STONE, CERAMIC & TERRAZZO HISTORIC FLOOR FIXERS
Lewis Proudfoot, Managing Director of Cliveden Conservation, looks down at the heritage floors which lie beneath our feet and gives examples of how they can be restored with sensitive conservation.
A historic floor has an interesting story to tell, from its original construction to the various interventions that have taken place over time to repair damaged stonework or tiles. For example, we have encountered beautiful original stone flooring that has been covered with linoleum, and mosaic floors that are so highly valued they have been repurposed as artefacts in and of themselves.
MAKING AN
HONEST INTERVENTION As much as we would like to conserve the whole of each original floor, it sometimes isn’t possible due to the severity of damage we encounter. In many cases, it is the condition of the underlying substrate that is causing the decorative surface to deteriorate due to increased footfall and usage over time. In these cases, we put down a modern substrate, reinstate as much as possible of the original flooring and replace severely damaged material with suitable replacement stonework or tiles.
A good example of this type of project is All Saints Church, Maidenhead, designed by GE Street in 1857. The large Victorian tiled floor had deteriorated and become unsafe through a combination of general wear and tear and the historic deterioration of the original substrate. We lifted all the original tiles, and replaced the Victorian substrate with a new, insulated Limecrete floor.
Some new tiles were required to replace those damaged beyond repair, so the floor was relaid placing original and new tiles in an arrangement that showed the ‘honest’ intervention in the central aisle area, with historic tiles elsewhere. The new floor, combining new substrate and historic finishes, will provide hardwearing longevity for a well-used building.
RESTORING A FLOOR BACK TO ITS
FORMER GLORY At the National Trust’s Mount Stewart, the main objective was to restore the original stone floor. It had been covered with black and white linoleum over a levelling layer of thick bitumen during the 1960s, in an attempt to resolve ongoing maintenance issues.
Following initial investigation, it appeared that the underlying stone floor was in a reasonable condition below the brittle bitumen, which we could carefully remove from the stone. However, residue and staining from the adhesive existed. Conservators carried out the painstaking task of removing the residue. Fine, sharp chisels and hand tools were used to minimise the impact on the original underlying sandstone – Scrabo, a fine-grained local stone also used for the construction of the house.
22 All Saints Church: The historic victorian tile floor restored
All Saints Church: Victorian tiles were lifted from the cementitious bed using hand tools and then boxed up
Mount Stewart stone floor restored
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