The second article in a series of articles from Resident expert, David Collins, this time giving advice on terracotta floors.
One of the biggest challenges when laying a new terracotta floor is to make it really look old.
In this example, we are laying a floor on top of a self-levelling screed that has under-floor heating incorporated. The tiles employed are locally handmade and extremely rough in nature.
The first step is to make sure that you use a lay pattern that is common to your area (square, diagonal, herringbone etc) and establish whether a perimeter strip will be employed or not. To lay these uneven tiles, we use an extra-thick tile adhesive in a bid to compensate the irregularities of the tiles. Not every builder is good at laying these tiles as it takes a certain amount of flexibility.
Once the tiles are laid, you’ll need to carefully grout them and remove any excess with a wire brush. In our case, we often used a beige coloured grout to nicely offset the red hue of the terracotta. This is followed by scrubbing of the entire surface to eliminate any residual smears.
The machining phase of the floor surface will give us the desired consumed or “worn” look.
Remember, the amount of machining really depends on the tile used and the required smoothness desired.
The floor then gets washed and left to dry for several days. Once dried, two coats of natural wax are applied.
David Collins -- www.ourtoscana.com
The first article where David gives advice on access roads can be seen here