17.4m2 antique Belgian ceramic floor dated 1892-1920

With its original half size border tile an antique Belgian ceramic floor dating from the latter part of the 19th century, beginning of 20th century. The floor was recently reclaimed from the kitchen of a turn of the century house in Merville, a French town of some 9,000 inhabitants sitting close to the Belgian border to the east and Dunkirk to the north.

The principal field tiles are 14.5cm square and the half sizes borders, for which all four border corners are present, are 14cm x 7cm. There are 160 full size borders providing a linear length of 23.2 linear metres.

The reverse of the tiles bear the inscription ‘CNW’, an abbreviation for ‘Societe Anonyme Le Ceramique National, Welkenraedt’, a company established at Forges-lez-Chimay in 1892 and which later opened a subsidiary in Walkenraedt in 1900. The Walkenraedt factory continued to trade until 1920.

The tiles have been cleaned of their old mortar to their reverses and sides and the faces cleaned of years of dirt and wax, they arrive ready to relay.

The cleaned floor, from which a small random section has been photographed below, offers up a rich patina; the tiles were handmade in small batches so there are tonal variations in colour amongst the green, grey and burgundy of the palette, both for the main field tile and the border tile, all adding to the charm and uniqueness of the floor. Some tiles display small groutable chips and edge nibbles but at 15mm thick the tiles are robust.

There are a substantial number of tiles we have rejected as having larger chips and which are supplied free. These can either be used by the tiler for cuts or halves, though we would actually integrate the whole tile in the floor to provide the desired 100 year old antique floor look as the chips are all groutable. At the end of the day, the choice for their application is yours, they are supplied free.

Tile quantities:-

Field tiles - 510 - 10.7m2 or 115 sq ft

Half size borders - 165 plus 4 corners - 1.6m2 or 17.2 sq ft or 23 linear metres / 76 feet

Large Border tiles - 255 tiles - 5.1m2 or 55.4 sq ft or 36.2 linear metres / 118.8 feet*

* halve the linear length for a back to back lay

FREE TILES:-

Field tiles - c.60

Half size borders - c.30