terre cuite tiles

[Guerambault]

I have spent ages looking for the search facility and eventually found the posting which says it is not available.

So my question: we are in the process of cleaning 1000 old terre cuite tiles found on the first floor of an outbuilding which needs replacingand some which we bought second hand . We intend to lay these in the kitchen but have read conflicting views on the width of the gap between tiles, ranging from no gap at all to quite a few millilmetres. Anyone any opinion on this.

Once the floor is laid which is the best method of treating the tiles please? In my renovation book it suggests giving it a coat of hot linseed oil, then four coats of liquid polish, leaving  at least a week between each application. Has anyone used this method?

Thanks for any help    Dorothy