Victorian brick / quarry floor

[joe_thomas]

When we moved into our Victorian cottage, we soon realised hidden under the horrid carpet and concrete screed there were lovely original floor bricks/tiles.

That said, after decades of abuse they’re not in great shape. We’ve given them a good scrub with stuff brushes and mild detergent, but haven’t done anything more.

We really want to keep them, but would like them to be in a more acceptable state.

Some are fine. Others are cracked(we don’t mind that) others have larger gaps between them than others. Some have black stuff on them, others have remnants of concrete.

Any suggestions?

We had considered (when building an extension) to remove the floor, lay a limecrete base and then replace the bricks with nice slabs. But if we can just tidy up the existing floor we’d probably just leave it as is.

Thanks!

 

[Drayton]

Have a look at the replies to this recent thread https://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/threads/brick-floor-cleaning-restoration.18199/

 

[joe_thomas]

Thanks Drayton. I had a look at that earlier so will give a few things a try.

Any suggestions for the more ‘mechanical’ issues? Some are missing chunks for example, or they’ve dropped a cm or so lower. Any way to ‘patch’ these in a sympathetic way? Maybe lift and replace with bricks from a less conspicuous area of the room..?

 

[MatthewC]

Are those bricks or tiles? Tiles, of course, are designed to be laid on the ground and should have some sort of decent surface, but most of those look like ordinary building bricks which have no decent surface and tend to deteriorate when used as flooring as they remain damp.

If they are old (as they appear) then they will be some odd size and you will have difficulty finding correct size replacements. I would hesitate before lifting any brick that isn't going to be replaced within minutes by a better one; they appear to have been very well laid, IMHO.

 

[joe_thomas]

Thanks Matthew: yes they are "bricks". I've often struggled to find any similar reference online or in books. They're laid on earth, and most are well laid, but on one side of the room they're a bit more spaced out and the gaps.

Ideally I'd like to clean then up as best I can and leave them. They've got such character! But some might be considered too far gone.

 

[malcolm]

I've been experimenting with brick acid to try to clean cement stains and cement from old pamments. My pamments are yet to be fitted so I can leave them sitting in a tub of acid for a while and give them a quick scrape every few minutes, but it does seem effective when brushed onto the surface and doesn't run down the sides if you are careful (seems It doesn't work on tile adhesive). After acid I'm using a tub of water to clean the pamments. Repeated wiping or mopping would probably dilute the acid on a floor but it might need to be neutralised with something alkaline.

Those bricks are very closely jointed and it would be difficult to pull one up intact. The broken ones would probably need to be broken up before they could be removed. If you have an area that will be hidden under a cupboard then it's a good idea to pull some out from there to replace the broken ones. Once the first is out the next should come out more easily. Would be good to fill back the donor area with something that matches as best as you can find.

It's nice to see a floor being preserved. Leaving it down and doing the repairs in situ would be the quickest and nicest way.

 

[joe_thomas]

Thanks Malcolm.

I’ve lifted a few bricks before while investigating foundation depth (considering glasscrete floor in future…) so it wouldn’t be difficult to lift them. There’s no mortar between the bricks. Some are close in the centre of the room, but more loose and gappy in other places.

I’ll do some more experimentation!

 

[mardinor]

If you can lift them undamaged, could you reverse some of the non-cracked bricks? In other words, reset them face-down? Common practice for spalled external house bricks, but not sure if these will have deteriorated underneath from contact with the bedding.

 

[Kearn]

If you can lift them undamaged, could you reverse some of the non-cracked bricks? In other words, reset them face-down? Common practice for spalled external house bricks, but not sure if these will have deteriorated underneath from contact with the bedding.

Likely pavers/paviours intended for floor use only have one good top side…

 

[housewinnie]

Stratigically placed breathable runners or rugs.

 

[88v8]

Even if the floor were perfect, Turkey rugs &/or runners are indeed a homely addition.
Felt underlay is breathable and the thinner stuff won't make too much of a bump around the edge.

 

[TJM]

I’m new to this forum, so apologies if I’ve placed this post in the wrong place. I have recently moved into a Victorian townhouse and need advice re Victorian quarry tiles. The tiles are in quite a bad state so my preference is to tile over them. I know that I need to use breathable materials, but I have a few questions. First question, is it true that the tiles only breathe through the grout so if I use a breathable adhesive and grout, any kind of replacement tiles can be used? Second question, I’m not sure what the existing tiles are laid on, but if I use lime create over the existing tiles as a base for the new tiles will the floor still be able to breathe therefore avoiding spreading damp to the walls. Any advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated.

 

[joe_thomas]

Hey @TJM
As far as I'm aware, it's more of a whole-floor-thing than individual elements.
Sure, grout might breath more, simply because it's a less massive material, so vapour will permeate faster/more easily. That said, the more layers you add that aren't sympathetic, the worse it might get.

With tiling over an exisiting floor, be very careful with the type of adhesive/fixing you use, as some that are listed as "breathable" really aren’t. I recently emailed Kerakoll, who make "breathable" products, and this was their response:

I would indeed advice the use of a lime based mortar (such as one from Mike Wye) - the reason being, whilst our H40 Gel adhesive is breathable, it will possibly not give the levels of breathability you require in this circumstance, the same with the grout.

So keep it lime, and use something like clay, limestone tiles/slabs.

Also, if you're laying on an existing floor, it'll need to be sound, so no loose existing bricks ideally.

Out of interest, how bad are they? Best solution is to keep them as is...

 

[Toby Newell]

Hey @TJM
As far as I'm aware, it's more of a whole-floor-thing than individual elements.
Sure, grout might breath more, simply because it's a less massive material, so vapour will permeate faster/more easily. That said, the more layers you add that aren't sympathetic, the worse it might get.

With tiling over an exisiting floor, be very careful with the type of adhesive/fixing you use, as some that are listed as "breathable" really aren’t. I recently emailed Kerakoll, who make "breathable" products, and this was their response:

I would indeed advice the use of a lime based mortar (such as one from Mike Wye) - the reason being, whilst our H40 Gel adhesive is breathable, it will possibly not give the levels of breathability you require in this circumstance, the same with the grout.

So keep it lime, and use something like clay, limestone tiles/slabs.

Also, if you're laying on an existing floor, it'll need to be sound, so no loose existing bricks ideally.

Out of interest, how bad are they? Best solution is to keep them as is...

as per my original posts + to remove bitumin you will need a DCM solvent stripper and lots of patience, HCl won't do it.

The lithofin sealer I mention is somewhat breathable an updated impregnating oil plus wax. You can fill with a lime based grout, fine sand would vacuum out.

 

[mardinor]

@TJM. Photo please. You'll be amazed how those tiles scrub up or can be replaced.