Posted on 9-5-2022 by Fieke
The Zellige, these beautiful Moroccan tiles are an fashionhit in all of our homes! But how do you finish them? Zelliges are completely handmade and therefore not exactly alike. This makes them beautiful, but hard to work with.
In this blog we explain how to finish them up to your standard.
Decorative strips:
You can buy an ornamental strip (search for: wooden profiles) at the hardware store. They come in different shapes. Think of a quarter round, half moon or decorative strip. These have a fixed size and may not fit exactly on the tile everywhere. But you can paint them in the colour of your choice and they are easy to attach.
Mitre sawing:
Even better is to use the same material at the top. You can do this by sawing the tiles slightly mitred and thus creating tops. The tops will then slant upwards slightly and have the same size and appearance as the tiles. This does require some extra tiles (assume the total length in tiles : 2. You can use the 1 tile twice) The height/degree can be adjusted to your liking.
Grouting:
You can also extend the joint a little higher and bring it back to the wall in a slanted angle or 'slide' arc. This option is cheap because you have already bought the grout, it matches the tile and you keep the Mediterranean feel. There are many different colours of grout, and you can always paint it to match the colour of the wall or tile. 
Incorporate into your stucco:
The most beautiful option, but very expensive and not always applicable, is to let the plaster above/next to the tiles run flush with the thickness of the tiles. This makes the tiles appear to be sunk into the wall. This means that the wall has to be thickened by about 1-1.5 cm for Zelliges to 2-2.5 cm for Bejmats. You will need additional plaster, wood panels or gypsum for this. Choose an option that suits your situation and your preference. Then you will enjoy it the longest!
Did you know:
- The earth in Morocco is chalky? Just look at the back of a tile. There you will sometimes see white dots of lime. These can expand if the tiles get wet when they are glued on, and can sometimes push off a piece of glazing. Therefore, make sure you have a 10% cutting loss, so you can change some of them.
- The tiles have been drying for a month in the warm Sahara desert. in the warm Sahara sun, before they are glazed? The temperature causes different drying rates, which in turn has an effect on the shape and glaze.
- The moulds are larger than the final size? This size will later be marked off and chipped at an angle. This allows you to stick the tiles together very tightly (cold) and you do not need any tile crosses. (Always grout the joints to ensure that water and dirt cannot get behind them).
- The tiles are stacked in round ovens like a house of cards? Olive pits are added to these, which creates the beautiful colour shades. The lower tiles become much hotter than the top, which causes slight colour differences within a batch.
-These tiles need to be wetted a little before gluing them? The tiles are very dry and would otherwise slurp up all the glue. This also removes any dust residue and dirt.
- Designtegels.nl is full of inspiration for every room? Here you can browse and find the tile that suits you best.
- Take a look at the film from our factory in Morocco: Making of zelliges
