What are pammets like to live with?

[Zebra]

I have a concrete slab in my main downstairs room. I've taken it up arond the edges, and in a couple of places found remnants of the original floor another 6 inches down. It's brick, but from what I've seen there's not enough of it left to restore. And anyway, if the whole room was another 6 inches lower I'd have to create another stair, and external ground levels would then be too high again.......
Thinking of taking the screed off the top, putting in a breathing limecrete strip around the edges, and then having a breathable finish.
What are pammets like to live with? Do they gather a lot of dirt in the joins? Do they give off dust? Are they hard to keep clean? Are they so soft that they get damaged easily? Do they make the floor uneven so your furniture wobbles?
I'd really like to have a wood floor. Not very period I know. (Better than the vinyl tiles that were there when I moved in!) But the problem with wood is that with no damp membrane, it might warp. I thought about a strip of flags or pammets round the edges and wood in the middle, but I'm not sure if that would be odd. I'd like something with a warm feel rather than slate which has a cold feel.
I need to decide what I'm going to put on the floor now because the builder is about to start on demolishing the nasty UPVC front extension and replacing it with something more sympathetic. The floor of the new part will run straight through to the floor of the original house, so I need to give him instructions for a finished floor level.
Many thanks for any pointers!

 

[robgil]

I'd have pamments anyday.

 

[Zebra]

Welcome back Robgil! Please share more - why pamments? What is it that's good about them?

 

[robgil]

Well , they look authentic and within keeping in an old property, just my cup of tea really.
A company called Norfolk Pamments close to Diss make and sell them and you can choose your own, they are nice but not really as nice as the ones you find in reclaimation yards , if you can find them.
They are commonly called floor bricks around these parts.
Second hand ones take a lot of work to clean and get them in decent condition. They need sealing but there is a product called oxy something that doesnt discolour them, or you can use linseed oil.
I am currently cleaning 500 floorbricks for my bathroom and it's a proper pain, but well worth it.

Be careful if buying in batches, there are a few different sizes.

This is my kitchen floor , more a yellow brick than a pamment, I might not be able to save this floor , but I'm going to try.

The right kind of brick can be used just as pamments are used. I am toying with a yellow brick idea, victorian bricks found in the cambridge area look ideal for floors which is what I think my kitchen floor is , or it could be bricks from Woolpit.

 

[robgil]

Just to add, try not to buy cut bricks , they look stupid in my opinion.

 

[Zebra]

I like the buff pamments, like these:
http://www.salvo.co.uk/images/userimgs/29078/Buff-pamments_64465_2.jpg

 

[Feltwell]

Zebra, there's an old debate on here as to if some items are square pamments or old quarry tiles. I suspect it's a regional thing and there is a big grey area - what is called a quarry tile in some parts is called a pamment it others, especially East Anglia. Others on here disagree and think I'm talking cobblers, nothing new there anyway :wink:

Anyway, back to the point, having looked at your picture, have you tried looking for quarry tiles on Fleabay and the like? They aren't always red, you can get yellow, and they are relatively plentiful and cheap I've found. Old Victorian or earlier quarry tiles are nothing at all like new or 1950's/60's quarry tiles (which I think are hideous) - they are much more uneven in size, colour and texture, much like the items in the picture you posted up.

Robgil, hope you can save that kitchen floor, it's lovely.

 

[Zebra]

Yes, I've looked on Salvoweb, and found that there are plenty available. I haven't bought any yet, because the implications of it mean taking out the existing slab, possibly having a new one (building control involvement? limecrete?) in order the gain the two inches of depth that the pammets would need, to have the floor level back where it is now, which is six inches above where it once was, and in order not to mess up the stairs. Nothing's ever easy is it?
I might just be brave and take out the entire slab, see what's left of the original floor, and take it from there........ (gulp!)

But in terms of choosing pamments, I dug up lots under the hardcore of the yard and in the garden and various places. They might or might not have come from here, and there are different types, colours, thicknesses, so I have chosen my favourite and shall try to match it.

 

[Schoolmarm]

I might just be brave and take out the entire slab, see what's left of the original floor, and take it from there........ (gulp!)

.

Do it!!!!

 

[Zebra]

Well my sister came to help, and we took out the entire top layer of the concrete floor ie the screed, and took out a bit more down to soil around the edges. There is no immaculate original brick floor underneath, sadly. It would have been nice to go lower but we went down as low as the incoming mains electric cable.
I'll get the builder to make the new finished floor level up to where the incoming mains electric cable is, then I could put the pamments on top.

 

[LadyArowana]

Well my sister came to help, and we took out the entire top layer of the concrete floor ie the screed, and took out a bit more down to soil around the edges. There is no immaculate original brick floor underneath, sadly. It would have been nice to go lower but we went down as low as the incoming mains electric cable.
I'll get the builder to make the new finished floor level up to where the incoming mains electric cable is, then I could put the pamments on top.

You have a very useful family, I remember your Mum helping out with French drain suggestions...... it must be the herd instinct I suppose.

 

[Feltwell]

it must be the herd instinct I suppose.

They've all earnt their stripes by the sound of it. They know what to do - no crossing them, it's all black and white as far as they're concerned.

Please submit your hopefully better Zebra-based puns below

 

[LadyArowana]

it must be the herd instinct I suppose.

They've all earnt their stripes by the sound of it. They know what to do - no crossing them, it's all black and white as far as they're concerned.

Please submit your hopefully better Zebra-based puns below

She must b-e-quids in with all the free labour.

 

[Feltwell]

Don't get it Lady A. It is early, and it is Sunday.

 

[LadyArowana]

Don't get it Lady A. It is early, and it is Sunday.

I was being a bit obtuse and stretching things ( because someone already made all the good puns ) but Zebras belong to Equidae, the horse family, and "equid" refers to any member of this family.

 

[Moo]

What are pammets like to live with? Do they gather a lot of dirt in the joins? Do they give off dust? Are they hard to keep clean? Are they so soft that they get damaged easily? Do they make the floor uneven so your furniture wobbles?

Our pamments are 12" square, about an inch thick, and multi-coloured.
They're laid straight on to earth and grouted with lime mortar. We've never noticed a problem with dirt in the joins, but our standards may well be lower than yours.
Not hard to keep clean; a weekly mop over is all they get.
Twelve years of hard wear hasn't caused any damage (to the pamments themselves, I mean - the same can't be said for anything that gets dropped on them!)
Unevenness would only have occurred, I suspect, if they'd been badly laid in the first place. Nothing wobbles in our pammented breakfast room.

As far as I'm concerned they're a wonderful floor.