers(used for cleaning grout) try that on it.

Failing that you could try some shellac over them to bring back a uniform shine.

Left field

Tcut or g3 on a polisher?

They look fantastic, I’ve had success with GT85 in the past, though if its only a few you might be able to get some replacement tiles.  We bought some from C20 fires to replace some damaged ones in the bedrooms that had been carpeted over, a nice surprise when we lifted the old carpets.