Tessellated floors are either paved or inlaid with a mosaic of small tiles, creating a pattern across the floor and are normally found in entrance halls and pathways to houses where they are hardwearing and can cope with a heavy traffic flow. They are often be very colourful and add a wow factor to a hallway.
Encaustic tiles are decorated with patterns formed on different coloured clay inlaid in the tile made of another colour, then fired and glazed.
In the late 1800′s hard wearing tessellated floors became popular for paths, along with tiles for the walls of porches, patterned brickwork on houses, and panels of patterned tiles used on exterior walls.
The tiles used were made of dense baked clay in natural colours of dull red, brown, ochre and black. As well as being durable , their warm natural clay colours made them quite welcoming. They are a valuable feature in many homes and look great once restored.
MASCo Walcot has three reclaimed tessellated floors currently in stock and we have assembled them all for viewing.
A tessellation is created when various shapes are repeated over and over again covering an area without any gaps or overlaps. The word “tessellate” is derived from the Ionic version of the Greek word “tesseres,” which in English means “four.”
When restoring, if your tiled floor is in good condition, it may only need to be cleaned and resealed. However never use bleaching agents to clean with as these can permanently damage the tiles and avoid floor waxes as they tend to trap dirt and discolour the tiles. Floor wax can also make the tiles dangerously slippery. Use a proper tile restorer product which is alkali- based and solvent free. Then seal your floor after cleaning to prolong the life of the tiles.
Please feel free to pop into our Cotswold showroom and have a look at the tessellated floors we have assembled.
