terracotta finish - TilersForums.com

[TMTservices]

Hi People,

Currently doing a terracotta floor and wanting advice on a suitable finish if you dont mind.

Terracotta has had 2 coats of boiled linseed and white spirit 4 -1 , and one coat of same but ratio of 1-1.

The customer wants to really draw out the colour in them, what would you use?

Customer has asked for 'Cardinal Red Tile polish' or something that gives a similar finish.

Preferably not a wax as I dont want the dirt to gather on them, but if it needs be then so be it?

They were a nightmare to seal initially so anything thats not too time consuming would be an added bonus as it took 2 DAYS of sealing to get them ready to lay. The most porous tiles Ive ever used without a doubt.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Also, myself, my van, my house, my clothes, customers house and garage STINK of linseed! haha. If I never smell that smell again, Ill be a happy man! hah

Thanks chaps.

Sean.

 

[Perry]

are they hand made spanish ?

 

[TMTservices]

are they hand made spanish ?

Hi mate, Yeah they are, so Im told. Not a mass of experience with terracotta unfortunatley.

Enjoying working with it though. Bar the linseed smell. ha.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

View attachment 45967

Hi - I'am not able to make the photo bigger so it's a bit difficult to see the true 'colour' of these tiles!
They look fairly mixed in blend and from your description of the customers wishes (cardinal red polish) I can't see a happy outcome for this batch of tiles.
Quite surprised at the length of time it took to seal this quantity of tiles as 20 metres would normally take no more than 3-4 hours for 1 coat, and that would be ready for a second by the time the last tile was coated. IMHO boiled linseed oil IS the way to bring out the colour in the terracotta but only if there is any depth of colour in the first place and unfortunately this batch you have look very bland to patchy and I wonder if it's a blend I have not experienced in 39 years of tiling. Although the clays are mixed and varied the oven placing looks uneven and the resulting grading seems non existent. Still I might be seeing it through blinkered glasses and that may be the look someone is after.
In a nutshell I don't think that batch of tiles will come up to the colour specified by your customer.

 

[TMTservices]

View attachment 45967

Hi - I'am not able to make the photo bigger so it's a bit difficult to see the true 'colour' of these tiles!
They look fairly mixed in blend and from your description of the customers wishes (cardinal red polish) I can't see a happy outcome for this batch of tiles.
Quite surprised at the length of time it took to seal this quantity of tiles as 20 metres would normally take no more than 3-4 hours for 1 coat, and that would be ready for a second by the time the last tile was coated. IMHO boiled linseed oil IS the way to bring out the colour in the terracotta but only if there is any depth of colour in the first place and unfortunately this batch you have look very bland to patchy and I wonder if it's a blend I have not experienced in 39 years of tiling. Although the clays are mixed and varied the oven placing looks uneven and the resulting grading seems non existent. Still I might be seeing it through blinkered glasses and that may be the look someone is after.
In a nutshell I don't think that batch of tiles will come up to the colour specified by your customer.

Thanks for your opinion, You can see the linseed has drawn out the colour in comparison to the raw tiles I have left over. Explained this to customer and I think its more a sheen she wants to the finish.
You say a blend you have not seen in your years, what do you mean by this? That this is a 'duff' batch of terracotta? To be honest I did bring up the wide variation in colour,with the customer prior to fitting but she was happy for me to go on.
As for the time to take to seal...we all work at differant speeds dont we?? my working day is a fairly short one as I have dad duties at 3:30 ! lol. All I know is that I was seeing terracotta and smelling linseed in my sleep! And it seemed to take for ever! lol

 

[Perry]

might be worth talking to Alan P he is from stockton i showed him how to use a product called patina from langlows on a terracotta a while ago he may be able to help you

 

[Perry]

as you thinned the oil down it would take more coats than normal and may not of had enough and how did you put it on ? hope you got rid of of the rollers sponges or rags or the will self combust shouldn't of taken more than a few hours to seal takes longer to put the down and pick them up than to seal them lol i believe these are the same tiles but these are upside down

 

[Concrete guy]

Back in the day, when this was a more popular product, I laid 1000's of sq/m of this stuff.

Saltillo Mexican terracotta. (Named after the town which is famous for it's production).

It is made in molds and left out in the sun to dry simply plied up on top of each other. The yellow tiles are actually the ones sat on the top of each pile and far more exposed to the sun and bleached basically.

If you treat with boiled linseed oil, don't just keep slapping it on, it will simply keep soaking it up, as you found out. Two coats with a paint roller are enough, then allowed to "cure" overnight. The oil congeals in the tile overnight and acts as an impregnating sealer.

So you've laid it, oiled it again, and it's still sucking up oil. That's normal, leave it overnight again before you grout. It doesn't matter if there is oil residue as the coarse grout you need to use with this width joint will clean off the top of the tile surface. We never used to dilute the oil, always used neat.

Give it a good clean, leave it overnight.

If the customer then wanted a finish, we would avoid wax as it was very labour intensive and never lasted a great deal of time without looking rough. So we would use HG Golvpolish, just wipe it on and allow it cure, it would create a warm satin finish, like wiping vegetable oil over the surface and bringing out the colour. It had the advantage of being removable so once a year it could be stripped and re done.

HG decided after years of using this stuff it was no good for terracotta (never knew why though) so replaced it with a bespoke product. HG Shine Seal, which I'm pretty sure does exactly what Golvpolish did.

Oh, and never ever screw up a rag or towel coated in linseed oil, the self combust. My partner at the time burnt his van out having done this once, Fire brigade out, neighbours gawping the lot!

 

[Perry]

its the same stuff but its only a vinyl polish but don't leave the oil on overnight to congeal wipe it off after about 15 mins with a dry cloth but one or two coats max with a roller with these tiles should be plenty

 

[White Room]

In all the years I've been in finishing trades I have never seen a boiled linseed oil soaked rag self combust.....