 The project involved tiling around 800 square metres of the cathedral floor with highly decorative encaustic tiles, where the design was pressed into soft clay, becoming part of the tile itself, unlike surface decorated tiles.
“This means it can be walked on without loss of decoration or pattern over many years,” says Peter Rafferty, Contracts Manager at Armagh-based Armatile, who carried out the work.
“As well as the pattern of the tiles being protected in this way, it was also imperative that adequate tile fields were created to guarantee the long-term integrity of the installation.” World market-leader in essential tiling protection solutions, Schlüter-Systems, were brought in to draw up the specification, and recommended creating six-metre tile fields with the Schlüter®-DILEX movement joint, to provide the degree of protection required.
Architect Richard Pierce, of Maxwell Pierce, opted for the brass version of the Schlüter®-DILEX, to complement the aesthetics of the floor. As well as the intermediate joints, perimeter joints were also installed to complete the full systems solution which involved the total use of 300 linear metres of movement joints.
“If the tiles hadn’t been adequately protected it’s almost certain they would crack or debond,” says Peter Rafferty. “We knew that movement joints would be required, but as the Cathedral’s underfloor heating system meant the calcium sulfate screed would be susceptible to a wide range of temperature changes, we wanted the world market-leader’s expertise in creating the specification for that protection.”
The installation was completed with adhesive and grout from Evode Industries, part of the Bostik Findley Group, who have been servicing the Irish tile industry since 1956.
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