Restoring brick floors in barns

[R King]

We are in the process of converting our two barns into residential accommodation. As we are trying to do everything "properly", we would like to lift and clean the brick floors and re-lay them onto limecrete.

Does anybody know how to clean these bricks considering they have around 250 years of cows p*ss soaked into them? Is there a way of avoiding nasty niffs, and could we put underfloor heating under them?

 

[Gervase]

Most of the smell will go once the bricks have been lifted and exposed to the air. I wouldn't do much more than give them a scrub with plain water before relaying them, as I've found that most old organic soiling tends hardly to smell at all - even human! I've dug through quite a few sties, byres and middens in my time, and the worst I've found was a dank, clay-like smell that soon disappeared once the oxygen had got to the surface. If the cow urine is fresh, though, it might take longer for the smell to go - leaving them outside in the sun and rain for a couple of weeks might be called for.

As for underfloor heating, I don't see why not, altthough the thickness of the bricks may be a limiting factor. If they're nearly as thick as your limecrete slab, you may find that an awful lot of energy is going into heating your floor slab rather than your feet!

 

[R King]

Thanks for your help. I guess if I went and bought a load of reclaimed bricks they probably would have been lifted from a similar type of building anyway. The original bricks have a lovely patina on them so it would have been a real shame to loose them.

As for the underfloor heating, hurrah it won't work too well as that is another expense we can avoid.