An 11m2 / 118 sq ft. faux mosaique themed St Ghislain floor - 1933

Reclaimed from the entrance hall of a house in renovation in Gembloux, Belgium an 11m2 / 118 sq ft in surface area ceramic encaustic floor comprising of a principal field tile, a same sized border and a half-sized border laid in duplicate, top and tailing the large border.

The tiles are 14.3cm / 5.6 inches sq and c.15mm / 0.6 inches thick and all four of the large border corner tiles and eight of the half-sized border corner tiles are present and correct.

The faux mosaic theme of the floor was popular in France and Belgium in the 1930's, a design which used solid tiles but designed visually to create the impression that the whole floor was laid in mosaic using ten of thousands of small ceramic pieces. This 92 year old floor is dated 1933 as it appears in the manufacturers catalogue, Compagnie Generale des Produits Ceramique (Ste. Ame) a St Ghislain, Belgique, scans from which we include in the photo gallery.

The floor has cleaned very well, as the photographs of a randomly selected section of 1.25m2 / 13 sq ft. of the tiles show. The palette is calming and easy on the eye and the harmony between the caramel and sage green is particularly appealing. There are ocassional small chips and edge nibbles on a small number of tiles but all groutable. This is a quality ceramic, with a deep slip, and the floor is robust for another 92 years or more.

Should you need assistance with looking at the potential fit of this floor, or any other of our floors, we will be happy to assist and evaluate that, without obligation, from either a simple sketch with key dimensions or an architects drawing.

Tile quantities by tile type:-

FIELD tiles - 340 - 7m2 / 74.8 sq ft

LARGE BORDER tiles -  105 plus 4 corners - 2.2m2 /  24 sq ft - 15.6 linear metres /  51.1 linear feet

HALF-SIZE BORDER tiles - 185 plus 10 corners - 1.94m2 /  20.9 sq ft. - 27.2 linear metres / 89 linear feet

NOTE Antique tiles were most commonly made in single or two tile moulds. Before current computer automation methods their moulds were made my hand and the colour slips mixed by eye. Kiln temperatures could also be variable, as could the firing time. The result is that often tiles display subtle size and thickness variations and there can be tonal variations in colours, owing to the slip mixing and/or firing time. All of this makes these handmade tiles unique and adds to their charm. Some floors display their subtle variations in size and tones, some not, but when photographing we always take a random section of the floor so that it is representative of the whole. A tiler should always dry lay a section of the tiles to familiarise himself with them before starting to fix lay.