Quarry tiles (I think) for the thousandth time of asking...

[neilgilmour]

Hi Guys, great forum you've got here. I was searching for help restoring quarry tiles and ended up here for hours last night reading everything.

So - I'm no tiler, I teach canoeing and climbing for a living. We've just moved in to an old farmhouse near Whitchurch in North Shropshire, and when I pulled the manky carpet tiles off the kitchen floor (and after a day of removing adhesive) I found the floor in pic 1.

I'm guessing these are very old quarry tiles. They are about 3cm thick, and seem to be laid on sand (although I read in another post this could have been lime). What can I do to clean them up and preserve them? Should I grout them, or just leave as is? Can I seal them? The mrs is starting up a catering business from home, so ideally for food hygiene it needs to be a sealed surface which can be mopped down.

Thanks in advance, and if you want to go climbing anytime, I'm your man!

Neil

 

[wetdec]

Hi

Ok looks like a very old engineered tile similar to the engineer brick you see on old houses. The condition throws you a bit as they are either seriously ancient or they were made antiqued the latter is the less likely as they did things propper in them days.

Because of the way the surfaces appear using an acid would likely do more damage so an alkali (limestone cleaner) would be your best bet...

The bombshell is because of the condition excessive pitting etc they are unlikely to pass it for a food prep area but thats my opinion and you may already know different.


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[neilgilmour]

Thanks for that. I suspect they are the original floor from around 1830.

You're probably right about the food prep. I think it's more important at the moment just to get a decent floor under us, and then worry about that later.

So after I give it a good clean should I do anything else, or just let it breathe and keep it clean?

Thanks for your help!!

 

[wetdec]

No you might try iron wax from LTP on it should do what you need.

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[rossy]

looked at a similar floor yesterday can anyone tell me whether its safe to tile on top, bloke insisted he wasnt ripping it up wants to tile straight on top, floor is solid no loose tiles its just a hall way...

 

[david campbell]

if it's solid then there shouldn't be any problems apart from height issues,but it's not best practice!

 

[wetdec]

Providing the surface is not blown too badly and they dont have a build up of wax then it should be ok but your on the spot and would need to make the decision.................

 

[enduro]

Here is one im going to be doing in the next few weeks, i used Aqua Mix Heavy Duty Tile & Grout cleaner, the only thing you have to be careful of cleaning These old floors is, if you add water to them you could draw out the efflorescence in the tile and this will need to be sorted before sealer is applied.

 

[Floor_Restorer]

I love quarry tiles!

I totally agree with enduro in saying that you have to be careful when cleaning as over applying water/cleaning solutions will draw out mineral salts/efflorescence if you are not careful. Also, be careful with the tiles/finish you go for as you are probably aware that your floor has no damp-proofing at all.

Don't use a surface sealant (such as LTP Ironwax) on a floor with no damp-proofing unless you 100% certain it is dry. A surface sealant may cause more problems as it caps the floor and stops it from releasing natural moisture from underneath. I know this from bitter experience in the past! The surface sealant will peel like an old varnish on damp wood.

If you are putting new tiles down, then why not take up the quarry tiles put a DPM and screed down to stop any issue of damp? You could always re-use the quarries or sell them to a reclaimation yard and reduce your costs? Tiling over the top as David Campbell (above) says is not best practice and may cause more problems in the future. Also, quarry tiles from 1830 need to be preserved (my opinion).

Hope any of this helps?

Tom

 

[neilgilmour]

Thanks guys for all your help. I have bought some stuff from LTP - Grimex and a breathable seal. I'll post some pics once I've finished.

Cheers,
Neil