The charm of red oxide floor

All that it demands is a daily mop with wet cloth. Over time, it looks increasingly better too.

If we search for the flooring option that scores well on all fronts such as embodied energy, eco friendly, economy and ease of maintenance, our search may as well end with red oxide flooring. If we survey across South India to find what floor type the majority have grown up with, the answer could as well be red oxide again. Incidentally, this wonder option also requires the least of manufacturing, generates no wastage, lasts very long, demands minimal transportation of raw materials and channelises money to the local people. It will be great to find out who discovered or invented this simple technology of red oxide floor!

Any mention of red oxide floor elicits reactions like ‘Oh, no one does it nowadays’ or we do not get skilled masons. While these are true, the last decade has seen a revival of the technology with Kerala, Bangalore, Auroville and such places producing high quality floors.

The media has widely disseminated the process, to empower those who are interested. There still are people looking down upon this option, many government norms do not accept it and surprisingly in Bangalore a red oxide floor house gets lesser tax, indirectly suggesting it as a lower quality house.

When mosaic, ceramic and such factory made products dominated the construction industry, red oxide got relegated to the back seat. However, none of these attitudes can refute the time tested performance of the hand-made oxide floor.

The term red oxide technically refers to the fine powdered form of iron oxide, a non-flammable inorganic compound found in nature as a mineral, which emits no hazardous emissions. The material can also be produced in bulk by laboratory controlled factory processes. In a way, we owe the material to the science of chemistry.

Avoid humid areas

While red is the most popular colour, black, blue, pink, yellow and green colours are also in common use. The material tends to absorb moisture, hence should be stored safely away from humid areas. These oxides are used not only for flooring, but also for anti-rust applications, paints, iron industry, pigmenting, polishing and such others, hence have a wider validity.

The beauty of oxide floor is the seamless floor without any joints and the look of tiles or slabs. They are best suited to indoors, for the cycle of rain and sunshine of the outdoors tend to result in surface cracks.

Using water with high mineral content, like borewell water, is not advisable; hence before deciding upon red oxide floor, it is safer to ensure clean well water or treated water is available at the construction site. The major care in a household context would be not to spill cleaning acids on it and once occupied, to rub off any spilled over lemon juice, wine, curds or such food items with sour qualities, which tend to form stain marks.

All that the oxide floor demands is a daily mop with wet cloth. Over time, the floor looks increasingly better!

Getting the best from oxides

There are some important dos and don’ts for this flooring that earns an extra sheen with every passing year

Everyone knows how to construct, for it is a visible and seemingly simple action, but very few know it thoroughly. There could be many masons who know the basic methods of doing the red oxide floor on the first day, but lack the knowledge of following it up with the right process until we get the best of floors.

Follow these importantly:

The day after doing the floor, cure the floor by sprinkling water every 2 to 3 hours for a whole day, to avoid a dry floor. The second day, a thin sheet of water should be stocked up to check if white patches appear on the floor. If they do, remove the water, rub them off with a cloth and again refill water, until no white patches are visible.

Once the floor is laid, no one should walk on it for a minimum of four days, except for watering and waxing. Let the floor dry for a few days, clean it by wet and dry mopping and apply 400 grade sand paper in case smoothening and levelling is required. Red colour wax should now be applied directly on the surface with a soft cloth.

As the wax dries, rub the surface with rice husk or coconut pith in circular fashion until the wax disappears. Keep the room closed for three days so that the floor absorbs the wax fully.

The finer points

The water should be clean or treated, and definitely not the mineral-rich borewell water.

White cement and high grade grey cements tend to set fast, hence are not advisable. Sand should not have silt deposits on its surface, hence clean it before mixing.

The quality of red oxide is important to ensure that wear and tear across the years does not expose the concrete beneath.

For 1 part oxide, up to 3 parts grey cement gives dark red colour, while increasing cement quantity leads to light red shades.

White cement too can be used to get different shades, but with utmost care.

The vital mix

Cement and oxide should be first mixed in dry form, slowly adding water to get a consistent slurry-like mix. Any lump formation in the mix will show up in the flooring. Trowelling to get an even surface is very important. While the minor undulations vanish during the hand polish, the major ones may remain. Among the minor problems of red oxide floors, but persistent one is surface cracks. To contain these crack lines, masons run a thread line in a grid fashion or nowadays, glass strips too have been attempted.

Oxide floors need to be done in one continuous stretch without break, often taking the whole day and night depending upon the area to be covered. Masons get to rest only after the top layer is finished and wax polish rubbed to dryness.

Most materials deteriorate with age, but red oxide floor is an exception. The longer it is used, the more it shines!

Myths of modern buildings

Majority of new ideas in construction have been bad for sustainability and cause long-term harm to nature.

In social gatherings, we meet people who speak highly of the need to be eco-friendly but continue to believe in many myths which are against the principles of sustainability.

Modern construction technology with columns and concrete is superior to the traditional: The youngsters and the aged alike appear to claim that modern materials and construction technology are far superior to those followed earlier. The major protagonists of modernity are cement and steel, which can be found in every part of a typical house today. Houses with ‘wall over the wall’ system, termed as load bearing wall system, has been nearly wiped out by RCC frame constructions with columns and beams, though it’s a waste of money in most small projects.

The emerging construction practices also demand more machinery, equipment, training, software, and chemicals, besides leaving behind unusable debris upon possible demolition.

Buildings with increased technological services are more efficient and sustainable: From the days of simple ceiling fans, electric lights or lifts, today we are moving into sensor-based lighting, advanced elevators, occupancy-based air conditioning, access controls, burglar alarms, CCTV, remote controllers, ICT-based information, rotatable skylight louvers and such others in the name of perfection and efficiency. On a contrasting note, such houses become less sustainable, not only because of vulnerability to dysfunctions but also due to technological obsoleteness.

Adopting the new and discarding the old is necessary: The journey of so-called development in construction has seen mud, stone, red oxide, mosaic, marble, glazed tiles, ceramics, vinyl and vitrified tiles – all in floorings. Wooden windows led to steel and aluminium and UPVC is ruling. Masonry walls gave way to glass walls, reflective glasses, aluminium and newer façade treatments. All these and such other shifts have led to increased manufacturing and embodied energy, in the name of better quality and performance. Even if we were to keep such questionable claims aside, the majority of new ideas have been bad for sustainability. Maybe, they ensure short-term gains for people, but cause long-term harm to nature.

Comfortable living and working spaces are non-negotiable and do not affect sustainability. Every architect can predict what a typical house owner would expect – spacious house, furnished rooms, unique elevation, modern style, air conditioning, kitchen gadgets, large windows, false ceiling, fancy light fixtures, branded fitting, luxurious toilets, Italian marble, modern interiors, home theatre – the list can go on.

Typically, we do not think what impact all these would have on nature, for they define our image of a good house. Designing as providing for the essential is forgotten, for the designer look has to be pervasive.

Compromising on the above image has to be the first step in solving the climate crisis.

Trust local wisdom

Design ideas cannot be universal, they have to be sympathetic to the local climate and materials.

Most important among the recurring feedback on Green Sense, besides generally appreciating sharing of experiences, has been about lack of quality at construction sites. However good an idea, it is not worth sharing if not well executed. When red oxide appears shoddy, filler slab goes wavy, exposed wall has bad joints, tiled roof leaks, even good wood gets bent or materials used turn out to be of unacceptable quality, we repent and regret for trying out an alternative eco-friendly idea. Incidentally, the idea itself has no fault here, yet gets blamed. Indeed a disturbing situation since our heart and purse has been with them all.

Our country encompasses varied climatic zones with vast variety of materials. It is not easy to standardise procedures for construction; however, without norms and codes, it is impossible to set high standards. Historically each region has built differently, but today a few systems rooted in manufactured materials, concrete construction, controlled indoor environment and such others are being adopted everywhere, unfortunately wiping out the ecologically meaningful regional specificities. As such, some attention to basic quality in the making of sustainable buildings is imperative to ensure both efficiency and effectiveness.

While we have a large number of architects and engineers today with varying degrees of expertise in eco-friendly ideas and sustainable buildings, their expertise would be applicable to the region where they advice. Architects can and do design for outstation projects, now even for international locations. However, mostly they get commissioned due to the image attached to their name or the style they propagate rather than for the knowledge of the site location they possess. Hence the possibility of their design ideas not being sympathetic to local climate and materials is very high.

Initiatives

As such, only national-level initiatives such as The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), and National Building Code (NBC) can gather all the ideas and projects for further dissemination. Construction and subsequent occupation of buildings will consume resources, many of which will rely on MEP (Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing) and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air conditioning) services. Since most of them depend upon non-renewable energy sources and depleting resource base, the need of the hour is to increasingly rely upon passive means of achieving indoor comforts of light, air and temperature to which end we need to reduce our dependency upon mechanical, electrical and artificial means. Even in a tropical country like India with abundant sun and wind, we spend much on lighting, cooling and refrigeration. Suggesting standard approaches and concepts of sustainable buildings can assist any architect, engineer or builder in applying them in their respective given context and ensure the buildings consume less resources.

While it appears fair to depend upon the aforesaid institutes, the individuals involved with every construction, right from the owner to the mason, are answerable in case standards are not met with and sustainability is not achieved. Individualising the attitude towards quality and conservation are the only answers to better future.

Build cutcha, live pucca

It is a paradox that all the supposedly negative qualities of cutcha constructions are positive qualities towards green buildings and sustainability.

The word ‘cutcha’ probably did not exist before the advent of colonial rules in India. While it is difficult to define it considering the wide range of ideas, the easier mode could be to define the pucca constructions and then simply say, the rest all are cutcha. However in principle, cutcha is supposed to be using more of natural materials than manufactured materials; believed to be less durable compared to the pucca; more often than not built by the local building craftsmen without a formally trained skilled team and is tagged to require periodic maintenance, as if the pucca buildings need no maintenance at all.

Are all the above definitions really true? Red oxide floor is not yet counted as pucca and gets less property tax in Bangalore though such floors have been commonplace for centuries. Roof- top and garden pavilions in Mangalore tiles are hardly promoted by formal systems, though they may last longer the main pucca building. The completely local idea of thatched roof or even a room over the regular concrete roof in many parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, add a cutcha touch at a very low cost, besides keeping the building cool during the scorching summers. The mud, wood and slate-roofed buildings of the lower Himalayan region have existed for thousands of years, yet the PWD will not build similar structures anymore. Bamboo and rattan make up for most parts of houses in the North-East and they are in regular use even today.

The terrace-level food court found in many office buildings in Bangalore have a trussed tiled roof, basically a simple shelter for staff facilities – a cutcha concept skillfully adopted for urban conditions. Semi-open verandahs with brick or wooden pillars around a house cost less than half the regular construction cost, but become part of the enclosed house during larger gatherings. Of course, they make the house appear local and cutcha. Boulder pack foundations save material, cost and time, and are valid in a city or a village.

Rare combination

Perforated jaali walls are a rare combination of unique aesthetics, low cost, good ventilation, even lighting and ease of construction. Building a wall with good materials and then leaving it without plastering and painting can be modern and traditional at the same time. All these and more examples can show how the idea of cutcha can be applied for modern-day buildings without any compromise.

It is a paradox that all that goes with the supposedly negative qualities of cutcha constructions are positive qualities towards green buildings and sustainability. Mud and terracotta-based constructions best exemplify this contrast. Unfortunately our current codes for green buildings, public buildings and PWD norms do not yet accept such principles. Maybe, the private sector needs to lead the way by backing the cutcha sector, paving the path for an eco-friendly future.

The marketing factor

Each building material comes with a package of comforts and complaints, although the modern flooring options have an edge as smart marketing does the trick.

Theoretically speaking, every construction material discovered has a role and place in the construction industry, otherwise it would not have been introduced at all. Yet, analytically speaking, each material would come with a package of comforts and complaints, which together should decide its appropriateness for a given context and accordingly its usage. Unfortunately, such an analytical method does not get applied in all cases and nowadays we can notice advertising and marketing becoming the yardstick in majority of material selection.

Once again, marketing too has its role and place; otherwise one would not know the availability of materials at all. So, the problem does not lie with the idea of marketing, but with the materials which the market promotes. How often have we seen a red oxide floor, Athangudi tiles or Bethamcherla marble being advertised? Are there any executives for Kota floors or web sites for tandoor stones? Marble and granite have witnessed some aggressive marketing, primarily to win over the increased competition that picked up during the last decade, rather than to promote the material. If so, what is the focus of marketing, especially in the flooring business?

Market leaders

The two materials that have become commonly known thanks to advertising and marketing are ceramic tiles and vitrified flooring, elevating the unknowns to virtual market leaders. The slow supply of local materials, unpredictable quality thereof, increased pace of construction in urban areas, skilled human resource required to work with natural materials and many such other factors directly or indirectly promoted the option for manufactured materials. This promotion is also enabled by a chain of players – raw material suppliers, manufacturers, carrying & forwarding agents, wholesalers, transporters, advertising agencies, retailers – wherein each player has to financially benefit. Naturally, everyone strives to ensure that the material gets accepted and popularised.

To that end, ceramic and vitrified tiles come with many attractive features, not possible in natural materials. Finished at high temperature kilns, they have a level surface and good glaze. The top layer is actually a high density skin, to take wear and tear for long time. Enabled by latest research and development, these tiles are becoming thinner by the day and are available as thin as 4 mm nowadays. Though dimensional variations happen to thinner tiles, the top brand materials are fairly perfect in their sizes. Easy to clean, neat to look at and sophisticated in their finish, these modern manufactured materials rule a large market share of flooring today.

Most of these characteristics have been enabled by industrial manufacturing. While manufacturing heralded the industrial revolution and created the idea of “development”, many questions have been raised nowadays about the unchecked growth in manufacturing and consumption of Earth’s resources.

Debates on sustainability are concerned about such apparently ‘better’ options, wondering if they are better for the Earth also. Floor tiles could be a good example to test this concern, before we blindly buy them.

To revive or not?

The pace of change accelerates the rate of replacement, and red oxide floor has been a victim of this modern trend.

Quite often we hear senior citizens recollecting “in those days, we had only courtyard houses”; or “during our times, Mangalore-tile roof houses were popular”. They serve as gentle reminders of the past and of newer choices and changing preferences. Many people, including the not so aged, have already witnessed hundreds of lifestyle ideas slowly disappearing in front of their eyes, within a time span of less than a generation.

The pace of change accelerates the rate of replacement, and red oxide floor has been among the victims of this modern trend.

Reviving a losing tradition is both painstaking and frustrating, be it with floors or roofs. With the changed times, many skill levels have gone down, quality raw materials are in short supply and design misfit increases with modern materials around.

It’s your choice:Red oxide finish gives a natural beauty to houses, but you can opt for the modern look too

Arduous task

Also, many traditional ideas demand regular maintenance, which is difficult today. Interestingly, while the odds against the past idea mount, uncomforting experiences with the new ideas also have mounted, be it the building as a hot box, the electricity bill as a upward curve, run down looks due to costs of repainting or roof leakage as an annual feature.

As such, there is a justification in relooking at the past, to see if we have thrown away some grains with the chaff, by oversight. If ideas from abroad, totally alien to us, could be implemented in our cities, implementing what has been done for generations cannot be argued as impossible.

Ideas like red oxide are still being practised, and with materials being made available, we only have to support the few experts to ensure that technology continues. It may not be the best choice for flooring in all contexts, but in the right context, nothing else could be better.

The argument that we need to change for the better goes unopposed, hence the advocacy for revival is not for everything of the past. Also, there are approaches which are no more in vogue like surface decorations, already replaced by plain surfaces, which need not be revived.

Yet the past can be a solution to the future, especially sustainable future. It is this thought that supports red oxide flooring.

Getting the right finish

Masons are slowly forgetting the ‘how’ of laying a red oxide floor as no code of practice is being followed.

How we cook decides what food we get; our singing leads to the song we hear; irregular training will not produce champions of sports. The lesson from all these examples is simple — the process has much to do with the final product we get.

Strangely, the construction industry is slowly forgetting or knowingly ignoring this lesson. Most complaints about bad quality work could simply be a result of not following the prescribed procedure and may not be related to men, money or material.

Red oxide floor is among the items of construction ill fated due to the above cause of not following a code of practice. Though the recent times has seen a revival of this technology, the present generation is slowly forgetting the “how” of red oxide. Every other mason and builder has executed it in their own way, often leading to not so good finish and slowly the flooring technology itself has got a bad name today.

Traditional method

Among the present contractors, Vijaya Shankar has gained considerable experience in red oxide floor work.

He follows the traditional method, slightly improvised to avoid the known pit-falls. First, the base layer, about 2 inches thick, needs to be laid with 1 part cement, 3 part sand, and 6 part stone aggregate of 12 mm thickness.

Plain glass cut to 2 inch width should be embedded within this concrete layer, at average 5 ft. distance or to subdivide the floor area equally.

The top of these glass pieces should be at perfect level verified by tube levels and the top cut edge of glass needs to be neatly done.

These glass divisions ensure the floor is one level, an important criteria, and stop the minor shrinkage cracks from spreading out, another equally important criteria.

A fine mix of 1 part cement and 4 parts of clean sand should be spread on the concrete screed layer with a trowel, popularly called karni , to fill the small gaps.

Densification

Upon this consolidated layer, a thin slurry of red oxide powder and cement mix should be placed and pressed gently to densify the surface. Some water may rise to the surface during this stage. If this application is well done, the final finished surface will gain good red colour without white patches.

Highly professional

Once the thinner slurry settles within the base layer, thicker slurry of 1 part of red oxide, and 3 or 4 parts of grey cement would be applied with a gurmal , the square trowel with top handle. The mason would walk backwards applying the mix, while the surface would slowly get dried.

After waiting for up to one hour, following the early setting, the surface is finished with repeated swinging movement of the trowel ensuring no trowel marks show up.

This trowel application should go on continuously till the floor gets fully dry, until no water condenses on top or seeps up. The foregone description amply proves that red oxide floor is really a hand-made product!

Hand-made specials

Getting a good joint while laying Athangudi tiles is a challenge since the edges are irregular.

In the design field, it is common to see the original idea leading to accurate duplicates, copied applications, look alike products and only occasionally, an inspired development. For readers familiar with both red oxide and Athangudi, the natural query would be if Athangudi is a cheaper version of red oxide floor. While they both share red colour and cement base, everything else about each of them is different – from manufacturing to laying.

Fixing Athangudi tiles needs special attention, mostly done by the masons who come from Athangudi itself, with proper material knowledge. While the tile itself is thick at three-fourth inch, the mortar base may go up to 2 inches depending upon location, so prior experience in Athangudi tile laying comes in handy. Getting a good joint is a challenge here since the edges are rather irregular due to the hand moulding process. Polishing the tiles with coconut oil is among the critical stages of achieving a good floor. Post polish, the floor has to be left for minimum five days with no one walking upon it. Increased oil absorption improves tile quality.

This merger of producer, supplier and layer ensures we have a single point of contact for redresses, if any. The main contractor has to calculate floor finish thickness in advance, which means the owners need to decide upon Athangudi in advance. Mix and match of different floor materials like marble or ceramic with Athangudi within one floor is difficult, for most floor options are thinner than Athangudi, besides having different practices for polish.

The top surface being hand-poured glaze, it is susceptible to minor scratch marks. When seen against sunlight or in wet condition, they are visible, though mostly go unnoticed. Even materials like marble get scratches, but we cannot see them. Anyway, it is safer not to pull heavy and sharp-edged furniture on the floor. These tiles should be fixed once all the household civil tasks and interior execution is over. Often, people work on hardware, interior plywood, toilet plumbing and such others after laying the floor, a practice that has to be avoided to get good Athangudi surfaces.

Athangudi tiles are not made everywhere, hence widespread availability is an issue. It is a simple composition of cement, sand, stone aggregate, ferrous oxides and top surface patterned with glazing, hence can be produced anywhere. Being readymade like mosaic, brought to site for direct laying, Athangudi tiles are easy to install, durable for decades, and financially affordable, hence generally a good choice. These tiles are even today a good bridge between the old and new. If a building with modern design needs a touch of traditional flooring, there could be nothing better than Athangudi tiles.

Two factors mark Athangudi apart from the rest – here more money goes to people and not to machines and they are more green than many other options.

Legacy of Athangudi tiles

They are a rare blend of the east and the west and have interesting modes of production that speak for their durability.

Durability has always been among the major criteria in the design and build world. While it was earlier regarded as a hallmark of quality, today it is also a mark of sustainable design, for longer the life of the initial investment of efforts, energy and resources, the more eco-friendly is the material. This is one area where Athangudi floor tiles score over the others.

Athangudi sounds more like a place name than an option for floor tiles, but today the product has made both the place and tiles famous. They are made mainly in Athangudi village of the Chettinadu region in Tamil Nadu. The traditional mode of production continues till date, maintaining a legacy and grandeur. Athangudi tiles are basically cement tiles like mosaic, but unlike the machine pressed and produced mosaics, they are handmade over glass surfaces.

During the early days of their production, they were patronised more by the rich, being a costlier option and newer technology in those days. However, they also deserve an additional honour for being a part of the cultural heritage of the Chettiar community.

The affluent Chettiar community brought home ideas and artefacts from their trade travels, resulting in European and Asian items finding their way to Chettinadu. Until then South Indian floors were clay or stone based and plain in finish. It can be hypothecated that the patterns of carpets, easy to handle 10”x10” sizes of European tiles and glazed surface finishes of Chinese ware might have influenced the local masons to produce the Athangudi tiles. If so, they are also a rare blend of the east and the west.

To appreciate Athangudi tiles, it is important to understand their modes of production as well.

The mix of cement and coloured oxide in a liquid slurry state is individually poured into patterned moulds upon a glass piece. A thin layer of local sand is laid; the tile is then filled to three-fourth inch thickness with cement, sand and small stone aggregates or jelly to get the tile.

It is cured in water for a minimum of 21 days and readied for laying. Imagine, all this is done to every tile individually, building up an amazing handicraft industry. While the red colour tiles look like red oxide flooring, varied geometrical and floral patterns are also available. The traditional patterns are still being continued with, hence Athangudi tiles are among the few choices available today to create an ethnic ambience. However, unlike red oxide, these tiles come with greater smoothness and shine. In designs, finish, quality and durability, Athangudi can compete with any of modern manufactured flooring materials, of course with its own advantages and disadvantages. Used in the right place and context, Athangudi tiles are among the sustainable solutions ahead of us.