Period character guide: Tiled floors

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I literally took a step back in time when I lifted the carpet in the hallway to my flat. There, dirty but virtually intact, was the original Victorian floor of encaustic and geometric tiles. After a bit of time spent replacing a few loose tiles and removing the grime, the floor was nearly as good as new and you could almost hear decades of fashionable heels clattering across the surface.

Tiled floors have their origins in medieval times when they were developed in abbeys. Simple baked clay tiles began to be produced on a considerable scale and from the 14th century floors paved with tiles were being used in other important buildings. They derived their yellow, brownish red and orange hues from the local clays and were often formed into geometric patterns.

By inlaying different coloured clays more elaborate tiles were created. An example of this can be seen at the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, where the tiled floor dates from the mid- 13th century. The fashion for inlaid tiles had died by the 16th century after the dissolution of the monasteries and it was only with the Victorian era that architects, looking to the past for inspiration, seized upon the design opportunities they offered. Minton started developing ‘encaustic’ tiles (see glossary below) in 1830 and they soon became fashionable, especially for hallways.

Preserving patterns
On a site where they were first manufactured in the 1860s, encaustic tiles are made today by Craven Dunnill Jackfield within the Jackfield Tile Museum in the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire. Gemma Ball, the company’s senior sales manager, explained to me that the first stage in producing an encaustic tile is to create a mould by casting plaster onto glass within a hardwood former.

With the glass and former removed, the pattern is scribed onto the smooth face of the plaster before being hand-carved into the surface. Once this is done the mould is put back into the former and clay is pressed into it by hand and then beaten with a mallet.

Gemma told me that the pattern is 7% to 10% bigger than the finished tile to take account of shrinkage and this varies depending on which clays are used. A huge number of secret clay ‘recipes’ have been developed for encaustic tiles and finding exactly the right one is vital in matching tiles for restoration work.

The clay is ‘struck off’ level with the mould and the back of the tile is stamped with the manufacturer’s mark and the date. The plaster mould, together with the clay, is removed from the former and left to dry for around thirty minutes before the clay tile is peeled off the plaster. The tile is laid on the bench with the raised pattern facing up so that slip clays of contrasting colours can be poured into the indentations of the pattern.

Some of the more complex designs produced at Craven Dunnill Jackfield require several colours and these have to be poured individually and allowed to dry before the next can be added. Once this process is complete, the tiles are left to dry for around 48 hours until they are ‘leather hard’. At that point the partially dried surplus clay is carefully scraped from the surface to reveal the inlaid pattern. The tile is then air dried for a further week or two before firing for three days at 1,000°C to 1,100°C in a kiln where the tiles stand on ceramic racks.

Repairing a floor
Before rushing in and disturbing an original tiled floor, especially a very old one, think carefully about what is really necessary. Relaying should be a last resort. Sometimes individual tiles become loose or broken. Usually they can be prized out carefully using a knife and relayed with appropriate adhesive. When trying to match original tiles either take an existing tile or a photograph and the exact dimensions with you.

Normally tiles were bedded in lime mortar and traditionally were butt jointed which meant there was no room for movement. Today a space of between 1.5mm and 2mm is often left as a grout line between tiles. Grey coloured grout is recommended because it minimises staining and is the most aesthetically pleasing and is a little less harsh than white.

Problems tend to occur with tiled floors due to the break up or movement of the substrate into which the tiles are bedded, so it is important resolve the problem before relaying the tiles. The reinstatement of large areas of an original floor is a skilled job and should be left to specialists.

Maintenance advice
Good tile manufacturers or suppliers will advise on repairs, cleaning solutions and suitable floor finishes. In Victorian times the tiles would have been largely untreated and over time would have taken on a sheen brought about by the polishing action of wear. Never use linseed oil to seal tiles as it traps dirt and is difficult to clean off.

Tiled floors generally require little maintenance, just regular sweeping or vacuuming to remove grit that may damage the surface. Warm water and a neutral sulphate-free detergent may be used sparingly to remove surface dirt. Avoid soaking an original floor and never use abrasives, although nylon scourers can be used with care. Specialist cleaning products are available for removing ingrained dirt and cement deposits.

Word for word: A tiled floor glossary:

• ENCAUSTIC This means fused colours. With encaustic tiles, contrasting liquid coloured clays are inlaid into the body of a plain clay tile while it is still damp and fuse during firing.
• GEOMETRIC TILES Small, plain clay tiles available in a variety of colours and straight edge shapes which may be combined to create patterns and are often used in conjunction with encaustics.
• MOSAIC TILES Smaller than other tiles, they were used to make pictures or designs and were particularly popular in early 19th century Regency and mid- to late-Victorian houses.
• QUARRY TILES Square, made of clay and common from the 18th century. They were relatively inexpensive and were used for practical rather than aesthetic purposes so are generally associated with areas such as kitchens and sculleries.

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WORDS ROGER HUNT PHOTOGRAPHS CRAVEN DUNNILL JACKFIELD; ROGER HUNT; LONDON MOSAIC; ORIGINAL STYLE
Featured in the May 2010 issue of Period Living