Hi, I have a load of salvaged tiles, I would like to put down in a hallway. We have recently bought a small house in France, that is full of character and its very exciting to think about bringing it back to life. It is in terrible condition, although the price was right, if you know what I mean.

So we want to do a lot of the restoration work ourselves and are not really in a hurry. The ten bedroom Château can wait. So we have found these beautiful tiles someone is offering locally. But they are all in pretty ropey condition.

I think they were laid somewhere and then something was put over the top of them. So they have adhesive on one side and something on the other. All the good ones are on top in the picture, underneath most of them are not in great condition.

But again, the price is right. I think they call these tomato tiles, for obvious reasons and they actually look great when laid down and cleaned up. But I was after an opinion on the best way to clean them back to a good condition.

We don't need them to look new. We don't mind a little patina or age or character. But I would like them to look smart and neat and tidy.

So is it better to try and clean them individually before they are laid. I did wander if I could lay them out and try and pressure wash them. Or if there is some sort of sand blaster I could rent? I don't really even know what to ask for.

Or if anyone actually thinks it would be better to lay them all and then try and clean them after they are actually set in the hallway. Maybe grind them one of those big floor sanders. Although to me this seems like a big risk, if it doesn't work.

But again if it did work, it probably would be the simplest solution.

Hopefully there are some people out there with some opinions or ideas, the floor would look amazing with them all laid and like I said, they are a great price.

Thanks in advance
Dan