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Posted by Kris Krieger on May 26, 2008, 1:49 pm
>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> nmbexcuse> wrote
>>>>>>>>> don't like carpets, does not work in hot/humid Florida
>>>>>>>>> anyways.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Well somebody must have thought otherwise cause carpet has been
>>>>>>>> everywhere in FL since the early 70's.
>>>>>>>> Everyhouse we lived in had carpet cept the last one.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well, they are ALL wrong. I am right :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We got a type of tile in this house that feels, dunno how to
>>>>>> describe it, almost "fuzzy" when you walk on it, because it's
>>>>>> ceramic but not super- smooth. It sounds odd because I don't
>>>>>> knwo how to describe it well, but it's actually pleasant. I
>>>>>> never much liked the shiny/slick tile - even tho' it's easy to
>>>>>> clean, you still have to keep up with the grout.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> WHich brings up a question I've long had: why does tile *need8
>>>>>> grout lines in the first place? Why not a very thin bit of cualk
>>>>>> and jam them up close to one another? Is grout supposed to be
>>>>>> "decorative", or is ther ea physical reason for the grout
>>>>>> spacing?
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> We had a house in Mid-Wales UK, built in 1875 by a railway
>>>>> company. Cavity brick walls (9" and 4 1/2", 2" cavity, slate damp
>>>>> courses). Expanding footings went down maybe 6ft or more - never
>>>>> managed to dig far enough down to find the foundations. The houses
>>>>> needed a degree of earthquake-proofing with heavy steam engines
>>>>> and coal trains passing by. The back kitchen/living room floor was
>>>>> "quarry" tiles ( 6" by 1/2" ceramic) laid over about a foot of
>>>>> compacted boiler ash. No grout, no gap. Still servicable 110 years
>>>>> later. Only problem was if a single tile cracked, then you needed
>>>>> to replace it quickly before the adjacent tiles started to creep.
>>>>> The place also had very hard 8" by 3/4" concrete skirtings all
>>>>> round the internal walls.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Wow, I wish I could see that!!, do you have any photos?
>
> Not of the floor or the skirtings. Didn't have a decent camera then,
> Some outside shots have perished with age/tropical humidity.
It's not usual, but I was curious and figured I ask ;)
> The house
> was part of a terrace - two straight rows facing each other. Place
> called Builth Road - junction of the Cambrian Railway running west
> (long closed), and the Shrewsbury to Swansea line, still operational
> when we were there. Couldn't see much on Google Earth last time I
> looked - just the railway bridge where the line crosses the River Wye.
> Google web search will find the Cambrian Arms tavern (former railway
> station).
>
>>> That quarry tile was probably Welsh "Heather Brown" by Denis Reuben
>>> (sp). An old high school classmate of mine began importing it in the
>>> late 50's as a lark. It is indestructible. He hit it rich when the
>>> new Boston City Hall was built with all public areas paved with the
>>> tile, and it still looks good 42 years later. I put it in the first
>>> floor of my Boston House, and 27 years later it was untouched. Stays
>>> clean with a light mopping. Around here it can be purchased from
>>> Shep Brown Associates. EDS
>
> Wow. Sounds like the stuff. I recall they were difficult to get hold
> of in the country of origin, but then there were always a few
> recyclable ones available locally.
REcycled stuff can be great. It always amazes me that people (in the US
at least) just throw so much away. If it was collected whole ti
souldnt' be so bad, but it all goes through the trash compacters.
>
>> Is it installed as was described, with no gap/grout?
>
> Yep.
>
>> THat'd be interesting to see; it must look like a solid slab of
>> stone.
>
> In parts yes, but ours had taken a hammering. Maybe the result of
> railwaymens' boots and tools?
Makes sense.
> I broke a tile trying to lever a
> hearthstone up - using a tracklayers bar I found buried in the back
> yard. Where I also found a motor bike buried. When the railway
> workshops closed, anything not screwed down disappeared apparently.
Buried, huh. I guess it's one way to get stuff out of sight when one no
longer wahts it. Sort of like buried treasure for later inhabitants ;)
It makes sense in a way that people would take whatever trhey could use,
onc somethign is abandoned. In a way, it's sad, becasue it's hard to
piece together the history afterwards, but one can't say it isn't
*practical*.
>
>> THe boiler ash part also is interesting. THe building that was
>> described sounded like an interesting thing overall.
>
> The place was thought to be a bit rough. Paid 3,500 sterling for the
> house in 1978. Sold up in '86 for about 2.5 times what we paid for it.
> The terraces are probably heritage listed by now and worth a bomb ...
>
> There had been a Roman fort just up the slope above the tavern, and
> Llewelyn, last Prince of Wales, was buried just up the road a bit.
> (Well his body was apparently. His head was sent to London.)
>
THat's the thing that amazes be about Europe and Asia, the thousands of
years of history that can turn up almost (sometimes?) literally in one's
back yard.
The Americas were settled so mocu more recently, and worse, much of what
there was of the first cultures was obliterated - a lot of the things
they made and used, of course, were also ephemeral.
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