Restoration of the 1928 Bath
At Wartegg Castle in Rohrschacherberg, the historic bath dating from 1928 has been restored. The floor tiles of the pool showed signs of glaze flaking caused during manufacture. This was due to fine hairline cracks in the tiles, which were a result of the production methods used at the time. Over the years, chlorinated water had seeped beneath the glaze through these cracks.
Previous attempts at repair using various epoxy resins had not yielded lasting success. For this reason, it was decided to have new tiles manufactured. The original Körting factory existed at that time only as a museum. Swisskeramik was found to be a competent partner for the reproduction of the original tiles. The aim was to produce a tile that was as robust as possible, with a vibrant colour matching the original. To this end, several prototypes were developed and fired at different temperatures, in some cases up to around 1,220 °C. The high firing temperature increased the glaze’s resistance to chlorinated water.
To ensure the exact replication and installation of the new tiles, the pool was finally completely emptied and dried out during the annual closure. The existing glaze on the damaged floor tiles was then sanded off, the pool was sealed, and the newly manufactured tiles were laid.