Have a concrete floor laid 6 weeks ago size 3 x 4 meters. Do I need to treat the concrete with a water/PVA mix (10:1) beforehand?
Start laying tiles in the middle after laying two centre lines?
Apply sufficient tile cement to lay one or more tiles at a time?
Depth of cement groves 8mm or 10mm is this defined by the trowel used?
Once cement is applied to the concrete floor how long is it active to receive tiles?
Can anybody recommend a DIY book on this subject?
I have some DIY experience and rather keen to have a go myself.
Any helpful tips would greatly be appreciated.
Do NOT use PVA on the floor. You should be able to tile straight onto the concrete as it should be cured after 6 weeks. Buy a good quality powder based floor adhesive. It will tell you on the bag how long it will stay workable on the bag, but I usually find it goes off sooner than stated. Mix small amounts to start with until you are confident that you can lay enough tiles to use up the mix without it going off., don’t be too ambitious when you start The trowel will dictate the thickness of adhesive, if the floor is level and smooth 8-10 mm should work fine.
Find the centre of the floor and ping a line through this at the same distamce from one wall, buildings are raely absolutely square. Dry lay tiles in both directions from the centre point to check you don’t have any small cuts to do at the edges. If necessary adjust position by half a tile, You should aim to have to not cut less tha half a tile at the edges.
Once I have found the start point I lay a feather edge or other straight edge and weigh it down with boxes of tiles and then tile up to this on the first row. Do one row from end to end except edges and the start the next row. If you are not in a hurry do the centre full rows and leave them overnight so you can walk round the edge without disturbing what you have laid, Do the cuts and edges next day,
Any other queries post them someone will have the answer.
Hi Guys
Can anyone tell me how long I need to wait before I can tile the floor of a just built conservatory. Surely it needs time to settle first and that there will be movement. I am going to quote for this job tomorrow. The conservatory is not built as yet. The customer wants to start tiling in 1 month. Is this too soon?
Steve
With conservatories, there can be huge variations in temperature which can cause expansion/contraction. Why don’t you consider using a decoupling membrane, this will isolate the tiled surface from any substrate movement and will mean you can tile much earlier.
