Moroccan pattern cement tiles

How an encaustic tile is poured

A brass divider, cut to the drawing of the pattern, is set into the mould. Pigmented cement slurry is poured by hand into the cells of that divider, one colour at a time, so the colours meet at a metal edge instead of bleeding into each other. The divider is lifted, a layer of plain structural cement is laid in behind the pattern, and the whole tile is pressed.

That single pressing bonds the two layers into one piece. The pattern layer is poured wet and has real depth behind it rather than being a film, which is the difference between an encaustic tile and a printed one. Then it cures in stacks before dispatch, like every other cement tile from the works.

Divider

Brass, cut to pattern

Layers

Pattern over body, pressed

Cure

In stacks, before dispatch

The pattern is in the wear layer

Walk a printed tile for a decade and the drawing goes thin at the door. Walk an encaustic tile and the drawing stays, because it is not sitting on the surface, it is the surface, with pigmented cement behind it. A chip shows the same colour rather than a white body underneath.

There is a trade in the other direction. An unglazed cement face is porous and will take a stain if it is left unsealed, so this tile asks for sealing where a glazed porcelain would not. That is the whole price of having a pattern that does not wear off.

Wear layer

Pigmented cement

Chip

Shows the same colour

Face

Porous until sealed

Border and field

The old convention still works best: a patterned field, a border that frames it, and a plain surround that lets the whole thing sit inside the room. The border turns a repeating pattern into a defined panel, so the floor reads as a laid rug rather than as wallpaper that ran out at the skirting.

Because the plain concrete cement tile shares the body and the pigments with the pattern, that surround can be matched to a colour taken from inside the pattern instead of approximately near it. In a small room a patterned panel with a generous plain surround makes the floor feel larger than the same room patterned wall to wall.

Sealing, and the first weeks

A new floor is sealed before it is used, with a penetrating sealer that soaks in rather than a film that sits on top. A film would gloss the matte face and eventually peel along the traffic lines. Seal after laying and grouting, once the floor is properly dry, and watch the grout haze: on a porous patterned face, cement grout wants removing promptly rather than at the end of the week.

Give the first weeks some attention. Keep grit off it, wipe spills instead of leaving them, and use a neutral pH cleaner from the start. Acid, bleach and abrasive pads are the three things that damage this tile, and none of them are necessary. After that, resealing is periodic and follows traffic.

Seal

Penetrating, before use

Grout haze

Remove promptly

Clean

Neutral pH