Clay quarry tiles as doorstep?

[Tim S]

Earlier on, I rescued quite a few intact quarry tiles (1950's) from a floor:

're about 9x9" and 1.5" thick, clay.

I'm thinking of cleaning them up and using them as a new back doorstep.

One layer will sit across the inner and outer leaves of the cavity wall in the doorway, becoming the door threshold step.

I don't see much point in putting a DPC below them as it will hinder me trying to get them to stay down - better in this respect to mortar them directly to the bricks so they don't fall off.

Being solid clay I don't see a problem with them tracking damp from one side to the other, especially as they will be installed at the normal DPC height, not above any existing DPC.

Anyone see why this would be a bad idea?

If so, anyone got a method of fixing them with a DPC so they won't fall off?

Ta

Tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well if they are glazed, OK, but unglazed quarries are deeply hyrgoscopic..

Nothing says uyou have to use plastic as a DPPC..what about some slates, and some mortarloaded with whatever it is..PVA?? to make it waterproof?

Because concrete is waterproof, if made right. By and large the lack of waterproofness in mortars is down to low cement content, leading to porosity. Increase cement content and add something to sit in the micropores, and it should be juts fine by itself. But a BCO would like to see some slates as well I think.

[Bob Minchin]

If these tiles are the door threshold, how to you propose to stop rain being driven under the door? You could set a weather bar into the tiles but keeping that securely in place might be a problem. I thought it was normal to have the interior floor covering the inner skin , any steps on the outer skin and an proper sill bridging the cavity. The lst few external doors I've put in, I've built the frame myself and router a 1/4" groove in the sill and set in a strip of stainless steel to form the weather bar.

In your case maybe a length of SS angle screwed into the base and quarry tiles either side?

Bob

[Tim S]

Bob Minchin coughed up some electrons that declared:

That's a very good question...

Fiddly - can't see how to do it... The internal floor is level with the bricks (about 2 courses over the foundation). I don't have a lot of height to play with. Weather bar on the door would help too...

That's a good idea. I was trying to avoid wood.

Angle grinder! Seriously - I could run a fine slot along the top of the tiles, about 1/4 deep and do the same - epoxy a strip of SS in... Would brass strip do (easier to get)?

I can see how that would work.

Cheers

Tim

[Tim S]

The Natural Philosopher coughed up some electrons that declared:

OK - not sure, mine do appear to have a satin/shiny surface so I guess they must be glazed...

Thanks - all good ideas. Hadn't thought of slate. Also, I can make a waterproof SBR mix mortar (still have some left from the screeding).

BCO won't care what I do, so I'm looking for "good enough" ideas :)

Cheers

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If an exposed position, a plain weather bar may not stop rain being forced past it by wind. I had this problem on the door to my roof terrace. Finally fixed by fitting a Stormguard weather bar and seals to the sides of the door. Of course if it's a solid floor a little water may not matter. Mine is a suspended one - and the water brought down the ceiling below.

[F]

Sorry to butt in on this but if the rain comes down hard and from a particular direction it somehow finds a way past the weather bar and under one of our doors, or down the sides of the frame and then under. I'm not sure which. So, could you point me in the direction of the 'seals' you refer to please.

TIA

[Stuart Noble]

There seems to be some innovative thresholds around now to cope with wheelchair access. Might be possible to set this into the tiles somehow.

I can't find is a pvc or white aluminium weather bar (the type that is just fixed to the door).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I got them in a large B&Q. They are aluminium with a rubber blade. Fitted to the side of the frame so the door presses on the rubber when closed.

100% effective, in conjunction with the StormGuard - also from B&Q.

[Bob Minchin]

Brass might go a bit greenish in time but would work. I get my stainless strip from Metalsupermarket - just depends if you have one near you or otherwise a sympathetic non ferrous metal stock holder who will cut you a bit off a 4-6m length.

For some reason metalsupermarket.com is misbehaving at the moment and re-directing to UK2 web hosting???

Bob

[Tim S]

Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:

Oooh - these look nice:

can see that working quite well and no angle grinder (shame).

Thanks for the tipoff.

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I can see that working quite well and no angle grinder (shame).

How are you going to cut it to length? ;-)

I have a cheap Lidl angle grinder left in a cheap Lidl angle grinder stand which is ideal for cutoff jobs like that. Since my hack sawing is only rivalled by dribble.

The StormGuard includes a rubber seal on its face that the door closes onto as well as draining away any water that gets past it.

But it would be nice to have a method of sealing an outside door while leaving a flat floor. Some form of movable seals, I suppose. Like they have on TV studio scene dock doors. Operated by compressed air on some.

My front door is set back into the house by about 3 ft which helps protect it from driving rain. And the back door I changed to sliding patio doors (from Screwfix) and they're very well sealed

[The Natural Philosopher]

Porch is what you want then.

OR a really good anti-draught door seal with the equvalent of car door rubbber seals.

[Phil L]

Firstly, they will look terrible as a doorstep as they have square edges - proper quarry tiles for steps are readilly available and they have rounded edged ones and also double rounded edged ones for the sides, they are available from any decent tile outlet and they are quite cheap.

Secondly, I can't imagine what possible use a DPC would be under tiles - what's the worst that could happen? - yes, that's right - the tiles get wet, but considering they are open to the elelments on top, it's irrelevant.

Neat PVA the entire area to be covered, then mix sand/cement @ 2:1 and use as tile adhesive and grout. You can dab a blob of neat PVA to the back of each tile prior to laying....when all done and grouted, wash over with damp sponge so that no visible chunks of mortar are present. The following day it will dry white, so give a light wipe over with boiled linseed oil on a rag.

HTH

[Tim S]

Phil L coughed up some electrons that declared:

This is valid. Just trying to be green and reuse some materials... It's is true that the tiles on the front step are faced off with a soldier course in brick.

I was worried in the reverse direction - taking damp into the inner leaf.

That's very useful - I didn't know about the linseed oil trick. Thanks!

[F]

Thanks. Looks like an outing to b&Q then.