Floor Prep for Ceramic Tile

[Section179]

I am planning to put some ceramic or porcelain tile down on the garage floor and have a few questions regarding floor prep. I live in the Chicago area and the house and floor is about ten years old.

There are two joints that were troweled in when the concrete was poured. The garage is a three car and the joints run front to back betwen the stalls. Do I fill this in with some type of patch before tiling? Or do I need to leave a break in the tile where the joints are and then fill in the break with a caulk of some sort?

Also, the floor is quite smooth, but it is not polished. Do I need to rough it up first or simply put the tile down after washing it nice and good?

Here are a couple of photos to help.

The flaking shown is outside of the door threshold and will not be tiled. If you have any suggestions on how to clean that up as well, they are welcome.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[Turbota]

I just had 20" x 20" porcelain tiles installed on my 3-car garage floor here in Florida. My house is also 10 years old and I am guessing the concrete floor is about the same as yours .... smooth cement with no sealer or paint applied previously.

No prep other than a little cleaning. My installer just applied the thinset "Ultraflex 1" mortar (from Lowes) right over the cement. No problem at all. Don't worry about any expansion joints or slight cracks in the concrete.

BTW ... My garage floor is 30' W x 19.5' D (585 Sq. Ft.) I needed 11 of the 50 Lb bags of dry mortar for the job.

I will post some photos as soon as my wife gets back from her trip. She has the camera, and my cellphone camera is not working right.

I have ceramic tiles on my garage floor in the Philippines ... however, as I stated above, I used porcelain tiles here in Florida .... Given the choice, I think porcelain tiles are better for a garage floor because not only are they harder, they are also a little thicker ... but, I have not had any cracks in the ceramic tiles on the house in the Philippines (driven my car on it for 2 years).

Ron,

 

[Section179]

Ron:

Thanks for the reply.

While I am new here at the forum, I have been digging through some older posts relating to tile, including some of yours along with the pictures of your home in the Philippines.

It sounds like your current home is very similar to the project I am planning. I am glad to hear a simple cleaning is all that is needed before laying the tile.

I was a little concerned with installing the tile over the two troweled joints in the floor and any possible cracking of the tile in the future. I will likely fill the joints in with grout and see how it goes. The garage floor does not freeze so there is litttle, if any movement, at this point.

Chris