100 year old tiles - will they stand the heat?

[kingcod]

So I am about to install a wood burning stove in my brick and stone fireplace, (just been opened up after 50 years blocked up). On the floor of the fireplace I find some great decorative glazed tiles which must be about 100-120 years old. They have a few cracks in them and are about 20 mm (1.5 inches) deep, sitting on (I think) a concrete sub base.

Here in the UK our Building Regulations specify a hearth depth of at least 125 mm. I guess I might have that depth, so am thinking of re-screeding around the tiles with self levelling compound, and adding a greater area of complementary tiles around the old ones.

The question is - will my old tiles withstand the heat? Its likely to be around 5Kw output. Or would I best to try to remove them and preserve them elsewhere (not easy!) ?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[begreen]

Nice discovery. Will there be a liner put in the old chimney?

Considering the tiles were fired at high heat, I think they should be ok. They are quite nice.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

It would be a crime to not use those- give it a try. Very nice

 

[cmonSTART]

Are the old tiles ceramic? I love old stuff like that!

 

[Andy99]

They will hold up fine. I'm in the tile business and a tile is originally fired at very high temperatures during the manufacturing process. A Much higher temperature then you will get them to. Since its an old tile it was not made the same way they are today and the original firing would be at a lower temperature then today but they are much thicker then todays tiles as well. The average thickness of a modern tile is only 3/8ths of an inch. You should be fine as long as they haven't been exposed to a lot of moister over the years. Start with a small "break in" type fire and you should be fine.

 

[Elfin]

Those are gorgeous... what a find!

 

[kingcod]

So just to update on my tiles - on further investigation they are set into a damaged sand/cement screed which. over time, has become unstable. So with a bit of care they have been lifted out of place. They were already cracked so I now need to reglue them and maybe mount them in a frame next to the fire rather than risk further damage.

I'm then going to need to cut back into the screed to get to the 'good' concrete constructional hearth and try to lay a new concrete area around it I think, topped off with self leveling compound and then new tiles - no job is ever easy!

Any hints of a good glue to fix tiles back together?

 

[Andy99]

Akemi or a two part epoxy

 

[kingcod]

I thought I'd say what finally happened with these tiles - a lot of patient regluing later I salvaged 9 of them and set them in a frame mounted on MDF. Its not fixed so if I do get worried about heat from the fire it can be moved aside. I daren;t show the rest oft he heath as I still haven't built a mantel !

 

[realstihl]

That's a cool looking stove. What's the brand name? Oh, really nice looking tile too.

 

[kingcod]

Its a Clearview Pioneer

http://www.clearviewstoves.com/pioneer400.htm

I don't know if they are available in the US.