How to treat newly cleaned Blue Lias flagstones?

[MikeRippon]

A few years ago we restored the cider house in our Grade II Somerset home. The floor was/is Blue Lias flags, and under the instructions of Building Control and Planners we lifted them, installed DPC and insulation, and carefully relayed the lot.
They look great - except for the usual flaking and all the lime/dirt/etc embedded in them. We have so far never got round to trying to clean them, but the moment has now arrived. A local sandblasting contractor has experience of restoring Blue Lias by sandblasting. A filthy job, but excellent results.
The question then is how to treat and seal them. Remember there is a DPC so no damp problems. They don't need to breathe. The best suggestion so far seems to be 50/50 boiled linseed oil and turpentine. However, I'm seeking any suggestions from anyone who has done this before.

 

[Tom]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

I'm speechless!

 

[Nemesis]

Me too...

 

[Chris Somerset]

Mike -

Sandblasting will convert your centuries old blue lias flagstones, full of irreplaceable patina and character, into brand new blue lias flagstones. Doubtless it will be expensive and disruptive, too. Surely there are gentler ways of cleaning your flagstones, that don't involve the obliteration of their historic value and much of their charm? Such as a damp cloth, or a number of chemical stone cleaning techniques...

But to answer your question, blue lias flagstones don't really need sealing. As long as you don't spill too many gallons of beetroot juice on them, they will be fine as they are.

Sorry if this sounds really harsh, but unnecessary work by well-intentioned owners probably causes as much damage to historic buildings as the neglect of the uncaring owners...

 

[MikeRippon]

At last a helpful reply! Believe me, I have tried "gentle techniques". This was a working farm before I came here and the cider house I refer to had been used to store agricultural vehicles (so engine oil had been spilt and saturated areas of the floor), oil paint had been spilt all over it, etc. In this case the "character" you refer to is damage, filth and lime paint ingrained in a stippled finish in some of the flags. I guess the reader has an idea that this is one of those beautiful floors worn smooth by the tread of thousands of feet. Not so. After the gentle techniques I have tried carefully jet-washing small areas. It still isn’t bringing up the character of the flags. Trust me, having spent 20 years carefully restoring a group of Grade II listed buildings with some specifically listed special features I know what I’m talking about. It’s very easy to get bogged down in an idea that a Blue Lias floor has to be 200 years old and worn. But once it was new. My objective is to take a floor that is frankly currently unpleasant and create something that will wear and mature to give pleasure in 200 years time, and not be dug up or covered over by some future owner because it doesn't look good.
Hopefully this reply will illuminate “speechless” and “me too” and prompt some more helpful response and discussion, which is what I hoped I get from this forum.

 

[Moo]

Once upon a time (on a children's TV art programme, I think) an artist drew a very ordinary new single-storey house in a very boring landscape. He then executed a series of drawings of the house, showing how it might age over a couple of centuries. The weedy saplings grew into lovely trees; some of the hard edges and straight lines softened; the windows got a bit wonky; the roof dipped a little.......
By the time the artist had finished, the cottage had mellowed into something with the Aaaah! factor.

I suspect that this thread is going to develop into a debate about Restoration v Conservation.

I'm fastening my seat-belt and looking forward to an exciting ride.

 

[Tom]

Perhaps if you'd told more of the story in the first place people would have been 'illuminated' from the start!!

 

[Nemesis]

No, it's too late for a thread about restoration v conservation because it strikes me all that I would caution against doing has been done to this floor.

So - I have real, urgent and very pressing conservation issues to deal with, like trying to stop people from demolishing listed buildings and major historic buildings in conservation areas.

I'm interested though to hear that there are 'specifically listed special features'. All the building is listed, although some things are of more significance than others.

 

[Carol]

Our Keinton blue lias flags are very dark and crumbly, I would be very surprised if they could survived blasting without major damage. Have you already done the deed?
I have tried;
1.Liberon stone floor polish which looks good for a short while, and smells very nice
2. Skimmed milk which made no change and didn't smell nice.
3. Linseed oil which looked wonderful for a week then picked up the dirt badly.
4. Best of all, plain Somerset water and elbow grease applied regularly.

After six months of the last the flags look fine.

 

[MikeRippon]

No, the deed isn't done yet. I wanted to be sure where I was going before embarking on this route, which is why I'm seeking advice. However, it has to be said that a local Somerset reclamation company uses this technique with sucess - that's where the potion of 50:50 boiled linseed oil and turpentine came from.

 

[biffvernon]

This is where I had lunch today (Samuel Smiths at £1.28 a pint). The flagstone floor has not been lifted and there is no dampcourse, but the surface has been treated for three hundred years with beer and mud. It has the best patina I've ever seen.

 

[Nemesis]

Bar a century or so, sounds like my kitchen!

(For patina read - battered and grimy but much loved.)