There has always been a great variety of floor coverings both outside and inside buildings: Whether clay planks, pick stone plaster, pebble paving, brick paving, sandstone slabs, wooden planks, stoneware tiles, etc., there have always been countless possibilities for floor decor. Individual design was not uncommon and depended on the different tasks and functions of the rooms.

An example of this is the pebble paving in the Westmünsterland courtyard. As a kitchen floor, it had to be very durable, a lot of work was done, and water was also used. Stone floors were particularly suitable for such requirements. The paving stones were collected in the fields of Westmünsterland or on riverbanks. Through shape, colour, and laying technique, floor surfaces could be individually designed. In the Westmünsterland courtyard, there is a magnificent pebble pavement made of granite. A two-coloured wheel cross and the year 1847 were incorporated into the centre of the kitchen floor. At the fireplace of the chimney lies a special small pavement, which is not made of natural stone, but of a waste product of the potteries, the so-called “Esterkes”, fired stoneware strips.

Did you know? Parts of the kitchen floor from 1847 were relocated without being dismantled, i.e. as a closed surface, and reinstalled in 1975.

The cobblestone paving in the Westmünsterland Hof (farm) is particularly decorative. Pebbles of different colours and sizes were used, and the design possibilities were exploited. The kitchen floor comes from a neighbouring farm and was laid in 1847. In the centre, a two-coloured wheel cross with the corresponding year is incorporated. This cobblestone pavement is composed of fieldstones (granite).

The small paving at the fireplace consists of so-called “Esterkes”, stoneware strips made of fired clay. These were originally used as stacking aids in pottery and were considered waste after a single use. Parts of the paved floor were salvaged as un-dismantled blocks and reinstalled unchanged in Detmold. The stone restorers supplemented the missing areas according to the original surfaces.

To lay an area in this form, a grid of about one square meter is first created, even today. Then the restorers lay the stones like a puzzle in the earth-moist mortar. Once a section is finished, they hammer the stones into the mortar bed using a wooden board, creating a flat surface. Finally, the joints are sealed with mortar.