Tile questions

[Woodsrider]

After reading all the posts about porcelain tiles over the last 6 months,I've decided that that is the route I'm going for my garage.
It is a large 2 car attached garage, about 730 sqft. I don't have any pictures yet as we don't move into the house until the middle of October. It's a new house but by then the concrete will be about 9 weeks old. It was power troweled smooth and has a few control cuts in it. We are in the country so we have a 5,000 gal cistern under the floor in one corner.
So almost all my questions have been answered in other posts but I have a few more and would also appreciate any feedback if I'm missing something.

There is a wooden step going into the house that would be nice to have tiled. Should I pour a concrete step and tile it? Other ideas?

Is it safe to just tile over the cuts? I'll be using the Kerabond/Keralastic thinset. Do I need to line up the tile with the cuts? If so, how do you hit all the cuts?

Is November too late to tile? I'm in Ontario, Canada so it may get close to freezing at night. Should I wait until spring? I don't want salt and **** wrecking the floor before I get tile down.

Any special considerations for the area above the cistern?

Thanks

 

[slickgt1]

The wooden step, get some wonder board, or hadie board, (both cement board), glue and screw it to the wood parts. Tile over that. Use PL premium as the glue.

I tiled over my cuts. Because I think it looks better. I'm in the north east, so I get massive temperature shifts. So far so good. I did fill them in with PL, then thinset as I laid tile. I figure if something expands and pops some day, I can address it then. Maybe saw cut right through the tile. Nothing has happened till this day, so I don't think I will worry about it. Some people will swear to honor the joints. So up to you.

Is your garage heated? You do not want your thinset to freeze before it sets. Otherwise, I don't see a problem. As long as it stays above freezing, you should be fine. I actually set my tile in the winter too. And the one day I decided to lay the tile by the side door, freezing temps showed up. Lets just say I had to redo 4 tiles.

 

[Dakota00]

Woodsrider,

Personally I would wait until spring to tile, so that the concrete can settle and crack in the control joints. But it's up to you!!

As for the step, is it a single step? If so remove it and make one out of concrete very easy to do with a simple frame, mix up a little concrete or do it out of masonry blocks. Then Tile over it.

Depending on how the saw cuts were done, I would really like to see a picture. You could tile over them but you will run the risk of cracks in the joint lines or even the tiles. Depending on the saw cut location I would respect them and not cover them up if possible. When grouting, I would leave those control lines grout free and fill them with matching silicone.

Tiling in November is pushing it for temps, it should be about 2-5'C above freezing overnight when laying tiles. If you must tile at that time of the season, I highly suggest renting a propane heater and run it on low heat to help curing time. And it must run at least 2 weeks after you finish laying, for curing.

As for the Cistern, there's no issues of tiling over it. Half my garage underneath is a cold cellar. Which would be no issues at all when I plan to tile mine.

Any other questions feel free!!

 

[Woodsrider]

Thanks for the replies.
I'm assuming the salt and snow shouldn't harm the concrete for one winter. I'll see how it goes.
It's also a fairly large slab so there's a few cuts in it. I'll post a picture when I move in.

 

[Dakota00]

Salt wont do much damage to the concrete in one winter.

 

[Kevin_b_c]

Sorry if this is side-tracking the thread, but have a random question, and didn't find any results in the search.
I was wondering if anyone has tried using an electric radiant heat pad under tile in a garage. Like they use in bathrooms/kitchens.
I could imagine it wouldn't be as efficient as inslab heating.

A 118 x 116 inch 120V pad is 1141W.
A 240 x 120 240V pad is 2400W.

 

[slickgt1]

It actually works quite well. My father wanted to move his shop from the basement to the garage. I made a little area for him, like a room in a garage. It works so well, that I am going to be tearing out those walls, and doing the whole garage this way.

It keeps that whole room warm. No other source of heat in the garage. The mat was around 4'x'4'. We used the Danfos (sp) brand. Not sure if I got the spelling correct.

I would keep the mat around the area you plan on sitting on the floor. Unless you really want it to keep your shop warm. So figure out that space. You can just cut the mesh on the mat, and turn it. Only pain in the *** about it, is that you need to thinset it in, before even starting your tile.

Oh, hot glue works extremely well on keeping the coil down in those stubborn spots.