For most of the twentieth century, an ordinary Indian home stood on a cement floor. In a Kerala tharavad it was a deep, glossy red; in a Mumbai chawl it was grey with a black border; in a Madras terrace house it was yellow or green; in a Chettinad mansion it was a carpet of hand-made tiles in maroon, mustard and leaf green. None of these floors were fired in a kiln and very few were imported. They were made on site, or in a village workshop, from cement, sand, water and a handful of mineral pigments — the oxides that gave them their names and their colours.
Then, within a single generation, they almost disappeared. From the 1990s onwards, vitrified tiles became cheap, fast to lay and fashionable, and families who had grown up on red oxide floors chipped them out without a second thought. The craftsmen who knew how to lay a seamless oxide floor grew old, and a material that had served for decades was remembered mainly as something that showed every footprint. Over the last decade or so the tide has turned again. Architects building climate-conscious homes, hotel designers looking for something with a sense of place, and homeowners tired of glossy tiles have rediscovered both Athangudi tiles and in-situ oxide floors.
This site's article on Chettinad houses explains how Athangudi tiles are made and how they fit into those mansions. This article steps back and tells the wider story: how cement reached Indian floors, how the hand-made cement tile and the trowelled oxide floor grew side by side, why they faded, and what it takes to specify, lay and maintain them well today. The common mistakes are the same as they always were — a weak base, rushed curing, too much pigment and acid cleaners — and every one of them can be avoided once the history and the chemistry are understood.
Before cement: earth, dung, lime and stone
For centuries, the floors of most Indian homes were earth. Rammed and levelled clay was smeared regularly with a paste of cow dung, clay and water, which dried to a firm, faintly springy surface that discouraged insects and could be renewed in an afternoon. Village homes in Gujarat, Rajasthan and much of central India still use this method, and decorated floors drawn with lime or rice paste for festivals are part of the same culture. Wealthier houses used stone flags — sandstone in Rajasthan, Kota and other limestones further south, granite in the Deccan and Tamil Nadu — and fine lime floors, in which lime, sand, brick dust (surkhi) and sometimes additives were laid, beaten and polished to a hard, smooth finish.
Lime floors and polished lime walls share a technique: the material is applied in thin layers, compacted and rubbed while still green, so that the surface becomes dense and slightly glossy. That habit of trowelling and burnishing a soft-setting material carried directly into the cement era. When cement arrived, Indian masons did not have to learn a new idea; they substituted a faster, stronger binder into a craft they already knew. Pigment, too, was familiar. Red and yellow ochre, the dark red of geru and lamp black had long been used on walls, plinths and floors. The oxide floor is, in that sense, a cement-age continuation of a much older Indian surface.
How cement and colour arrived
Portland cement was patented in Britain in 1824, and through the nineteenth century it became the great new building material of the industrial world. In India it first arrived as an import for railways, ports, bridges and public works, and by the early twentieth century cement was being manufactured within the country. As production grew and prices fell, cement moved from engineering works into houses. For floors, it offered something lime could not easily match: a hard, smooth, washable surface that set in hours and gained strength in days, and that could be coloured in almost any earth tone by adding mineral pigment.
In Europe, the same period produced the hydraulic cement tile — a tile with a thin coloured face of cement, fine sand and pigment poured into a patterned mould and backed with coarser mortar, then pressed and cured in water rather than fired. These tiles became fashionable for hallways, cafés and verandahs, and they travelled along trade routes to the colonies. Wealthy Indian households and public buildings imported European tiles, and Indian factories soon began pressing their own. The Chettinad merchants, whose trade networks spread across South-East Asia, were among the families who brought imported tiles home, and, according to the account commonly told in the region, local craftsmen in and around Athangudi developed a hand-made version using local sand, cement, oxides and sheets of glass in place of mechanical presses.
Two branches of one family
From this point, the cement floor in India developed along two branches. The first was the tile: a factory-pressed or hand-cast square, usually 200–300 mm across and 15–25 mm thick, made away from the site, cured, and then laid on a mortar bed. Athangudi tiles are the most famous hand-made example, but pressed cement tiles with geometric patterns were made in many Indian cities and appear in old bungalows, railway buildings and shops. The second branch was the in-situ floor: a cement-sand topping laid directly on the base concrete, coloured with oxide, trowelled smooth and polished in place. This was the floor of ordinary homes, schools and offices — usually called IPS (Indian Patent Stone) when grey and plain, and an oxide floor when coloured red, black, yellow or green.
| Feature | Hand-made cement tile (Athangudi type) | Pressed cement tile | In-situ IPS or oxide floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it is made | Village workshop, cast face-down on glass | Factory with hydraulic or mechanical press | On site, directly over the base concrete |
| Typical size | 200 × 200, 250 × 250, 300 × 300 mm | 200 × 200 to 300 × 300 mm | Panels of about 1 to 1.5 m, or continuous |
| Typical thickness | ≈ 15–20 mm tile on a mortar bed | ≈ 18–25 mm tile on a mortar bed | ≈ 25–40 mm topping including the coloured layer |
| Pattern | Multi-colour patterns poured into cell frames | Patterns pressed through a mould | Plain colour, borders and simple inlaid bands |
| Joints | Very fine butt joints | Fine joints | Strips or cut joints at panel edges, or none |
| Character | Soft sheen that deepens with use | Matt to satin, crisp edges | Seamless, glossy when well polished |
| Main skill needed | Pouring colours cleanly; curing | Mix control and pressing | Trowelling and polishing at the right moment |
Athangudi: how a village tile became a regional signature
Athangudi is a village near Karaikudi in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu. Its tiles became identified with the great Chettinad mansions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where they covered verandahs, halls and rooms in strong reds, ochres, greens, blues and blacks. What makes them distinctive is the method. Each tile is cast face-down on a sheet of glass. A brass or iron frame divided into cells is placed on the glass, liquid mixes of white cement, fine sand and oxide are poured into each cell by hand, the frame is lifted, a dry mix is sprinkled to absorb surplus water, and a coarser cement-sand backing is added and pressed. After some hours the tile is turned out, cured in water for several days and dried in the shade. The glass gives the face its gentle shine; no firing and no glaze are involved.
Because the process is manual, no two tiles are identical. Colours vary slightly from batch to batch, edges are not machine-perfect, and the face has a softness that a printed tile cannot imitate. That variation is a feature, not a defect, but it has consequences for the designer: tiles must be ordered in one batch with spare stock, laid by a mason who sorts and blends them, and set with very fine joints so the pattern reads continuously. The pattern families have stayed remarkably stable for decades — quarter circles and petals that join across four tiles to form medallions, interlocking geometric stars, floral borders and plain colours used as a field.
Fig. 2 shows why Athangudi floors look richer than their moulds. Many designs carry a motif in only one corner, or along one diagonal, so a single tile looks almost plain. Rotated through four positions, four tiles produce a medallion 500 mm across; repeated, the medallions create a field with a secondary pattern where the corners meet. A border of a different tile — often half-width, 125 mm, or a full 250 mm — frames the field like the edge of a carpet. A mason who does not understand the rotation will produce a floor that looks random, which is the most common installation complaint with patterned cement tiles of any kind.
The in-situ oxide floor: how it was, and is, built
The everyday oxide floor of mid-century India was not a tile at all. It was built as a thin, dense topping over the base concrete. On a well-compacted, cured base, a cement-sand screed was laid in panels, levelled and allowed to stiffen slightly. A coloured finishing coat — neat cement or a rich cement-fine-sand mix with oxide pigment — was then floated on and trowelled repeatedly as it set, sometimes with a dry dusting of cement and pigment worked into the wet surface. The final trowelling, done at exactly the right stage of setting, closed the pores and produced the famous glass-like shine. After curing under water or wet hessian for at least a week, the floor was often polished with a soft stone or cloth and finished with wax.
The Bureau of Indian Standards covers this family of floors in its codes of practice for in-situ cement concrete flooring (IS 2571) and in-situ terrazzo (IS 2114), and covers factory cement concrete flooring tiles in IS 1237. The detail that matters most is not in any code but in the hands of the applicator: when to trowel. Too early and the trowel drags water and fines to the surface, leaving a weak, dusty skin; too late and the surface cannot be closed. This is why the same specification can produce a mirror-like floor from one team and a patchy, crazed one from another, and why experienced oxide-floor craftsmen are now sought after.
Pigments: what gives each colour
The oxides used in cement floors are mineral pigments that tolerate the strongly alkaline environment of cement. Red, yellow and black are all iron oxides — the same family of compounds that colours ochre earth and rust — which is why they were cheap, stable and widely available. Green comes from chromium oxide and is more expensive. Blue is the awkward one: the pigments that give a good blue cost more, and some are less stable in cement, which is why old blue floors are rarer and often faded. White and pale tones need white cement, which costs more than grey; using grey cement with pigment gives deeper, muddier shades, which is why many old red floors are almost maroon. A common rule in the trade is to keep pigment within roughly 5–10 per cent of the cement weight: beyond that, colour barely deepens and the topping becomes weaker.
| Colour | Pigment family | Base cement for best result | Behaviour over time | Typical old-floor use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep red (the classic) | Red iron oxide | Grey for maroon; white for brighter red | Very stable; polishes to a deep gloss | Living rooms, verandahs, whole homes in South India |
| Black | Black iron oxide | Grey | Stable; shows dust and scratches | Borders, skirtings, steps, contrast bands |
| Yellow and ochre | Yellow iron oxide | White or grey | Stable; can warm slightly | Rooms and borders, often with red |
| Green | Chromium oxide | White or grey | Stable; costlier pigment | Bedrooms, pooja rooms, patterned tiles |
| Blue | Cobalt-type or other blue pigments | White | Costly; some types fade or dull | Accents and patterned tiles |
| Grey (plain IPS) | None, or a little black | Grey | Very durable; utilitarian look | Utility rooms, staircases, schools |
| White and pastel | White cement, sometimes titanium white | White | Shows stains; needs a sealer | Modern revival work |
Why they faded — and what was lost
The decline of oxide floors and cement tiles in the late twentieth century had several causes. Vitrified and ceramic tiles became cheap and widely available, and they were faster to lay, needed no curing period and looked glossy from day one. The labour needed for a good oxide floor — several stages, careful trowelling and a week or more of curing — became expensive and hard to find, and a poorly made oxide floor cracked, dusted and lost colour, giving the whole material a bad name. Fashion played its part too: the shiny, uniform tile signalled a modern home, and the red floor of a parent's house signalled the past.
What was lost was a set of qualities that modern homeowners now look for. A good oxide floor is seamless, so there are no grout lines to blacken. It is cool underfoot in hot weather, which suits floor-sitting habits in much of India. It improves with use as the surface is polished by feet and mopping. It can be repaired locally by a skilled hand. And it is made from simple local materials with modest embodied energy compared with a kiln-fired tile. Athangudi tiles share most of these qualities, with the added richness of pattern. The revival of the last decade is, at heart, a recognition that these qualities were worth keeping.
Choosing between Athangudi, oxide and the alternatives today
For a homeowner in 2026, the choice is rarely Athangudi or oxide alone. It sits among terrazzo, Kota stone, vitrified tiles and printed lookalikes. The table below compares them on the factors that usually decide the matter. Prices are indicative October 2026 ranges, consistent with the figures used elsewhere on this site, and include laying unless stated; freight for Athangudi tiles from Tamil Nadu and specialist travel for oxide applicators can add noticeably to small jobs outside the south.
| Floor | Indicative cost (₹ per sq ft) | Look and feel | Maintenance | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athangudi tiles | ≈ ₹120–300 material + ₹50–100 laying (≈ ₹170–400 laid), plus freight | Patterned, soft sheen, cool | Water and neutral cleaner; occasional wax or sealer | Foyers, verandahs, living rooms, cafés | Batch variation; rotation errors; acid cleaners |
| In-situ oxide floor | ≈ ₹150–350 laid by a specialist team | Seamless, glossy, deep colour | Sweep, damp mop, periodic wax or sealer | Living, bedrooms, verandahs, heritage homes | Hairline cracks; skill-dependent; patches show |
| In-situ cement terrazzo | ≈ ₹200–450 | Speckled chips, polished | Regrind every decade or two | Large living areas, staircases | Dust and time during grinding |
| Kota stone | ≈ ₹90–180 installed | Calm blue-green or brown, matt to polished | Very low; can be reground | Whole homes, verandahs, outdoor | Natural shade variation |
| Vitrified tiles | ≈ ₹60–120+ material + ₹25–40 laying | Uniform, large formats | Very low | Budget and speed | Grout lines; slippery when wet if glossy |
| Printed cement-look ceramic | ≈ ₹50–150 material + laying | Pattern without the depth | Very low | Bathrooms walls, rentals | Repetition is obvious; print can wear on cheap glazes |
Planning a tile layout without ugly cuts
Hand-made tiles are expensive to cut and their patterns are unforgiving: a row of 60 mm slivers along one wall spoils the whole floor. The professional approach is to treat a patterned floor like a carpet. The pattern sits in a rectangle of whole tiles centred in the room; a border frames it; and a plain margin — in plain Athangudi, oxide, Kota or a quiet tile — takes up the difference between the carpet and the walls, where cuts are invisible. Fig. 4 shows the method for a 3600 × 3000 mm foyer-living space.
| Room (finished size) | Tile | Suggested carpet (whole tiles + border) | Plain margin each side | Approx. patterned tiles incl. 10–15 % spare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foyer 1800 × 1500 mm | 200 × 200 | 1200 × 1000 field + 100 border = 1400 × 1200 | ≈ 200 and 150 | ≈ 33–35 field, plus border |
| Living 3600 × 3000 mm | 250 × 250 | 2500 × 2250 field + 125 border = 2750 × 2500 | ≈ 425 and 250 | ≈ 100–105 field, plus border |
| Living 4200 × 3600 mm | 300 × 300 | 3000 × 2400 field + 150 border = 3300 × 2700 | ≈ 450 and 450 | ≈ 88–92 field, plus border |
| Verandah 6000 × 2400 mm | 250 × 250 | Runner 5000 × 1500 + 125 border | ≈ 375 and 325 | ≈ 132–138 field, plus border |
| Bedroom 3600 × 3300 mm | 250 × 250 | Rug zone under bed only, 2000 × 1750 + border | Plain elsewhere | ≈ 62–64 field, plus border |
Laying, care and repair
Both finishes need the same discipline: a sound, cured, level base; full bedding with no hollow spots; slow, wet curing; and patience before polishing. Athangudi tiles are usually soaked before laying, set on a full cement-sand bed with very fine joints, and the joints filled with a slurry tinted to match. Makers and experienced masons advise against aggressive machine grinding of the face, which can cut through the thin coloured layer; the surface is cleaned and, if desired, treated with a breathable penetrating sealer or a traditional wax. For in-situ oxide floors, the trowelling and curing described above decide most of the outcome, and a specialist team is worth its premium.
In daily use, both floors want the same gentle routine: sweep or vacuum grit, which acts like sandpaper; damp-mop with plain water or a pH-neutral cleaner; wipe oil, turmeric, tea and lime juice promptly; and avoid acid toilet cleaners, vinegar and harsh bleach, which etch cement. Many owners re-wax or re-seal every one to three years in living areas. Repair is where the two differ. A damaged Athangudi tile can be cut out and replaced from the spare stock kept at the time of laying. An oxide floor can be re-polished and its colour revived, but a patch rarely matches perfectly, because the original mix, pigment batch and years of patina cannot be recreated exactly; a skilled applicator often re-coats a whole panel rather than a small patch.
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Fine hairline cracks across an oxide floor | Shrinkage, panels too large, rushed curing | Usually cosmetic; seal; re-coat panel if unsightly |
| Dusty, chalky oxide surface | Trowelled too early, water on surface, poor curing | Specialist re-coat; a sealer alone will not fix it |
| Patchy colour on a new oxide floor | Uneven pigment mixing or trowelling | Re-polish; uniform colour needs one batch of mix |
| Hollow sound under a tile | Spot bedding or a debonded bed | Lift and relay on a full bed before it cracks |
| Dull, stained Athangudi tiles | Acid cleaners, oil spills, no sealer | Gentle cleaning, then wax or breathable sealer |
| Pattern looks random | Tiles rotated wrongly | Relay; mark tile corners and trial-lay next time |
| Old red floor faded and scratched | Decades of wear, detergents | Specialist re-polish, typically ≈ ₹40–90 per sq ft |
Where cement craft floors are going
The revival is changing the material without abandoning it. Makers now offer wider palettes — pastels, greys and deep greens alongside the classic reds — and contemporary patterns designed for flats rather than mansions. Clear penetrating sealers have made cement surfaces easier to keep in kitchens and dining areas than they were in the past. Thin polished cement and microtopping systems, often marketed under names such as microcement, give a seamless oxide-like look on walls, furniture and existing floors with less thickness, although they are proprietary systems rather than the traditional craft and should be judged on the maker's specification. In hospitality and retail projects, including resort and café interiors, Athangudi and oxide floors are increasingly used to give a room a sense of place without importing anything.
There is also a sustainability argument. A cement craft floor uses cement, so it is not carbon-free, but it avoids kiln firing, uses local sand and pigments, lasts for decades and can be repaired and re-polished rather than replaced. Combined with a long life, that makes it a reasonable choice for families who want fewer renovations. The risk for the future is the same as the risk for any craft: if skilled applicators and tile makers are not paid enough to keep working, the knowledge thins out again. Specifying these floors properly — with time for curing and a budget for skill — is the best way to keep the craft alive.
| Period | What changed | What it meant for floors |
|---|---|---|
| Before the 1800s | Earth, dung, lime and stone floors | Burnishing and polishing traditions established |
| 1824 onward | Portland cement patented and spread worldwide | A faster, harder binder for the same craft |
| Late 1800s–early 1900s | Cement tiles imported; Indian makers start pressing and hand-casting | Athangudi and other regional tiles; patterned floors in bungalows |
| Early–mid 1900s | Indian cement production grows | IPS and oxide floors become the everyday Indian floor |
| 1990s–2000s | Vitrified tiles become cheap and fashionable | Craft floors decline; skills thin out |
| 2010s–2020s | Climate, craft and place return to design | Revival in homes, hotels and cafés; new palettes and sealers |
Rules for specifying Athangudi and oxide floors
- Decide the role first: a patterned Athangudi carpet as the hero, or a seamless oxide floor as the calm base — rarely both in one room.
- Prepare a sound, cured, level base; neither finish can hide a weak or wet substrate.
- Order all Athangudi tiles in one batch with 10–15 per cent spare, and store a box for future repairs.
- Draw the tile carpet so every cut falls in a plain margin of at least about 250 mm; trial-lay 1 m × 1 m before fixing.
- For oxide floors, hire a team with recent work to inspect, keep panels to about 1000–1500 mm, and allow at least seven days of wet curing.
- Keep pigment within roughly 5–10 per cent of cement weight; ask for white cement where clear, bright colours are wanted.
- Clean with water and a neutral cleaner only; ban acid and vinegar-based products from the start.
- Keep both finishes out of showers and constantly wet zones; seal any kitchen or bathroom dry-area floor.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between red oxide flooring and Athangudi tiles?
Both are cement-based and coloured with mineral oxides, and neither is fired. Red oxide flooring is laid in place as a continuous trowelled topping, usually in one colour with borders, and has no joints except panel joints. Athangudi tiles are hand-made patterned tiles cast on glass in a workshop and then laid like any other tile. Oxide gives a seamless, glossy plain floor; Athangudi gives pattern.
Is red oxide flooring still available today?
Yes. Specialist applicators in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa and increasingly in other states still lay in-situ oxide floors, and the revival has brought new colours. Expect roughly ₹150–350 per sq ft laid (indicative October 2026), more for small jobs or where a team has to travel. Ask to see a floor they laid at least a year ago.
Why does an oxide floor crack?
Most cracks are shrinkage cracks from panels that are too large, a base that was not cured or was too wet, or a topping that dried too fast. Hairline cracks are usually cosmetic. Keeping panels to about 1000–1500 mm, curing for at least a week and laying on a sound base prevents most of them. A crack that runs straight across several panels may come from movement in the slab and should be checked first.
Can Athangudi tiles be used in a bathroom?
They can be used on bathroom dry areas and walls with a good penetrating sealer, but they are not suited to shower floors or areas that stay wet, where cement surfaces stain, wear and can become slippery. A common approach is Athangudi on the dry side and a slip-resistant tile or stone in the shower.
How do you make an old red oxide floor shine again?
Clean it thoroughly with a neutral cleaner, let it dry, and apply a suitable floor wax or a breathable sealer, buffing it with a soft pad. Badly worn floors need a specialist who can re-polish the surface and, if necessary, re-coat whole panels; this typically costs around ₹40–90 per sq ft (indicative October 2026). Avoid acid-based cleaners, which dull and etch the surface.
Are Athangudi tiles expensive?
They cost more than standard vitrified tiles but less than most natural stone inlay or premium terrazzo: about ₹120–300 per sq ft for material plus ₹50–100 per sq ft to lay, plus freight from Tamil Nadu (indicative October 2026). Using them as a carpet in one room, with a plain floor around it, keeps the cost modest.
Sources & standards
- Bureau of Indian Standards — IS 2571, Code of practice for laying in-situ cement concrete flooring; IS 2114, Code of practice for laying in-situ terrazzo floor finish; IS 1237, Cement concrete flooring tiles — specification
- Bureau of Indian Standards — National Building Code of India 2016, Part 5 (Building Materials) and Part 7 (Construction Management, Practices and Safety), general provisions for floor finishes
- Tamil Nadu tourism and handicraft publications on Chettinad and Athangudi tile making
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Tentative List entry for the Chettinad village clusters of Tamil Nadu
- Standard building-construction textbooks used in Indian diploma and degree courses (chapters on floor finishes: IPS, oxide and terrazzo)
- Pigment manufacturers' technical data for iron oxide and chromium oxide pigments in cement, described generically
- Price ranges: indicative October 2026 estimates — confirm locally before budgeting
