Brick Floor

[mat norris]

Hi,

I'm planning on replacing my concrete floor with a lime subbase and Brick floor - can anyone offer advise on the following:

Mix and depth of Limecrete for floor (I don't have too much depth to play with without seious clay excavation - so not too interested in LCEA insulation)

'Breathable' brick suppliers new or reclaimed

Traditional brick patterns for a thatched timber frame suffolk cottage (age unknown)

Methods for laying the brick on the subbase

Thanks for your help in advance!

Mat

 

[middi]

Traditionally these brick paviours were layed on compacted subsoil and approx one inch lime/sand or lime/sifted soil base . If the site was well drained they performed extremely well and still are performing well in some farmhouse and some other dwellings.
( one good example was in my conservation architect's house). It has to be remembered that this type of "high tec" flooring was an upgrade from no permanent hard floor at all. In a section of the room ( my architect's house) a few metres had been re-layed on cement base and pointed with hard mortar, needless to say that every time the floor got cleaned the damp in the newly re-layed section lingered on for quite a long time compared to the very fast drying cycle of the original brick paviours.

AS long as your sub base is very firm you can lay your bricks on one inch of sharp sand/ lime mix ( I use 3:1 sand/hyd.lime mix)

The sub base,ideally, would have to be a lime based 4 or 6 inch thick screed.

The paviour bricks to use, and very effective, are "yellow brick paviour" sometime stocked at reclamation yards. " solarpark" near Cambridgshire always seems to have a few in stock. New paviour bricks just do not have the patina which is so important on brick floors.

 

[Penners]

Or you could use Suffolk pamments, laid simply chessboard style - i.e. no bond.

As Middi says, Solopark are probably the biggest reclamation yard in the region, but they're quite a distance - near Cambridge. Whereabouts in Suffolk are you (no need for precision, just nearest town)?

 

[Nemesis]

You could of course keep a small industry alive for the future by laying these:

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

 

[Penners]

'Breathable' brick suppliers new or reclaimed

The following (member of Salvo) are advertising stocks of reclaimed floor bricks:

TREESAVE RECLAMATION LTD Tel: 01787 227272
The Barn, Fysh House Farm, Cuckoo Hill, BURES, CO8 5LD, Suffolk, UK

or for newly made traditional paviors or pamments, you could contact:

Bulmer Brick & Tile Company
The Brickfields, Bulmer
nr Sudbury
Suffolk
CO10 7EF
01787 269232

 

[Lime]

You could of course keep a small industry alive for the future by laying these:

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

Their prices compare very favorably with reclaimed too.

 

[Penners]

This "New v. Reclaimed" situation is a real dilemma.

I quite understand the argument for buying new traditional materials, in order to keep important old crafts alive.

Likewise, I can appreciate the argument for using reclaimed materials, in order to avoid (a) the carbon footprint of producing new, and (b) the loss (presumably into a hole in the ground) of beautifully crafted old materials.

I don't know what the answer is. Perhaps a 50/50 policy?

 

[mat norris]

Wow - thanks for the responses, I did not realise there was some much available so locally to me. I'm in Cavendish so will take a look around these places and try to decide whether to go old or traditional new.

I need to 'do' the whole downstairs, so traditional new might be easier to source the job lot, but then reclaimed might look better....

I started to dig up the floor,7 inches of concrete, at the weekend. I've done a foot-wide strip the lenght of the wall and already its made a great difference to the dampness in the wall base below the sole plate.

Does anyone know what a typical laid pattern would be for brick sized tiles?

 

[middi]

The simplest and most effective way to lay these bricks is in normal stretched bond style just like the pattern used to buil modern brick house walls (but with the flat side down of course).

You can use any fancy patterns you like, just be aware that they may not end up like parquet flooring gone wrong.

These floors traditionally were the upgade for humble dwellings, layed in fancy styles may not suit a particular building.

 

[Penners]

Does anyone know what a typical laid pattern would be for brick sized tiles?

Here's one that's quite widely used...

 

[middi]

Nice pic Penners, that style is more suited to pathways though. No doubt they look pretty but used internally I wonder if they may be a bit OTT in the incorrect setting.

 

[Penners]

Perhaps you're right. It's just a pattern that I think looks really nice (except after your eighth glass of wine).

 

[MD]

I too have recently taken up a concrete floor and relayed a brick one. I used new 'buff and reds' from Bulmer Brick Company. I thought about reclaimed ones but I had trouble sourcing the quality and quantity required. Perhaps using new is a more 'honest' renovation anyway.

The bricks are laid in the herringbone fashion shown in thr pic from Middi. As they are laid directly on sand with no bonding (just a little kiln dried sand brushed in the small gaps) they don't look too OTT, but I guess its all down to personal taste. I'd seen a large area covered with bricks in the same pattern, so I had a pretty good idea what they would look like. If you have odd shaped rooms with funny angles and no straight walls, this pattern seems to suit better than laying them in straight lines.

I sealed them with a few coats and linseed oil/white spirit mix. The linseed oil also seems to be keeping the kiln dried sand in place.

All in all, I'm really pleased with the job - Bulmer bricks are not cheap, but they are a top quality product and look great.

 

[Penners]

The bricks are laid in the herringbone fashion shown in the pic from Middi.

Ahem.....

 

[MdB]

 

[middi]

I was quite happy to have taken the credit Penners.

Nice pics by MdB too, all patterns look very nice, personally I prefer the simplicity and " humility"of the ones in the kitchen.

Individual taste rules, so it should.

 

[Penners]

I like all of those, with the exception of the penultimate one. I'm not keen on the fancy circles, and I find the grouting much too stark white.

 

[Penners]

I was quite happy to have taken the credit Penners.

Sorry, Middi, haven't you heard that there's a "credit crunch" going on? Credit is very difficult to get. :wink:

 

[middi]

:lol: