Quarry Tiled Floor

[jo buckler]

In our house in france the floor is mainly unsealed quarry tiles.  We are contemplating taking them up and having a dpc put in, but I have heard that this will only drive the damp up the walls.  Does anyone have any experience as to the best thing to do.  Our house is built of stone.  If the tiles are to stay can anyone recommend a product/s to clean and seal the tiles if this is our best option.

[Tg1]

I don't know if the same applies in France as construction methods may be different but we have a quarry tiled floor laid directly on the old earth floor here in UK.

One thing I would say is, if it might be damp underneath, do not try and seal it. We made this mistake and got horrible white patches where damp was trapped and we had to remove it.

All we did was put down an old rug when the children were small so it was more comfortable for playing on and it is better not to wash it in wet weather as it takes for ever to dry.

[Milly]

I have just spent a week cleaning my surprise discovery of dirty old quarry tiles!!! All 560 of 'em!  I tried all sorts of things, scrapers,wire wool, white spirit, acetone, electric sanders, elbow grease etc etc.  In the end I found a product in Leroy Merlin for cleaning tomettes, sorry can't remember the name (and am now in England and don't have the product to hand) but it was something like D'Capant. It was about 23€ for 3 litres, I applied it to the tiles with a scrubbing brush, left it for 20 minutes, scrubbed again and again, and they came up OK, I aslo used acetone and scrapers to remove the old glue left from layers of old lino.  When they were adequately clean, I applied a mix of 50% turpentine and 50% linseed oil with a soft cloth, again left for 20 minutes, then I buffed them with a clean soft cloth.

You can see the before and after piccies below.  I am quite pleased with the result so far, but will apply another coat of turps/linseed next time I go.  I'll also check on the name of the product and post it when I get back, but it will not be for a few weeks.  In my opinion it was worth all the blood sweat and tears!!

 

Milly (62 & 99)