Thinking of selling?

How to stage your home: If you are lucky enough to have period tiles in your hallway or kitchen, make sure they are looking their best to maximise the appeal of your home for the sales campaign.

"Although 19th century ceramic and encaustic tiles are fairly common in entrance halls in Irish homes you should think very carefully about replacing them. They can be cleaned up fairly simply and you can replace badly broken ones." Although a lot depends on the condition and type of tile, Nicki advises that great care should be taken when cleaning period tiles and warns that any cleaning treatment on old floors is always experimental.

Always start with the least invasive methods first - pure distilled water, she says. "Simple water can do a lot and then use a buff cloth to shine up the tiles." Next, identify the problem areas. There are a lot of products on the market to deal with different types of problems, such as paint splashes or yellowing from years and years of varnishing. HG and Vulpex do good ranges, says Nicki.

The most important thing is to test any cleaning product in a very discreet corner of the floor, she warns. Otherwise steam cleaning can sometimes do a great job on tiles in particularly bad condition, but tiles in a domestic setting can usually be cleaned by hand.If you have some badly damaged tiles look into getting replacement tiles. Terry Cartin Ceramics in Dublin 7 (01-8309791) will advise and faithfully reproduce broken tiles whether it's getting a plain red terracotta Victorian tile or reproducing an embossed tile with six different colour glazes.