Keymer.co.uk is a handmade tile manufacturer
About Keymer.co.uk
The name Keymer has, since 1588, signified the very best in hand made clay roof tiles. For over 400 years our unique hand made clay roof tiles have enhanced the character of buildings all over the world. The look and effect that hand made clay roof tiles give to your property cannot be replicated with any other roofing product as clay is so versatile. Handmade tiles really are a beautiful addition to just about any building and have been used in the construction sector for hundreds of years. The process starts in the clay pit where the clay, laid down millions of years ago, is excavated. The clay, a combination of blue and red clays, is left to weather for approximately a year prior to being put in the hoppers and placed on the conveyor belt towards the wet pan. This is where the clay is pulled apart, passing through Thirteen millimetre wide grids and dead plates. Normal water together with barium carbonate is usually introduced at this point to increase moisture content in the clay as well as to neutralise salts. The clay then moves along to the high-speed rollers before being fed in to a trimming machine that produces dual strips of clay, that are trimmed into 6 foot pieces. Those sections are then sliced in to tile sized pieces by using wire and after that delivered to the makers. The makers add in sand to the tiles which gives them their colouring, differing amounts of manganese oxide within the sand allow the various colours of red as well as teak. The raw roof tile is positioned inside the mould, its smacked and the excess clay is trimmed off and finally the punch is usually pulled down to form the nibs, holes in addition to the creator's identity marks. Each and every tile is imprinted with a number allowing the manufacturer to be aware of the date the particular tile was made along with the tile maker. The appearance of the makers hand is left in every tile, which gives it an original feel.
Fittings and specials are manufactured making use of templates to trim the tile to the required shape. The roof tile is then put over a mould giving it its shape. The roof tiles are usually then left to dry out for seven to ten days, during which they will shrink by 5% before being taken to the setting area. The cars on the docks can hold 5400 roof tiles and are actually set up so that when in the kiln, the heat spreads right through the car equally. While the tiles are loaded they're examined for blemishes. The roof tiles are then packed into a pre drier, in which they will remain for a couple of days to help reduce the moisture content to below two percent. The dry roof tiles will be then loaded in to the shuttle kilns where they're baked for approximately one week and achieve temperatures up to one thousand degrees celsius. This helps to ensure that the roof tiles remain durable and that they aren't going to be affected by ice. They shrink by a additional seven percent during this procedure. The fired tiles will be taken to the drawing dock in which they can be organised into boxes. The loaders check out the roof tiles manually for defects, ensuring the grade of the roof tiles. The roof tiles are then taken off to the storing deck awaiting to be sold and then out to adorn buildings across the world.
