Overthinking tile floor restoration, seeking suggestions

[Jay]

Greetings lovely period property people!

Long time lurker first time poster here - currently trying to unbodge a west somerset 17th century sandstone rubble cottage with an 18th century extension and various 19th century+ retrofits!


The short version of this issue

I played the floor lottery and found quarry tiles - hooray!

There is a large section where there are no tiles. There was only concrete there which has been dug up and replaced with lime, leaving space to put new tiles on to complete the floor.

I cannot find a good tile match at reclamation yards or modern reproductions to complete the floor. I'm finding it very hard to find anything that is the correct colour, smoothness, size and thickness (they are 12" square, 1.5" thick, very smooth and orange but look red when dirty)

How fussy would you be about finding a good match?

And what would you put there if you couldn't find a match?


Possible solutions that have crossed my mind so far:

1. Putting down smaller quarries with a border - this won't work because the existing tile pattern doesn't leave a straight enough line for a border, and I doubt it would be very smart to try and cut the existing tiles into a straight line!

2. Putting down 6" quarries (using 4 to make a 12" square and continue the existing pattern kind of) - could work but I'd need about 280 tiles (based off calculation of needing around 70 12" tiles) and they'd still need to be the correct thickness, colour etc.

3. Just keep struggling to find an actual 12" match

4. Some other completely different thing?


Pic of my limecrete hole below:




Some additional details

I have had limecrete put down, but the levels are only just under where the existing tiles are (and nothing is level anyway because old house), so it's been suggested to me that I need tiles around 3cm thick instead to leave room for whatever ends up being used as adhesive.

I've so far tried:

Reclamation yards - none have even close to the number I need of 12" tiles in stock, many not in good enough condition for internal flooring anyway
Modern reproduction quarries (too thin so far, but good colour and smoothness)
Modern reproduction pamments (correct thickness and size, but can't find a good colour/surface smoothness match)

I have even got myself into a hole wondering if I can sand, stain, wax or linseed modern pamments or terracotta tiles to get them to have a similar finish (so many rabbit holes and I know nothing about tiles so most likely futile)


Bonus issue (in case the first one wasn't enough)

I also have this very annoying area near the front door which also needs replacement tiles. Essentially there was a concrete L shape where previously somebody had obviously put in a porch wall that was then removed before my time. The concrete has been dug up and lime put in its place. In addition, tiles immediately by the door are all smashed to bits and need replacing. Sorry for terrible pic, it's all I have right now as not living there yet:



I am 100% overthinking this at the moment, to the point that I may turn into a tile myself if I don't make a decision soon, so I would greatly appreciate thoughts from people who are more sensible than me (which is pretty much anyone)

P.S. if anyone has a patchwork type floor with different types of tiles/bricks/etc. going on, please do share pics, would love some inspiration to help alleviate this odd perfectionism I seem to be experiencing!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kearn]

12”, if genuine are usually very early. They’re hens teeth, you won’t find reclaimed, maybe the odd one or two, but you get my point!

Equally, finding any reclaimed genuine tiles is highly impossible. Certainly in a regular batch. They don’t fare well being moved. 6” are more common, carrying on later into production. But as you say, won’t match very well.

I spent years passively tracking down enough 9x9s for a an early Georgian fireplace hearth.

It it were me, I’d try my hardest to source some for the silly gap. But also accept that it will look different, and that’s just part of the evolution. If they’re smaller, so be it.

Same goes for the big area, it’s a distinct area which makes it better, I’d use pavers/paviours - effectively brick sized tiles. I managed to source a batch of reclaimed but early 20th century for a floor I needed to do.

An aside, you don’t need to find deep tiles necessarily, bed them on a line mix and you can go as deep as required to deal with what you choose to lay.

In terms of surface, they’ll get old, worn and dirty soon enough…!

Don’t have many pics of the old project right now, the pavers look very clean and shiny below for sales purposes, they didn’t usually. And the hearth was a mismatch of genuine finds.

 

[Jay]

Hi @Kearn - thank you so much for your very helpful reply (and lovely pics!)

It is actually quite relieving to hear somebody else say that these are just very hard to find. I guess I will just have to accept that in order to make things easier for myself, rather than being a perfectionist and trying to do the impossible!

I agree with you that it should be less of a task to find something to go in the door area due to there just being less tiles needed. Perhaps I will pop around the reclamation yards to see what they do have in stock and go from there.

With that being said, I wonder if levels in the door area might be more of an issue, with the old tiles on one level, and the new limecrete on another, then having to accommodate the thickness of whichever new tiles I find to fill in gaps both where the limecrete is and where older tiles have smashed but not been limecreted. Hopefully this is something I can get away with.

For the larger area, bricks/pavers/paviours might work - I have uncovered some of those in the hallway area (not sure if you can see very well in the first pic, but where the door is, there is a brick step). This might allow that part of the floor to blend in with the hallway even if it doesn't blend in with the rest of the living room. I'd just have to think about what pattern to lay them in to work with the edge of the older tiles (and figure out how many I'd need - why is there so much maths involved!)

I didn't realise that the depth of the limecrete might not matter - I've had one contractor say they had to get the limecrete to the right level to bed the tiles on, and another say I need to find thinner tiles based on where the first one laid the limecrete! I didn't think that just adding more lime would be an option somehow - is it feasible to just lay a lime/sand mix a few cm thick and lay tiles on immediately? If so that does solve one aspect of this problem!

And true re: newer tiles getting old, worn and dirty soon enough - especially in my house I'm sure!

Love the pics - that little fireplace is adorable and the blue colour is great! I really like your brick step actually - may use that as inspiration for fixing my own. And such lovely colour variation both in the bricks and the tiles. Your years spent passively sourcing 9x9s have paid off!

 

[Kearn]

Hi @Kearn - thank you so much for your very helpful reply (and lovely pics!)

It is actually quite relieving to hear somebody else say that these are just very hard to find. I guess I will just have to accept that in order to make things easier for myself, rather than being a perfectionist and trying to do the impossible!

I agree with you that it should be less of a task to find something to go in the door area due to there just being less tiles needed. Perhaps I will pop around the reclamation yards to see what they do have in stock and go from there.

With that being said, I wonder if levels in the door area might be more of an issue, with the old tiles on one level, and the new limecrete on another, then having to accommodate the thickness of whichever new tiles I find to fill in gaps both where the limecrete is and where older tiles have smashed but not been limecreted. Hopefully this is something I can get away with.

For the larger area, bricks/pavers/paviours might work - I have uncovered some of those in the hallway area (not sure if you can see very well in the first pic, but where the door is, there is a brick step). This might allow that part of the floor to blend in with the hallway even if it doesn't blend in with the rest of the living room. I'd just have to think about what pattern to lay them in to work with the edge of the older tiles (and figure out how many I'd need - why is there so much maths involved!)

I didn't realise that the depth of the limecrete might not matter - I've had one contractor say they had to get the limecrete to the right level to bed the tiles on, and another say I need to find thinner tiles based on where the first one laid the limecrete! I didn't think that just adding more lime would be an option somehow - is it feasible to just lay a lime/sand mix a few cm thick and lay tiles on immediately? If so that does solve one aspect of this problem!

And true re: newer tiles getting old, worn and dirty soon enough - especially in my house I'm sure!

Love the pics - that little fireplace is adorable and the blue colour is great! I really like your brick step actually - may use that as inspiration for fixing my own. And such lovely colour variation both in the bricks and the tiles. Your years spent passively sourcing 9x9s have paid off!

Use the same mix for bedding tiles/pavers as the floor slab 1:3 or 1:2.5, sharp sand up to 2mm. It can be as thick as you need it - I was maybe going to lay some uneven slabs and didn’t know my thickness in the kitchen here as they hadn’t been sourced, so I left about 30-40mm for the bedding layer (pale slabs). The living room floor (grey slabs) was a bedding layer 15-20mm due to slight variations in slab finish. If you were using. Traditional tile adhesive, there would be more problems - but why bother, especially if you have NHL and sand left over…



That project is no longer in our custody, we now have much bigger challenges!!

The fireplace was a decent size, an early Georgian c1700 inglenook, mimicking the main one in the older part of the house.

The pavers I found a job lot, they weren’t that old still being made somewhere near Esher from memory until into last century, and were very uniform in colour, but when roughed up through wear they mellowed from dark red to a softer tone.

 

[Jay]

Interesting @Kearn - thanks so much for sharing this (and the additional pics - really beautiful floor slabs and wow, that inglenook!)

I did get left with a few bags of sand after the limecrete was put down, would have to buy some more lime though I'm sure that wouldn't be too much of an issue.

But as you say - if a sand/lime mix can provide flexibility thickness-wise (instead of using a tile adhesive) then that solves the issue of sourcing tiles of correct thickness (plus finds a use for this leftover sand and means I'm just adding more lime to the floor rather than something else).

Being flexible with thickness would then give me more options floor-covering wise as I'm left only looking for colour and smoothness (and size if possible). In that case, the reproduction quarries might also be a good stand-in if I can't find a sufficient number of reclaimed tiles or pavers to slightly match the age.

Thank you so much for the advice and information (and lovely pics!), it's really so helpful to get out of my own head about it and hear from somebody with a bit more experience (and clearly a much more sensible brain than mine!)

P.S. it made me laugh when you said "we now have much bigger challenges!!" - this is my first house and I'm hoping my last challenge. But with that being said, I've already had one person tell me that I'll "soon learn to stop poking things" because I'm too curious about what historic treasures might be underneath - somehow hearing you talk about your newest challenge feels like a visit from the ghost of period property owner future!

 

[Kearn]

Interesting @Kearn - thanks so much for sharing this (and the additional pics - really beautiful floor slabs and wow, that inglenook!)

I did get left with a few bags of sand after the limecrete was put down, would have to buy some more lime though I'm sure that wouldn't be too much of an issue.

But as you say - if a sand/lime mix can provide flexibility thickness-wise (instead of using a tile adhesive) then that solves the issue of sourcing tiles of correct thickness (plus finds a use for this leftover sand and means I'm just adding more lime to the floor rather than something else).

Being flexible with thickness would then give me more options floor-covering wise as I'm left only looking for colour and smoothness (and size if possible). In that case, the reproduction quarries might also be a good stand-in if I can't find a sufficient number of reclaimed tiles or pavers to slightly match the age.

Thank you so much for the advice and information (and lovely pics!), it's really so helpful to get out of my own head about it and hear from somebody with a bit more experience (and clearly a much more sensible brain than mine!)

P.S. it made me laugh when you said "we now have much bigger challenges!!" - this is my first house and I'm hoping my last challenge. But with that being said, I've already had one person tell me that I'll "soon learn to stop poking things" because I'm too curious about what historic treasures might be underneath - somehow hearing you talk about your newest challenge feels like a visit from the ghost of period property owner future!

For the sake of bedding, you could pick up a bag of NHL 3.5 from your local merchant.

We’re suckers for it - just moved back in after a year, and we only have half a house still…. But we’re on the final stretch… probably! But this project was worth it and is a very interesting building and evolution over the past 500+ years…