The builder started by the clay tiles on the outside terrace. The terrace is a few centimeters (5-10)below the level of the inside spaces, which acts as a way to indicate the difference between inside and outside (i.e. take off your shoes please) but also means water is less likely to ever get inside if it rains really heavily (which it can).

It could be important to take into consideration the thickness of the floor finish you are planning to use fairly early on in the design process so that you can achieve any desired effects. For example, we could not use a particular clay tile we liked on the stairs because it was too thick.

The builder decided to lay these tiles himself, explaining that you need a lot of patience to lay this kind of floor finishing - clay tiles are not so precisely equal as ceramic tiles are. This means that it is more difficult to ensure an even floor surface.

So rather than try to insil that kind of hardcore patience into one of the guys working on the house he chose to do it himself. And happily the finished floor is flat.

Although, we are still not sure whether the clay tiles would benefit from some kind of extra protection. Untreated the tiles are porous, which means they will stain easily when Carolina's sister Alex spills red wine everywhere.

The builder coated them with diesel fuel but only one coat doesn't sound like enough to me and I can see stains already appearing.

Also, it feels like after being so careful laying the floor he wasn't so careful with it while work continued - there are quite a few cement marks where workers have walked in and out with dirty boots. It feels like this could have been easily avoided by putting some kind of plastic sheeting on the floor. Or even just newspaper.