Quarry tiles, glazed or unglazed?

[88v8]

Our much messed-about-with dining room floor largely consists of 8" quarries.
When laid I suspect it was all Painswick white stone, a border of which survives and will be put back as was where was. Very worn and curvy and uneven and beautiful .

The quarries though.... well they are flat so the furniture doesn't wobble, I guess that's why they're there. Some have traces of Cardinal red, some are au naturelle, some had carpet stuck down on them... all a bit of a mess. Going to have the lot up and start again with more quarries as we can't replicate the Painswick stone in anything that looks 400 years old and I won't have new. No great effort to take up the quarries as they were laid on puddled mud.

The replacements will be bedded and pointed in lime mortar over a solid base & dpm.

Salvage yards mostly have unglazed quarries, I believe that's how they generally were made in times gone by. However, we have seen some that are glazed and we like the richer colour.

I want to end up with a floor that doesn't need fussing over, it will tromped over by feet arriving from the garden. And not slippy.
So, glazed or unglazed? And if unglazed, to polish or paint with ??? or leave as is?

Would appreciate advice from those who've been there.

Ivor

 

[88v8]

Plan B.... with me, there's usually a Plan B, and further along the alphabet.

Delete the dpm. The house has had no dpm for 400 years, a design change too far.
Also delete the underfloor insulation, as that would be impervious.
And delete the 'solid base' as in concrete screed.
Scalpings, lime mortar, quarries pointed in lime mortar, so whatever moisture there might be in the earth (seems to be dry but who knows...) can escape.

Spent a couple of hours at a large salvage yard, palettes of quarries. Had visions of waltzing in, selecting 250 'good ones'.
Two dusty hours later.... those that haven't been cemented over or painted are the wrong size. Or, having given up on finding 250 and just seeking some to blend with our good ones, the right size but a variety of wrong thicknesses. No problem finding some if this were for our garden, but this is for the dining room. T'other half not happy with the open texture, the chips, think she had visions of something sleeker, like a worktop transported onto the floor.
Polish? Have visions of breaking my neck.
Retreat in disorder.

Will now waste more time looking at new tiles, which no doubt will look like new tiles.

Oh, but to answer my original question, they'll be unglazed so the floor can breathe.
Especially as PO has painted the external walls in Weathershield so whatever damp gets into the walls can only get out again via the inside and the floor, and out the windows and up the chimney.
Ventilation r us.

Ivor

 

[Moo]

I want to end up with a floor that doesn't need fussing over, it will tromped over by feet arriving from the garden. And not slippy.

So, a possible Plan C: Get rid of the red floor paint and traces of adhesive, and return them all to "au naturelle".

That's what I did on our ground floor, and not only have the flagstones and pamments stood up to over a decade of tramping and general abuse, but we saved ourselves quite a lot of money into the bargain.

 

[88v8]

I want to end up with a floor that doesn't need fussing over, it will tromped over by feet arriving from the garden. And not slippy.

So, a possible Plan C: Get rid of the red floor paint and traces of adhesive, and return them all to "au naturelle".

That's what I did on our ground floor, and not only have the flagstones and pamments stood up to over a decade of tramping and general abuse, but we saved ourselves quite a lot of money into the bargain.

Au naturelle would be a good start.
How did you remove the paint and adhesive?
If it were wood or metal I'd set to with stripper or white spirit or a hot air gun, but I'm afraid that the tiles would absorb the white spirit and be indelibly stained, ditto the paint stripper.

And quite a few have white chips, how can a red quarry show white when it's chipped...
Think I need to take a blunt chisel and have a good scrape at them, rather than just standing there going "oooooh these don't look very naiccce".

It's a reet pain working 100 miles from home, never have the right tools and tackle to hand, and gradually the aforesaid tools n tackle is getting dispersed between our two abodes, so I don't have the security blanket of an organised full tool kit in either location. Some of which I also need for working on the Landy that's carrying us slowly noisily and expensively to & fro.

Ivor

 

[Moo]

I used bolster and (wood) chisel for the cementy bits, and good ole water-washable Nitromors for the red paint. Did a small bit at a time, so it didn't stay long enough to soak in.
I applied the first coat of stripper with a brush, then scraped the paint off and immediately scrubbed it using lots of coarse wire wool. The second coat dealt with the bits I'd missed.
It was most satisfying!