I have just bought 500 Victorian terra cotta floor tiles (ex kitchen) that were layed in 1905. They measure 6"x6"x1". They were originally layed on sand, probably 1 cement to 10 sand, the bulk still have the sand attached, but I think I can remove this OK with water and a wire brush. The problem is the grout. How do I remove the grout from around the side edges?. I have tried to chip it off but I always damage the face of the tile. I am sure I am not the first person to lay reclaimed tiles, so how do you professionals do it?? AND just to to be sure, how do I lay them, sand & cement or do I use a modern adhesive?. They are going in the hall way.
I've used exactly the same tiles for hearths for woodburners. Mine were very grubby, a little chipped but very little mortar on them. Scrubbing brought them up sufficiently well for my needs. I laid mine with a standard lime mortar mix as both bedding and grout and found this easily took up any irregularities in the edges - however I was looking for a rustic overall appearance. If the mortar/grout is too hard to chip off or the damage is unaccepatble, you could try an angle grinder - but it's horribly dusty and slow.
You could try brick acid (which will also remove any lime). I would try just one tile first, fully rinse, and dry, to check it doesn't do anything nasty to the tile.
Last time I cleaned up a few tiles for a repair I used an electric scraper. Makes for reasonable progress without needing to push it hard enough to do damage. But... it was a slow job. Hopefully you'll have lime on them rather than cement, much softer and should go at a pace.
I'm told soaking brick acid into the stuff weakens the bond. Not tried it, and dont know what if anything it might do to the tiles.
One things for sure, you've bought yourself many hours of work.
"cb2171" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@n76g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:
As others have commented, you're in for some hard work. But I suspect that the major problem you will have is not in cleaning them up, but in laying them satisfactorily given they will almost certainly have wear patterns. One other thing - do you mean terracotta? Or are they quarry tiles?
Anyway, to answer your questions:
- soak them in water, clean them up with a brush, then soak them in brick acid, then give them a final clean up and rinse. There should be no problems with this, and the acid is not expensive - but I'm not sure of the volume you will use for 500 tiles...
- you could possibly lay them on a thick sand/cement mix, but it's v difficult to get them dead level. While you may think you would like a certain rustic effect, unless you are a professional tiler (or close to it) what you will end up with is something that looks amateurish (BTDTGTTS). Use a modern cement-based tile adhesive.
As an aside, in my current house (early Victorian, now almost at the end of a restoration project) we used new quarry tiles in the kitchen, utility room and cloakroom. The major manufacturer (Daniel Platt) went out of business in 2005, but we purchased a considerable quantity at £10 + VAT / m**2 from the company that bought the bankrupt stock. They had shed loads of an otherwise difficult to find and expensive product. Not sure what they've got left, but have a look here:
I suspect (but don't know for certain) that the so-called 'Crown' range is the remnants of the ex-Platt stock - you could phone and ask. Last year when I bought they were still branded as Daniel Platt.
For a different project, I used new quarry tiles from B&Q - these were actually Ruabon tiles in a B&Q box. Again, these were v cheap (special offer, £3 per box IIRC, bought all they had) and I suspect B&Q no longer sell them. Pity, but stuff like this is just so old fashioned...
Now I remember, that is the key. Soaking them overnight made the cement quite soft. Not tried it but it may then be doft enough to knock off with a pressure washer, and that would be easy & fast.
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