Quarry tiles

[Anonymous]

I have just recently bought a house and under carpets we pulled up about 500 large quarry tiles and about 200 small quarry tiles,
They are in excellent condition.
If any one is intrested in buying them please dont hesistate to reply.
Price on application.
Based in the lincoln area

 

[Anonymous]

Why did you take them up, and why do you want to get rid of them? Most of us would be cracking open a bottle of fizz if we uncovered such a treasure.

 

[Anonymous]

Never mind. ( more history gone in a skip).

 

[Anonymous]

'appen I could use some in Lincolnshire
biff@biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk

 

[Anonymous]

The reasonI have taken these up is because The floating floor underneath them were dampa nd I have had to have my floor re concreted and quarry tiles dont sit on concrete well

 

[Anonymous]

Gosh - the sub-floor must be wringing wet to need such drastic action. Did you find out where all that dampness is coming from?

Mind you, you didn't say just how damp it is **, or who advised you that concrete was the only solution. Or, in fact, who told you that quarry tiles can't be laid on a concrete base. (Or how much all that advice and concrete has cost you.....?)

** It will still be just as damp underneath the concrete.

 

[Anonymous]

Its an old terrace floor and the quarry tiles we layed on the wood floor which was soaking wetit was not even safe to stand on we had council over and they told us this was the only way we would get permisson to lift the dampness, and quarry tiles arent flat like normal tiles so they wont lie flat

 

[Anonymous]

wait a year. you'll have damp up your walls now that you've poured concrete, unless you've gotten rid of the source of all that water. and don't kid yourself that damproofing will fix it - it'll work its way around special plasters in anothwer year or so, and injection dampproofing rarely does much to stop it - especially with a concrete slab.

sounds really wierd having quarry tiles on a suspended wood floor, though. i doubt they were original, and they may have contributed to the damp if the floor was unventilated. quarry tiles *can* be laid just fine on concrete, mind - you just need to use the right type of adhesive. natural slate is far from smooth, too.

 

[Anonymous]

Did they give you any advice about the possible cause or causes of the dampness, and suggest ways in which these could be put right?
If they didn't, they need their knuckles rapped fairly sharply. Until and unless you get rid of the cause of dampness nothing you do will help the situation long-term.
I'm no expert (though this site is teeming with them, and I can't think why they're leaving me to offer my amateur threepence all alone) - but if you had a suspended wooden floor that was rotten with damp, just shoving down some concrete won't make the damp go away - it'll just send it somewhere else.

Anyway, it's too late now, but at least you're doing the decent thing and trying to make sure the tiles find good home !

 

[Anonymous]

WHAT WE HAVE DONE IS TAKEN ALL THE WOODEN FLOOR UP KNOCKED A METER HIGH OF PLASTER OF THE WALLS DUG 2 FOOT DOWN INTO THE GROUND PUT 5 INCHES OF HARCORE 4INCHES OF DAMP PROOF 4 INCHES OF PLASTIC SHEET 4 INCHES OF CONCRETE 4INCHES OF POLOSTYERENE, AND CHIPBOARD ON TO. THIS HOUSE IS A TERRACE HOUSE WHICH HAD NO CENTAL HEATING IN AT ALL AND HAS BEEN EMPTY FOR A YEAR SO ITS ONLY EXPECTED TO BE DAMP!!!! THE QUARRY TILES ARE ORIGINAL AS THE WERE IN THE SOIL WE DUG UP OVER 5OO!

 

[Anonymous]

oh dear.

also, WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING??

 

[Anonymous]

"THIS HOUSE IS A TERRACE HOUSE WHICH HAD NO CENTAL HEATING IN AT ALL AND HAS BEEN EMPTY FOR A YEAR SO ITS ONLY EXPECTED TO BE DAMP!!!!"

So why weren't you advised to put in central heating and
live in it for a bit?
Unless you had/have something like badly leaking gutters or a leaking drain under the house (in which case that would need to be sorted) the poor old house would have dried out naturally and you would have been snug as a bug in the proverbial rug.
Mind you, the builders would have been considerably poorer, but you can't have everything.

 

[Anonymous]

As the layers julia describes are clearly impossible,ie. four inches of damp proof and four inches of plastic??? I suggest this may be an interloper from under a bridge.

 

[Anonymous]

I am Quite offended by you all All I have done is advetised quarry tiles why dont yo all let me get on with MY house.

Would any one like to Buy some very old quarry tiles if so please feel free to reply

 

[Anonymous]

Julia

It is a shame that you find the replies to your posts offensive - it is a greater shame that you did not consult this site before you had this work done. We are custodians of our old buildings, and our duty is to repair them with care, and not to make changes that could be damaging to the fabric or are irreversible. The repairs that you have made are probably a bit of both. We have just spent weeks digging up a concrete floor in our basement, and removing all the layers of crud that were supposed to prevent damp (including cement render/tanking on the walls). This concrete was laid in the 70's, can you guess what it did? The ground floor walls above the basement became damp too. The concrete floor forced the dampness up stairs. Since we re-laid quarry tiles in our basement, and have kept it warm and ventilated, none of the rooms (above and below) are damp. Boy did it take some time to remove all of the cement and tanking though - and my guess is that a future custodian of your house will be doing exactly the same one day. I could have done with your tiles a few weeks ago - good luck with your sale. Have you thought of making an ad on Ebay?

 

[Anonymous]

Julia, I wasn't attacking you, honestly. If you read my posts again you'll see that my quarrel is with the ignorant and avaricious people who have been giving you such bad (and no doubt very expensive) advice.
What's done is done, but I do hope that through this thread you will have learned enough to benefit you (and your house) in the future.
Next time you need to have work done on your house, please post a question here first. You'll get expert advice from people who care and know about old houses, and who don't stand to benefit financially in any way.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats fine but I have had to do this because of the state of this house I had to do it by building regulation. I had to call the local council to find out what I could do to building regulations and this was the only option I was given

 

[Anonymous]

The trouble with talking to someone from the council is that you don't always get all the options.

The Building Regulations are partly law, what you have to do, and partly advice, what you could do to obey the law. Council officials don't always make the distinction clear. The law says you have to do this:

C2. The floors, walls and roof of the building shall adequately protect the building and people who use the building from harmful effects caused by:
(a) ground moisture;

How you go about it is up to you but if you follow the technical solutions in the Approved Document the Building Control Officer ticks the box and leaves you alone. If you obey the law by another method you have to demonstrate that your method works. So for a quarry tile floor resting on mother earth you may have to demonstrate that the local ground conditions, drainage, ventilation, heating and humidity are such that "The floors... shall adequately protect the building and people who use the building from harmful effects caused by:
(a) ground moisture".

By the way, Julia, have you decided how much you want for those quarry tiles yet?