Acton: Victorian Front Path Restored

The before image shows a tired concrete and brick path with weeds at the edges and nothing left of the original period character the house deserved. The existing base came out entirely before any tile went down. A new concrete slab was built from scratch, giving the installation the solid, stable foundation it needs to perform outside in all weathers and underfoot traffic over time. Tiling over an existing failed base is the kind of shortcut that looks fine on the day and fails within a few years. That is not how this was done.
The detail that sets this project apart from a standard path installation is the manhole cover. The cover sits within the path area, and on most jobs it gets tiled around with whatever cut tiles fall at its edges. Here it was reset before tiling began so that the Victorian-style pattern runs continuously with full tiles on all four sides of the cover. That required planning the setting out of the whole path around the position of the cover, not treating it as an obstacle to be worked around at the end.

No broken lines. No forced cuts. The border runs cleanly around the full perimeter of the path and the manhole cover sits within the pattern as though it was always part of the design. The tiles are original Victorian-style in black and white with a full border, laid in the classic diamond arrangement that belongs to this type of property. The path was sealed on completion.
The result is a front path that looks as though it has always been there. For a house of this age and character, that is exactly the right outcome.