I’m Paul Johnson, and today, tilers such as myself dedicate our working lives to Victorian tiled floor restoration, bringing back distressed, damaged and crumbling Victorian original floors to their former glory.
It is unlikely that Victorian builders who laid thousands of floors between the 1860s and 1920 gave much thought to what would have happened to their work by the 21st century. I don’t believe they could have predicted that their floors would survive 150 years of wear and tear, let alone have become a desired feature in the homes of people across the UK.
At the start of the Victorian era, geometric tiled floors were only seen in churches, public buildings and the houses of the wealthy, but by 1890, these beautiful floors had become an essential feature in even ordinary Victorian houses. By the 1960s, most of these original floors, now seen as old-fashioned and dated in their style, were covered over.
And they remained largely unseen for several decades until now, when once again their beauty, durability and style is appreciated.