Perimeter tiles installed

An afternoon of cutting to fit filled in the remaining gaps on the floor.  Next step will be grouting.  That step is the subject of some discussion.  Current thinking is to tile the sides and top it with some boards that were taken up from the previous porch floor or to use some of the wide boards we saved from the second story project.  Stay tuned.  Once the floor is done the ceiling will go up and the walls will get wainscotting and drywall.

Floor Tiles

Tiling has begun.  We're using 18"x18" ceramic/porcelain tiles in a grid pattern.  We've started out with the full size tiles then will follow with the cut tiles around the perimeter.  The round orange pieces are the spacers - 1/4"for the grout.  The white pieces go under two adjacent tiles and when the wedge is inserted, bring them to the same level (making up for some of the imperfections).  The heating is working well as we've seen single digit temperatures for most of the week while the room remains in the 60's.

levelers and spacers

Restarting the project!

Well, we're back after a long absence.  A New Year's resolution to finally button up the porch project along with many visits from friends and family and the universal comment "you still haven't finished?" has been the kick in the butt we've needed to get to action.

First step is to get the floor tiled.  To do that we have to install the heating elements - in our case a Honeywell system that is electric.  In the picture below you can make out the coils that go back and forth.  These were set in a mortar.  Since it is winter and the slab is very cold, we made the connections and turned it on in order to help cure the mortar.

First layer - heating elements

Powered up and registering 61 degrees!

The next step is to provide a separation layer between concrete of the base slab and the final surface tile.  In order to do that effectively we've used a great new product from Germany.  It is essentially a hybrid of fabric attached to a plastic.  The fabric is mortared onto the slab then another layer of mortor is placed on top filling the blocks.  The system allows for differential movement reducing (hopefully eliminating) any chance for cracking.

Separation layer

Now that the base system is in place, we will wait to let everything cure and look to install the tiles over the next weekend.

Ready for tile!