c.22m2 antique Maufroid Freres et Soeur ceramic floor - 1875-1912

Recently lifted from its turn of the century home close to Namur, Belgium along with three other antique ceramic floors this handmade tile was manufactured by Maufroid Freres et Soeur between 1875 and 1912 and bears the rings and central 'M' stamp on their reverse.

The design of the floor, anchored by an 16 tile motif, uses three different field tiles in its tessellation, all 16cm square; a half flower, full flower and a plain faux mosaique white tile. There is a same size and half size border framing the floor with all the border corner tiles present for both series.

The size of the main motifs design when opening out across 16 tiles has made it more difficult to show on the photographs below but it gives a flavour from a 1.5m2+ random section. The floor is in its latter stages of restoration in our workshop where it has cleaned very well of its old mortar and years of dirt and wax. As can be seen, the colours are crisp and the tiles are in very good condition.

Given the use of three different field tiles in the floors layout there are potential challenges with the layout but these are best resolved by simply producing a wireframe technical drawing using your floors key dimensions. From that we can not only deduce the best visual lay but also count the number of each tile required for the lay. We have shown below an example schematic of the floor for a layout.

Being a ceramic tile, in this case a Gres Cerame, the tiles can be laid inside or outside of the home, so options for patios, garden paths, conservatories or summer houses are practical possibilities.

Indicative counts of the tile quantities are below.

Tile quantities:-

Full flower field - 135 - 3.5m2

Half flower field - 420 - 10.75m2

Plain faux mosaique white - 75 - 1.9m2

Large border - 155 (plus 4 corners) - 4m2

Small border - 190 (plus 8 corners) - 2.4m2