Slique building materials franchise restore 140 year old tiles

Slique  building materials franchise has recently finished a restoration of New South Wales Government House as part of an initiative by The Historic Houses Trust to conserve newly discovered tiled floors.

“I have been very pleasantly surprised at the unexpected passion and commitment shown by all the Slique team in undertaking this work, even to the extent of going way beyond what we reasonably expected, and achieving excellent results,” Historic Houses Trust of NSW Building Services Manager Peter Francis said.

NSW Government House contains rare examples of award-winning colonial manufacturing of tessellated and encaustic tiled floors, crafted by Angelo Tornaghi in approximately 1870.

Hidden by carpet since the 1950s, they were recently discovered however a central section had been removed and replaced with concrete. Many of the tiles were recovered from the cellars however some were missing making a full restoration not possible.

Slique building materials franchise set about relaying the tiles from the cellar to begin the restoration process. Heritage ceramic specialist, Warren Moorfoot and conservator, David McBeath trialled many options to ensure the colour, size and texture of the new tiles needed matched the original tiles.

A century of wear had left the existing floor covered with inground dirt and grime and glue residue from where the carpet had been attached to the tiles which now looked substantially different from the new tiles, despite being the right match for colour, size and texture.

Slique was contracted to restore the existing floor and treat the new tiles to achieve a consistent finish.

The building materials franchise tested both sets of tiles in their lab and determined the 140 year old tiles could be improved to almost perfectly clean however a slight difference in grain and slight colour difference still persisted.

Extensive testing revealed that ceramic tile polishing would minimise the colour difference between the two sets of tiles, and a slight level of sheen would give the impression of a more consistent grain. This ensured the closest possible match between the new and the original tile.

The restoration of this heritage floor has now been completed, preserving this piece of colonial workmanship.

For further infromation, please contact one of Slique's building materials franchises.