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skier-hughes
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We ahve some in our fuel store which are only about half sized bricks, don't think they are quite as thin as those, but it's possible they were made that way as an early tile?
Penners
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I've seen flooring bricks around that thickness. I doubt whether they've been cut.
I think they might be cut bricks , i enquired if they were worn and got this reply,
its getting quite hard to find floor bricks that still have a face on them these days.
Do you think a floor made from stock yellows would look nice? or would it look like a floor made from stock yellows?
Red rubbers would be nice but they can be just as expensive as floor bricks.
its getting quite hard to find floor bricks that still have a face on them these days.
Do you think a floor made from stock yellows would look nice? or would it look like a floor made from stock yellows?
Red rubbers would be nice but they can be just as expensive as floor bricks.
Feltwell
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robgil said:
They'd be far too soft I reckon for any kind of flooring use - bearing in mind why they were originaly made.
Penners
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I suspect the same about Cambridge Yellows. Purpose-made flooring bricks, to the best of my (poor) knowledge, are high-fired to make them harder and more durable.
Aww well, thought i might have found a cheap alternative. My old kitchen floor has a few yellow bricks in it that look like stock yellows although they could be from the old brick works in wool pit.
I dont know though penners , the old floor bricks i have here seem pretty soft, certainly more easily damaged as opposed to a more modern pavior.
I dont know though penners , the old floor bricks i have here seem pretty soft, certainly more easily damaged as opposed to a more modern pavior.
Penners
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We had yellowish paviours in a previous house, and they were definitely harder than stock bricks. But I imagine that every producer had his own individual "formula" and method for producing them.
I have yellow floor bricks which we reused as the floor for the porch as well as reds in the kitchen. They are both harder than diamonds and not 'soft' in any way shape or form. If you have soft bricks in your floor then I doubt that was their original purpose.
Going back to your ebay link they look right to me.
If you can get a photo of both sides of the same brick then you can be sure as the cut brick surface will be lighter and probably show flaws in the clay that won't be there on the 'finished' side. It will also be porous and comparitively fragile if not laid perfectly on a complete mortar bed.
We cut our kitchen bricks and I've regretted it ever since. I wouldn't lay a floor with cuts again - lots of ours have lifted and cracked. Some split where the brickie had left a trowel mark in the bed. I've now relaid about half the floor again and unsurprisingly it doesn't look as good or sit as level as it did when it was laid in one go on a full wet bed of mortar. I've wasted hours and hours and wish I'd sourced enough for the full floor inn one go.
In the scheme of things floor bricks aren't a very expensive flooring - I would check on salvo as there are still plenty about. You can also try www.pamments.co.uk - who make modern floorbricks that look authentic - I haven't used them but I would probably do so now to get a good quantity of well matched bricks when I need them rather than hunting for salvage and saving a small amount of money.
Going back to your ebay link they look right to me.
If you can get a photo of both sides of the same brick then you can be sure as the cut brick surface will be lighter and probably show flaws in the clay that won't be there on the 'finished' side. It will also be porous and comparitively fragile if not laid perfectly on a complete mortar bed.
We cut our kitchen bricks and I've regretted it ever since. I wouldn't lay a floor with cuts again - lots of ours have lifted and cracked. Some split where the brickie had left a trowel mark in the bed. I've now relaid about half the floor again and unsurprisingly it doesn't look as good or sit as level as it did when it was laid in one go on a full wet bed of mortar. I've wasted hours and hours and wish I'd sourced enough for the full floor inn one go.
In the scheme of things floor bricks aren't a very expensive flooring - I would check on salvo as there are still plenty about. You can also try www.pamments.co.uk - who make modern floorbricks that look authentic - I haven't used them but I would probably do so now to get a good quantity of well matched bricks when I need them rather than hunting for salvage and saving a small amount of money.
I have to be honest i dont think the pamments in the link above do look like floor bricks , i think they look more like a mexican tile.
The e bay bricks are cut , the seller told me they were and were probably not suitable for what i wanted, they do have a few hundred uncut ones but not enough to cover the 45 or so square meters that i need. I will possibly end up using 9x9 reclaimed pamments , perhaps even new quarry tiles.
I am sure you already know this AMc but this is what i reckon , This is a photo of one of my bricks, this is an un-worn one with its face still in good shape,
This one resembles a cut brick but i think this one has had the face worn off through high traffic use, I am assuming this brick had a face at one time. I have seen lots of these floor bricks in old building , usually churches, and in high traffic areas the brick resembles the one below.
Also if you flip a floor brick over chances are you will find what resembles a worn brick ,So , I reckon when they make these bricks they use a bulking clay for the brick body then skim a wearing face ontop, obviously if you cut them you cut the face off or you end up with one faced brick and the rest none faced bricks.
If i am completely barking up an empty tree and some of these bricks do in deed come out of production with a swirly face then i have been stupidly fussy in my search for flooring..
The e bay bricks are cut , the seller told me they were and were probably not suitable for what i wanted, they do have a few hundred uncut ones but not enough to cover the 45 or so square meters that i need. I will possibly end up using 9x9 reclaimed pamments , perhaps even new quarry tiles.
I am sure you already know this AMc but this is what i reckon , This is a photo of one of my bricks, this is an un-worn one with its face still in good shape,
This one resembles a cut brick but i think this one has had the face worn off through high traffic use, I am assuming this brick had a face at one time. I have seen lots of these floor bricks in old building , usually churches, and in high traffic areas the brick resembles the one below.
Also if you flip a floor brick over chances are you will find what resembles a worn brick ,So , I reckon when they make these bricks they use a bulking clay for the brick body then skim a wearing face ontop, obviously if you cut them you cut the face off or you end up with one faced brick and the rest none faced bricks.
If i am completely barking up an empty tree and some of these bricks do in deed come out of production with a swirly face then i have been stupidly fussy in my search for flooring..
Your second picture does look like the cut faces of some of my bricks. However some of them were much smoother all through. I think it's unlikely that we can make a definitive statement about how all floor bricks were made - I think even in the ones I reclaimed from my house they were different ages and possibly different kilns and clays.
45m2 is quite a lot to try and find from a single reclaimed source. When I was hunting out a small number of 9x9 to finish the floor I found a variety of depths and subtle differences in size which would have prevented them being laid close jointed.
45m2 is quite a lot to try and find from a single reclaimed source. When I was hunting out a small number of 9x9 to finish the floor I found a variety of depths and subtle differences in size which would have prevented them being laid close jointed.
You are probably Right AMc, my bricks have three different kinds mixed amongst them. They range from sift clay (in the photo above) to what seems to be a harder , cement kind of brick.
I have thought about the inconsistent pamment sizes , colours and textures but if mixed through well enough it might add to their charm.
I have looked at some fired earth flooring which looks quite nice (in a none pamment kind of way) but at 99 quid a meter its just not worth it, for that kind of cash i could have what ever i wanted made up by bulmer's and still have loads of change.
I have thought about the inconsistent pamment sizes , colours and textures but if mixed through well enough it might add to their charm.
I have looked at some fired earth flooring which looks quite nice (in a none pamment kind of way) but at 99 quid a meter its just not worth it, for that kind of cash i could have what ever i wanted made up by bulmer's and still have loads of change.
CatherineB
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Spaghetti hoops on toast, anyone?! :roll:
Feltwell
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robgil said:
I wouldn't use new quarry tiles - they are very uniform, they would look just wrong I reckon. We had a debate on here a while ago about someone's floor, where I said they looked like old quarry tiles and everyone else said they looked like pamments! In truth I think it's regional terminology for what can be very similar items, pamments seem to be a East of England thing and can sometimes be much paler than Victorian quarry tiles, or can be a very similar colour.
My kitchen and scullery have what is without question quarry tiles - all the clay products on this house (floor tiles, roof tiles, chimney pots, bricks etc etc) came from the Dennis Ruabon factory, who still make quarry tiles today. Victorian quarry tiles are readily available in pretty much all the salvage yards I know and are not that expensive, they were used so much and are so common, and may give you the look you're after.
Mine are pretty similar to this - worn and pitted, much nicer than new flawless unform ones.
http://www.salvo.co.uk/images/userimgs/36197/Red-Quarry-Tile_45259_2.jpg
Thats the kind of thing right there. I have got quite a few samples of new quarry tiles and to be fair they dont look old but old ones would have looked new at some point anyway. They are a lot thinner though.
I think the difference between quarry tiles and pamments is quarry tiles seem to be compressed fine clay where as pamments seem to be a more lumpy compressed clay with a face skimmed on of a finer clay to give them a uniform hard wearing surface. They are definitely not the same thing.
I think the difference between quarry tiles and pamments is quarry tiles seem to be compressed fine clay where as pamments seem to be a more lumpy compressed clay with a face skimmed on of a finer clay to give them a uniform hard wearing surface. They are definitely not the same thing.
My ancient payments aren't like that. I know, because quite a few were broken so when we (or, rather,our lovely builder) relaid them we got a good view of their interiors.
And both faces were (are!) smooth - in fact, when he relaid them he put some of them in upside down, to hide a badly damaged face (the pamment's, not his).
And both faces were (are!) smooth - in fact, when he relaid them he put some of them in upside down, to hide a badly damaged face (the pamment's, not his).
Feltwell
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robgil said:
2:54am? Crikey, those little teeth are keeping you up!
Quarry tiles today are made like this, at the last UK quarry tile manufacturer (who is the one who supplied my house originally). You're quite right, there is no "face" on them.
http://www.ruabonsales.co.uk/how-is-a-quarry-tile-made.htm
Victorian quarry tiles were nearly all machine made (to a point), but the machinery would have allowed for a great deal more variation than what is produced now, and not all the processes that are automated now would have been so then - plus a modern kiln will give much more even firing than the Victorians achieved. New quarry tiles are an exact product, whereas mine vary in thickness and are not all perfectly square, plus some I think were pitted when laid - they have not been disturbed as far as I can tell and are in areas where they would have had very little wear. New quarry tiles are so hard I do wonder if they are harder than the old ones - I just can't imagine them ever wearing in a domestic setting!
Penners
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You've obviously missed the point, Rob. The fun lies not in the flavour or the nutritional value, but in what you can spell with it.robgil said: