Preparation
It is important that concrete floors are completely cured and dry. Natural stone should not
be laid on wet concrete or screeds. Since the floor tile adhesive can be applied as a
thin bed or a thick bed, the floor does not have to be perfectly smooth although this is
preferable.
However, if the internal concrete is very uneven or is damaged, use a floor levelling compound to
make it smooth.
Procedure
Tiling commences in the corner of the room furthest from the door but, as with wall tiling,
you cannot rely upon existing wall corners to be square or walls to be straight so again
battening must be used to provide the starting point.
Using a measure and a chalked string line mark the centre line of the room from the door
end to the far end. Find and mark the centre of this line.
Loose lay tiles complete with spaces from the centre point alongside the line to the far wall.
Fix a straight batten to the floor at 90° to the line of tiles where the edge of the last whole
tile is.
Loose lay further tiles towards the corner of the room and fix another batten at 90° to the
first alongside the last whole tile. Check that the corner produced is exactly
square, and that the positioning of neither line of tiles will result in narrow tiles having to be
cut to fill in around the perimeter once the battening has been removed.
Any inward opening door will have to be
removed and reduced in height to open
again over the tiles.
'Loose' floor coverings such as vinyl
sheeting should be completely removed.
Any covering like old ceramic tiles must be
thoroughly scrubbed clean and all traces
of old polish removed.
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