Victorian & Geometric Floor Tiling
Our Specialism
The floors most tilers turn down
A Victorian floor is not a tiling job with a different pattern on it. Every one is set out from scratch, cut to the room it sits in, and has to resolve cleanly at the borders, the corners and the threshold. Get the setting out wrong at the front door and the error travels the whole length of the hall. It is slow, exacting work, and it is what Mickey has specialised in for most of twenty-five years.
The words people use
Victorian, geometric, encaustic — what you are actually asking for
These three words get used interchangeably, including by people selling the tiles. They mean different things, and knowing which one you want makes choosing a pattern far easier.
- Geometric
- Unglazed clay tiles cut into squares, triangles, hexagons and diamonds, laid to a repeating pattern with a border running round the edge. The colour goes right through the tile, so wear does not show as a scuff of a different colour underneath.
- Encaustic
- The patterned tiles you see set into a geometric floor — the motif is inlaid in coloured clay rather than printed on the surface, which is why an original Victorian encaustic tile can still be sharp after a hundred years of boots.
- Tessellated
- The proper name for the whole approach: small shapes fitted together with no gaps. Most people searching for a Victorian hallway floor are describing a tessellated geometric floor without using the word.
Where these floors belong
Hallways, porches, front paths and door steps
The hallway is the heart of it. A Victorian or Edwardian hall is usually long and narrow, which is exactly the shape that shows a geometric pattern at its best — and exactly the shape that punishes careless setting out. From there the same floor often carries through the vestibule, out to the front door step and down the path.
It suits bay-fronted through-terraces, semis and villas: houses with a proper entrance hall and a path from the gate. Inner-city back-to-backs, despite being the same era, rarely work — the front door opens straight into the living room, so there is no hall and no path for the floor to run along.
We work across Leeds and West Yorkshire — Horsforth, Guiseley, Otley, Headingley, Chapel Allerton, Roundhay and the surrounding villages — and out to Harrogate, Ilkley and York. For the right period job we travel: Mickey has laid Original Style floors across the UK and into Europe.
How we lay them
Survey to final seal, and why each stage matters
Most tiling quotes tell you a price and a start date. This is what actually happens on site, so you can judge one quote against another on something more useful than cost.
- 01
Survey and substrate
We look at what the floor is sitting on before anything else. Old halls often have no damp-proof membrane, uneven screed or a suspended timber floor that moves. Laying a rigid geometric floor over any of those without preparing it properly is how you get cracked tiles and lifted borders a year later.
- 02
Setting out
The single thing that separates a good Victorian floor from a poor one. We set out from the centre line and work to the door threshold and the skirting, so the pattern arrives square at both ends and the border runs a consistent width. This is where the time goes, and it is not something you can correct once the adhesive is down.
- 03
Borders and corners
The border is what makes the floor look built rather than laid. Corners are mitred so the pattern turns cleanly, and the border is scribed to follow the wall where an old house has gone out of square — which almost all of them have.
- 04
Cutting and fitting
Around door frames, bay returns, radiator pipes and thresholds. Small tiles mean a lot of cuts, and every one is visible, so they are cut to the line rather than filled with grout.
- 05
Grouting and sealing
Grout colour changes how the whole pattern reads — the same tiles with a dark grout look like a different floor. Unglazed clay is porous, so it is sealed once fully dry, and we tell you how to look after it rather than leaving you to guess.
The tiles
Original Style, fitted across the UK and into Europe
We are experienced installers of Original Style tiles and work with their Victorian floor ranges regularly. Builders, contractors and designers have sought Mickey out for intricate Original Style work up and down the country and into Europe.
We will help you choose a pattern and colourway that suits the age and light of the house rather than the one that photographs best. A pattern that looks striking in a showroom can overwhelm a narrow hall, and a floor you have to live with for thirty years is worth an hour of getting right.
New floors, laid properly
We install new Victorian and geometric floors. That includes floors designed to sit sympathetically in a period property, and carrying a new floor through from the hall into a porch, step or path so the whole entrance reads as one.
We do not restore or repair existing original floors. It is a genuinely different craft, and we would rather point you to someone who does it than take it on badly.
Testimonials
What Clients Say About the Victorian Work
“Found Mickey after an Instagram trawl and was made up to learn he would travel to complete our hallway. Initially quoted for hallway and was so impressed with the work, it was only right to extend the work into the front and back porch. The quality speaks for itself. Great communication, kept informed and suggested style to compliment the main hallway so the space transitions seamlessly across the downstairs. We have a period Victorian house and Mickey has provided a finish fitting and sympathetic to its heritage. If the opportunity ever arises, I would wholly recommend you commission him to do work for you - you won't regret the finish!”
Who lays it
Mickey Horner
Second-generation tiler, twenty-five years in the trade, and specialising in Victorian floor tiling for most of that time. Mickey learned under his father and served an apprenticeship with Peter Jowitt before running his own work on new housing developments, sports centres and commercial fit-outs.
He now runs the company with a team of employees and subcontract tilers. On a Victorian floor you are getting the person whose reputation is attached to it — which is rather the point, on a job where the setting out cannot be fixed afterwards.
Contact Us
Get a quote for your floor
Send us a photo of the hallway, porch or path and rough measurements, and we can give you an idea of cost before anyone visits. For a firm price we will come and look at it.
- 6 Snaithwood Mews, Rawdon, Leeds, LS19 6SE
- 07985 424 696
- mickeytiler@aol.com