The floor that nearly finished us – it might be the most labour-intensive renovating decision we’ve ever made but we'd do it all again

Committed home renovators David and Andrew Harrison-Colley (better known on Instagram as The Home Boys) are part of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing their thoughts on making a home together and living through the tricky parts. See the rest of their articles here.

If there’s one thing that comes up in almost every article we write, it’s the terracotta floor.

And we get it – people want to know more. So here it is: the full, honest, knees-ruined story of how we sourced, laid and fell completely in love with the most labour-intensive decision we’ve ever made.

Spoiler: we’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Why terracotta?

We first used terracotta in our Brixton flat and it immediately felt right – warm, textured, completely at home with vintage furniture and neutral painted walls. When we started planning the Suffolk cottage extension, there was no real debate. We knew we wanted it again.

What makes terracotta work so well is that it improves with age. It doesn’t show every mark, it hides the realities of daily life, and it brings an instant warmth to a room that no engineered flooring can replicate. In a large open-plan space, it anchors everything without competing with it.

It’s also, frankly, one of the few flooring options that looks better when it’s slightly imperfect. Which suits us perfectly.

Sourcing – what to look for and what to spend

We needed 60 square metres – enough to run through the kitchen, dining and living areas and keep a consistent floor throughout. Our budget was tight, so we spent a few weeks researching before committing.

We eventually sourced handmade terracotta tiles for just under £2,900 for the lot. That’s a fraction of what premium flooring would have cost us – but we were careful about what we were buying.

Things worth checking before you buy

• Handmade vs machine-made: handmade tiles have more variation in colour and texture, which we love. Machine-made tiles are more uniform but can feel flat.
• Thickness: thicker tiles are heavier but more durable. Ours are 20mm, which gave us confidence underfoot.
• Frost resistance: if they’re going anywhere near an external door or a garage, check the rating.
• Order 10–15% extra: for cuts, breakages, and the tiles you’ll inevitably crack on day three when morale is low.
• Batch consistency: if you’re ordering from multiple batches, check that the colour matches across them before you commit.

Preparation – the bit everyone skips and later regrets

We cannot stress this enough: preparation is everything. Rush this stage and you will pay for it later – usually in the form of cracked tiles, uneven floors, or a grout joint that slowly drives you to madness.

Make sure your subfloor is solid, level and dry. Any flex or damp will cause problems. If needed, use a self-levelling compound to even things out before you start.

Soak your tiles before laying. Terracotta is porous and will pull moisture from your adhesive if you don’t. We soaked ours as we cleaned them – it added time but made a real difference to the bond.

Use the right adhesive. We used a flexible, rapid-setting adhesive suitable for natural stone. Don’t cut corners here.

Plan your layout before you start. Lay tiles out dry first to check your pattern, especially around doorways and edges. Nothing worse than realising your cuts are going to look odd once you’re halfway through.

Laying – the honest version

We laid 60 square metres ourselves in phases over several weekends. It was, by a significant margin, the most physically demanding thing we have ever done to a house.

Every tile needed to be placed individually, checked for level, adjusted, and pressed firmly into the adhesive. Because our tiles had natural variation, we’d also rotate and shuffle them as we went to avoid any one colour or texture clustering together.

Our knees. Our backs. Our will to live. All tested.

Tips that actually helped

• Use a laser level constantly - not just at the start. Check back every few rows.
• Work in manageable sections so you can still reach tiles to adjust without stepping on freshly laid ones.
• Stop when you’re tired. Seriously. We’ve learned this lesson (see: our tiling disaster in a more recent article) - mistakes made when you’re exhausted take twice as long to fix.
• Knee pads. Non-negotiable. We cut up an old yoga mat!

Grouting and sealing – don’t rush the finish

Terracotta must be sealed – this is not optional. It’s a porous material and without sealer, it will absorb everything: cooking oil, red wine, muddy paw prints. We applied two coats of a boiled linseed oil before grouting (to stop the grout staining the tile surface).

Once the linseed oil had absorbed (we left it a full 48 hours), we moved on to grouting. We used a warm, limestone-toned grout to complement the tiles – white grout would have looked too stark and would have stained immediately.

For the final step we brushed on an antique-coloured natural beeswax to the tiles and grout to give it a darker, aged effect, with a subtle sheen that adds extra protection.

It’s a time-consuming process, but it’s what makes the floor last. Ours still looks as good now as it did the day we finished – maybe better.

Living with terracotta – what no one tells you

A few months in, here’s what we’ve noticed...

• It’s cold underfoot. We had underfloor heating installed on the ground floor and it makes such a difference – the terracotta holds onto the warmth making it an energy-efficient option too!
• It gets better with age. Genuinely. The colour deepens slightly, the texture softens, and it develops a patina that feels earned.
• It hides mess better than you’d expect. The variation in the tile surface means footprints, crumbs and general daily life are much less visible than on a smooth, light floor.
• We use a Wax Wash product to clean it, which also maintains a protective coating – we plan to re-seal every couple of years. It’s a low-effort job that keeps it looking its best.

Was it worth it?

Every single time someone walks into our kitchen and says “oh, I love that floor”, we think: yes. It was.

We saved thousands by laying them ourselves. We paid for it in aching joints and long weekends. And we ended up with a floor that feels like it’s always been there – like it belongs to the house.

If you’re considering terracotta and wondering whether to take the plunge: do it. Just buy the knee pads first.