Brick floor

[ljn]

I have laid bricks in a utility area off the kitchen. The utility area leads on to a WC in a vault.
The vault was used for coal. It still has the open hole to the garden above (with a concrete pipe fitted in it).
I laid bricks in Sand as they were before. What should I use to grout the bricks that will keep packed in tight and stable?
What would you seal the bricks?

 

[Tom]

Our floor bricks, also laid on sand, had 'penny' joints (very fine) so just had sand between them. They were very stable.

As for sealing, it depends what's underneath the sand. If there's a DPM, you could seal them. However, if there is no DPM and you seal them you'll be trapping in moisture and risk them spalling. I believe the correct method is to use Linseed Oil carried in White Spirit, which allows the bricks to breathe.

Jaqy

 

[AMc]

Brush Kiln dried silver sand between the gaps if they're very fine, mix in some sharp if the gaps vary a lot. You can also mix in some dry lime to help it bind but I'm unconvinced of the benefit of this. You get it from builders merchants. Use a dust mask as it's very fine and will make you choke.

At least 2 coats of Osmo PolyX can be used to seal floor bricks (it's a hard wax oil primarily for wood) it is also breathable BUT as I discovered to my cost - floor bricks that have been fired for the purpose are not very porous and will not move much moisture so again I'm not sure there is any need to use a breathable finish (though PolyX is nice and I would still recommend it).

We had to split a lot of our floor bricks when it turned out we had a mix of two sizes for one continuous floor. The unsplit bricks stuck into their lime mortar and are rock solid. The cut bricks (with porous face down) have not stuck at all and many have moved, rocked and cracked. It seems like the bricks sucked the moisture out of the mortar before it went off and basically just sat there on a dry bed. I'm gradually lifting the worst offenders, sealing the underside and remortaring them but this is very messy and could have been avoided if I'd know the cut was going to behave how it did.

 

[ljn]

Thanks for the advice,.

There s no DPC, so the floor would have to remain breathable.
I don't need it to be perfect, just seal it enough so it doesn't continue to produce dust and so it can be mopped clean.
The gaps between bricks are quite large.
Maybe a mix of lime and sand would bond them.

 

[Tom]

Be careful if using lime in between as lime can stain the bricks. I'm not sure how to avoid this but someone else should know. Anyone?

Jaqy

 

[robgil]

not sure how to avoid staining but i have just been reading this on the norfolk pamment web page , might be of some help.

http://www.pamments.co.uk/laying.html