Victorian floor

[Westholme]

While I summon up the courage to try brick acid on some of my recently uncovered quarry tiles, I've had a look at the toilet floor and on lifting new and old lino I found it was covered in a thin layer of cement, most of which I removed during a couple of days of toil without damage.

Outside WC before.jpg

So, in the last month I have uncovered geometric tiles in the hallway, quarry tiles (7¾" x 7¾") in the dining room and kitchen and blue brick paviours (12" x 6") in the toilet. The above photo was taken from what will be a new lean-to extension and I know exactly what to use on its floor now!

The after photo was too big to attach but nearly all the cement has gone now.

Hey I've got the blue/black bricks too - just turned them over.

I have six intact 12" x 6" blue brick paviours spare, so I could replace some in the toilet if necessary. The outside path uses 11½" x 5¾" paviours and I estimate about half of the original total were broken up as hardcore for a concrete path (now mostly removed).

All of the paviours at these two sizes are 2" thick and have an indentation on the bottom, which means they can't be turned over. I bought some smaller 10" x 5" paviours to lay crosswise where there were two borders next to the house and most of these also have a concave bottom.

Are your paviours inside the house? Are they laid on dirt? What's between them, dirt too or dirty sand?

 

[Pennyviz]

While I summon up the courage to try brick acid on some of my recently uncovered quarry tiles, I've had a look at the toilet floor and on lifting new and old lino I found it was covered in a thin layer of cement, most of which I removed during a couple of days of toil without damage.

Outside WC before.jpg

So, in the last month I have uncovered geometric tiles in the hallway, quarry tiles (7½" x 7½") in the dining room and kitchen and blue brick paviours (12" x 6") in the toilet. The above photo was taken from what will be a new lean-to extension and I know exactly what to use on its floor now!

The after photo was too big to attach but nearly all the cement has gone now.

Hey I've got the blue/black bricks too - just turned them over.

I have six intact 12" x 6" blue brick paviours spare, so I could replace some in the toilet if necessary. The outside path uses 11½" x 5¾" paviours and I estimate about half of the original total were broken up as hardcore for a concrete path (now mostly removed).

All of the paviours at these two sizes are 2" thick and have an indentation on the bottom, which means they can't be turned over. I bought some smaller 10" x 5" paviours to lay crosswise where there were two borders next to the house and most of these also have a concave bottom.

Are your paviours inside the house? Are they laid on dirt? What's between them, dirt too or dirty sand?

Ah mine are bricks not paviours, They were laid inside next to the back door where there might have been an entrance porch at some point. They were laid in and on black mortar (which is everywhere in this house, probably as the result of an ochre mine in the village reaching peak production in the late 1800's which is when I think a lot of this work was done).

 

[Westholme]

Hey I've got the blue/black bricks too - just turned them over.

I have six intact 12" x 6" blue brick paviours spare, so I could replace some in the toilet if necessary. The outside path uses 11½" x 5¾" paviours and I estimate about half of the original total were broken up as hardcore for a concrete path (now mostly removed).

All of the paviours at these two sizes are 2" thick and have an indentation on the bottom, which means they can't be turned over. I bought some smaller 10" x 5" paviours to lay crosswise where there were two borders next to the house and most of these also have a concave bottom.

Are your paviours inside the house? Are they laid on dirt? What's between them, dirt too or dirty sand?

Ah mine are bricks not paviours, They were laid inside next to the back door where there might have been an entrance porch at some point. They were laid in and on black mortar (which is everywhere in this house, probably as the result of an ochre mine in the village reaching peak production in the late 1800's which is when I think a lot of this work was done).

My paviours in the toilet start inside the house and between them and the outside of the external wall I have nine blue bricks laid as headers on their sides, so that the toilet floor is higher than the kitchen floor. The width of the doorway between the brickwork happens to be 30½" but was designed to be a whole number of bricks on their sides wide enough for a door, I think.

 

[Westholme]

Update on my hallway:

Cushion floor concealing original tiles
http://oi68.tinypic.com/mab3id.jpg

Original tiles exposed and cleaned
http://oi68.tinypic.com/oh2reu.jpg

Worst part of the floor
One brown square has lost some of its coating, adjoining buff triangle cracked
http://oi67.tinypic.com/xnw482.jpg

The tenants who rented the house before I bought it covered these beautiful tiles because "they thought they were cold to walk on"!

 

[Feltwell]

Update on my hallway:

Cushion floor concealing original tiles

The tenants who rented the house before I bought it covered these beautiful tiles because "they thought they were cold to walk on"!

What the hell goes through the mind of these people? That floor is gorgeous! (better than the carpet in the last shot :wink: ) And in such good condition as well. Still, by putting cushion floor on it, they've done it no real harm - none of the usual horrors of nailing gripper strips (or trying to!) into the tiles, coating them in adhesive, digging big trenches across to lay pipes / cables, etc etc.


"Too cold" = "man up", no matter what your gender! What's wrong with slippers if it bothered them eh?


It's quite amusing when my kids go round to their friend's houses, most of which are modern-ish. They always come back complaining that it's hot there!

 

[plasticpigeon]

I put an insulated limecrete floor in my kitchen, covered with ropey quarries (unfortunately they are from all over the place so look pretty ancient and battered) and my 5 year old is always complaining it is cold even though it isn't. I'm hoping he will learn that he doesn't need to be surrounded by cotton wool to be happy but it is an uphill struggle.