How to Install a Ceramic Tile Floor Fireplace

Many fireplace floors are lined with brick, which can be difficult to clean. Changing a fireplace's floor can make a living room feel updated and give it a whole new look. Ceramic tile is a good surface for a fireplace's floor because it is sturdy enough to sustain the heat, and it can also be easily swept and cleaned of any ash, dirt or stains from the fire.

Things You'll Need

• Tri-sodium phosphate cleaner
• Cement backing board
• Construction instant-bond adhesive
• Thin-set mortar
• Wet saw
• Tile
• Sharpie
• Grout
• Trowel

Instructions

1. Clean the current fireplace floor surface. A good cleaner is tri-sodium phosphate, which can be applied and removed with a sponge.

2. Lay down concrete backing board onto this surface using construction adhesive, preferably of the instant-bond type.

3. Apply a then layer (no more than a few millimeters thick) of thin-set mortar to the area of the fireplace that you are going to tile.

4. Lay down your whole tiles, starting from the middle and working outward. Use the edge of a spare tile to uniformly space each tile--meaning the gap between each tile will be one-tile thickness).

5. For the margins and corners, set out the tiles you plan to cut and use the area that isn't tiled to guide you. With a Sharpie, draw where the cuts need to be made.

6. Cut these partial tiles along the lines that you marked using a wet saw. Give them at least 24 hours to dry before installing them

7. Apply thin-set adhesive to the backs of these cut tiles and put them in place.

8. With a trowel, use grout to fill in the area between tiles. Allow the grout to dry for 24 hours before using the fireplace.