Case study
Checkerboard mosaic floor, London entrance hallway
A period entrance hallway given a black and white checkerboard mosaic floor, set out from the centre line of the door so the pattern lands square in the space and the border runs true down both walls.
Location
London
Sector
Period residential
On site
5 working days
The brief
A Victorian terrace hallway with an uneven, patched floor. The client wanted a classic checkerboard mosaic with a border, sympathetic to the age of the house but laid on a modern, stable base.
Setting out is most of the job
Hallways are rarely square. We laid out the pattern dry from the centre line of the front door and adjusted so the cuts land evenly at both skirtings rather than leaving a sliver down one side. Borders were set parallel to the wall the eye reads first, not to the wall that happens to be longest.
A base that will not move
The old floor was taken up, the substrate levelled with a flexible levelling compound and primed. Mosaic is unforgiving of a wavy base — every dip shows up as a shadow across the pattern once light comes through the front door.
Bedding, grouting and sealing
Sheets were bedded in white flexible adhesive so the joints do not darken through the white mosaic, joints were adjusted by hand as each sheet went down, then the whole floor was grouted and sealed with a penetrating impregnating sealer to keep London hallway traffic off the surface.
Photos from site
Specification
- Black and white checkerboard mosaic with border
- Pattern set out from the door centre line
- Substrate levelled and primed before bedding
- White flexible adhesive under white mosaic
- Hand-adjusted joints sheet by sheet
- Impregnating sealer applied after grouting
Free quote
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