The delay gave the grout enough time to dry on the tile surface, leaving a haze and dried bits of mortar. Grout sets in about 30 minutes, after which one must wipe the tile clean with a wet sponge.Īnxious to finish what had already become a monster job, I waited until I had spread all of the grout before wiping any of the tiles clean.
PATIO OUTDOOR TILES FULL
This strategy allowed me to use up all of the concrete before it became too dry.Īfter giving the mortar a full day to dry, I began to grout the tile. With that in mind, instead of mixing a whole or even half of a 40-pound bag, I mixed the concrete in smaller batches in a bucket, using about 10 pounds of dry concrete mix at a time. While the manufacturer lists a working time of 90 minutes, I found that the mortar was too dry to work with after about an hour. I realized that once mixed, thinset begins to dry pretty quickly, especially in midsummer heat. There was, however, a bit of a learning curve with using thinset. It’s smoother, thinner, and easier to work with than standard mortar. I used thinset, which is a type of mortar explicitly designed for tile. One of the most critical parts of laying tile is getting the right consistency for the concrete. While it’s possible to do this with a hoe, a spiral mixer attachment for my power drill sped up the mixing process, saving my back and arms while producing lump-free mortar. The knee pads made that bearable and ensured that I could still walk at the end of the day! Laying tile also involves mixing a lot of concrete. You end up spending long hours on your hands and knees, spreading mortar and laying tile. While a wet tile saw was the most critical piece of equipment I needed for this job, a few other essentials made this laborious project a little easier. While making these measurements, I accounted for 1/4-inch gaps between each tile for grout. To avoid these pitfalls, I mapped out each row, marking a line on the pavement where each row would start.
I also didn’t want to have a skinny strip of tile running along the patio’s edge, which would be both odd-looking and structurally weak. To achieve a professional-looking installation, it was crucial to make sure the edge of the tile sat square to the outer edge of the patio.
There’s no old flooring to remove or subfloor to add, and the tile can be installed right on top of the concrete slab.īecause I had installed tile in a bathroom during a renovation a few years back, I knew that the first row would dictate how the tile would look when it reached the outer edge of the patio. The nice thing about tiling a concrete slab patio is that much of the prep work is already done for you. We didn’t want the grout lines to draw a lot of attention, so we went with a light gray color that blended in with the tile. The tile complemented the gray of our house’s exterior while meshing nicely with the earth tones of our outdoor furniture.Īt 6 inches by 18 inches, the tile is long and narrow, accentuating the wood grain pattern. We opted for a gray tile with a faux wood pattern, complete with a textured wood grain that featured irregular knots for authenticity. The whole reason we were embarking on this project in the first place was to improve the look of the patio, so aesthetics were vital. Photo: Tony Carrick A Patio That Complements Our Home’s Exterior We opted for an outdoor porcelain tile, a durable ceramic tile with a textured, matte surface that isn’t as slick as your run-of-the-mill bathroom tile. We knew that the tile would get wet frequently because it’s outside, so it was also important to us that it be slip-resistant to prevent falls. Ordinary kitchen or bathroom tile wasn’t going to cut it. It had to be strong enough to stand up to rain, snow, hot summers, and cold winters as well as our large gas grill and heavy outdoor furniture. Selecting a Durable and Functional Outdoor TileĪs much as we wanted a tile that would enhance the aesthetics of the patio, that tile also needed to be durable. Although we knew it wouldn’t be easy, we decided that installing tile on the patio was the only solution. We determined that transforming our patio into the backyard living space of our dreams would require a bigger effort. After a year, it was ragged, stained, worn, and ready for the trash bin. For a while, the rug added interest and warmth to the patio, but it ultimately succumbed to the elements. Our first attempt at beautifying the cold patio, which involved the addition of an “outdoor” burlap rug, was a failure. Although our backyard patio was perfectly serviceable, we longed for a more visually interesting space for outdoor living.
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