Need recommendations for materials for porcelain tile.

[ixlr8]

Hi folks, I have decided to put porcelain tile, 12"x24", in my garage, about 700 sq ft total. I have never put down tile before and I am looking for advice for the following items.

- Mortar
- Grout
- Tile spacing
- Trowel notch size

Any other words of wisdom folks care to give me.

Jim

 

[duneslider]

Frankly, the answers to this depends. There isn't just a one size fits all for this.

I personally would use Ditra or Stratamat on the floor and for either one I would use Laticrete Gold thinset above and below. That may or may not be what the "manufacturer recommends" but that is what I have been doing for years and can stand by it.

I pretty much never go over a 3/16" grout spacing but typically I am more like 1/8 or less but the smaller it is the more difficult the install will be, unless your floor is dead flat. For a beginner, I would shoot for 3/16".

I custom cut my trowels and I use a 1/4" notch with staggered 3/8" deep and 1/2" deep notches. This works well for me. I usually notch floor, skim the back. Sometimes I have to notch the floor and the tile. If that doesn't work I move to 1/2"x1/2" trowel. I personally don't use the 1/2" trowel too often though.

Grout is full of tons and tons of options. My favorite portland based grout is Laticrete Permacolor but there are other good ones. If you are wanting to spend more there are epoxy or premixed options that are good too. I have actually found that beginners tend to have good success with the "Pre-mixed" grout. If you follow the directions exactly, they are super easy to use and hard to mess up. Portland based grouts require a bit of "experience" to use correctly but again aren't that bad and are usually the most affordable.

 

[pcmeiners]

Thinset (or equal) is a great product, sure beats portland cement for adhesion. Follow the instructions for added water and the consistancy of the mixed product
You may neede to added water to maintain the correct consistancy as you work.

If the back of the tile is not fully skimmed coat, possible the troweled thinset on the floor will not stick to the tile, or fully adhere, which causes a possible hollow or weak point in the tile. Do not allow hollow spots.

Make sure you have spare tiles for the future, in case a tile(s) cracks years down the line!!!

As Duneslider recommends, pre mix grout, usually they are fortified with a strengthener

Likely you will take more than a day. When finished for the day carefully scrape ANY thinset from the floor right to the edge of the install tile.

As you set the tiles, remove any thinset which oozes up between the tiles. once thinset dries it is hard to remove, and likely will not match the tile grout color.

Do you have knee pads, Home Depot/lowes have them. Gloves are needed if the alkaline in the thinset or grout starts messing with your hands.

If you have a bad back, do you have a back support? It not so much the lifting as leaning over for long periods.

A slightly damp floor/tiles, NOT WET helps thinset stick. This is a bit tricky, wet is not good.

Know when to quit for day before you over do it.

 

[ixlr8]

Thank you for your reply's. Yup, I have knee pads and a back brace. At 70, my back will be the limiting factor on how long I can work for on a given day. Thanks for the suggestion on the gloves. First time I have seen a recommendation to use the Ditra on a garage floor. Makes sense as it is not a matter of if, but when, the concrete is going to crack. I need to learn a bit more about that before I use it. Good suggestions on the end of day clean up as I expect this will take several days for me to complete. I was going to avoid epoxy grouts, great stuff but I gather little room for error. I will need to look into the pre-mix grouts. Will they need to be sealed, or are they good to go and not stain easy?

 

[duneslider]

There are a lot of flavors of premixed grouts. The ones I have used the most and like the most are the Mapei Flexcolor CQ and Laticrete Spectralock 1. Most lowes carry the flexcolor so it is easy to get.

Most premixed grouts do not need to be sealed and are stainproof and more flexible than portland based grouts. The biggest negative of the urethane grouts is cure time. They need usually 24-48 hours before you want to put them into light use and usually like 7-14 days before you want to get them wet or clean them and put them into "full use". With these, just make sure to follow the instructions because they are very different than what most people are used to when it comes to grouting. You work much smaller areas at a time than all the other grout flavors.

Portland grout is usually good to go in 24hrs or less. Epoxy grout is good to go in a few hours. I generally do not recommend epoxy for beginners, even after having done a ton of it I still feel anxiety as I am starting, especially if I don't have some good help with me.

I think there is benefit to ditra for EVERY installation, even/especially a garage. If you go with ditra, or any of the other similar products, I would be happy to give you some pointers. They aren't hard to use at all but there are tricks that make it easier. Versbond thinset from Home Depot is easy to get, affordable, and will work great above and below ditra.

 

[nmk_61802]

If the tiles are rectified, I would also suggest some sort of leveling system, specially with less than a 1/4" grout spacing.

 

[garretts]

Is Ditra that big of an advantage for a garage? A quick price check shows that would add at least 2K in cost to the floor cost for 700 sq ft.

 

[duneslider]

Ditra should only add about 1200 dollars to 700 square feet but in my opinion I think it is worth it.
Can it be done without it...sure. That is risk you have to take. Depending on your area, it may not be as needed. There are other options out there that might be less expensive and still mitigate some risk.