tomettes

[brit]

Can anybody advise on what to lay these tiles on other than dirt floors and what to grout with and also what can I seal them with , any ideas?

[Théière]

What would you like to lay them on? I would suggest a PU foam insulation.

Grout wise, probably the sika polymer used for external patios as it is easy to brush in and air cures so no water involved hence no staining of the tomettes.

Sealing, traditionally they use oil thinned with white spirit, Star wax make some good sealers which last a reasonable time, less reliant on having the tomettes breath if they are on insulation rather than earth so a sealer maybe ok.

[just john]

Mine was  laid onto a 70mm cement screed on top of Celotex foam insulation, using colle weber dur gris; after setting they were grouted with a 3-1 mix of fine graded gold sand (shot blast sand) and lime (Chaux St Astier). The grout looked a bit of mess during grouting but all wiped off with a wet sponge as normal afterwards, and now looks great with a pastel gold colour. Final treatment is a 50/50% mix of Linseed oil and Turps, (lots, it just keeps soaking it up for about 4/5 coats). Odd marks were removed with some of the sand rubbed over the mark to clean off.

I bought new tiles from the original 200 year old factory still making them from the original clay quarry, on the D19 in Charente (half way between Juillaguet and Montignac le coq) not cheap but wide range of sizes, patterns and colours available direct, and as used by Listed monuments.