J
jonnyc
here are the french antique terracotta tiles we are laying now.i sorted through the whole six crates which took 3 days to grade in to 3 sizes .
the reason for this is that we need to get a good mix of all sizes so that the joints dont get too big or small.
also we found that there wre layers of different tiles reclaimed from different houses in different crates and needed to blend them all in.
to keep the floor from snaking and turning out of square with all the odd sizes, i take the average size tile of say 160mm and add 5mm for joint. i then mark square boxes on floor that are the size of six average tiles and joints.
it turned out i had 50 percent average of 160mm , 30 percent of 155mm and 20 percent of 165mm.
so in each box of 36 tiles we had 18 of 160mm ,11 of 155mm and 7 of 165mm.
one of the guys fixes a tile level in each corner of box and works his way up and down room.
the others loose lay the other 32 tiles in a box to check they lock in and fit before fixing.
it takes quite some time to keep turning tiles round to get them to interlock as many of the tiles may be 165mm one way and 155 the other way or 150 one way and 160mm the other.
when box looks fairly straight from both angles we simply bed tiles between corner tiles and they are automatically level.
the thickness varies alot from 15mm to 30 mm so it is easy to bed tiles between corner tiles adding more or less thickbed adhesive for each tile.
the more experienced of my guys who have probably laid over fifty of these floors would sort and lay 5 sq mts in a day.
we need to fix each box in a time span when all tiles can move as when box finished we move some of the edge tiles to box inside of chalk line or over so that you do not see a straight line grid when boxes are completed.
this is method i came up with over 15 years ago when i fixed my first old terracotta floor and got in a right mess.
the other advantage of laying a tile in corner of boxes is that many times i lay in sand/cement and adhesive in quite a thick bed .
i did a huge one in israel of about 500 sq mts and every room had diagonal tiling within grid pattern boxes and laid sqaure on outside.
i was able to set out tiles on corners of these bay grids and my other guys just had to fill in between and not even use a level just a long box section straightedge. i had them starting in different rooms at same time so we could make sure the tiles were evenly distributed in all rooms . otehrwise i would have had to go through 18000 tiles before we could even start.
you will see from photo that big variance in colour at moment but this is because some are much wetter than others and probably take about 3 weeks to dry before can seal and grout with washed westerham sand and white/gryey cement grout. then waxed.
you have a very good tile shop near the eisar river in munich not far from you that i have visited. they specialize in old reclaimed terracotta and stone and you could get very good work from them rainsco.
i will look up the company name for you if you like this tyope of work.
another great job from you again.
we will be doing the next room next month laid on diagonal and double border. this will be connected to kichen tiling now by terracotta steps
