How to Lay Ceramic Tile Outside

Tile an outside entryway.

The walk to your front door can leave a lasting impression on visitors. Laying ceramic tile outside, such as in an entryway, can be a beautiful addition to your home decor. Picking the right tools and materials makes all the difference in getting the right look. Ceramic tile is a rich-looking choice for such a project. Tiling over a concrete base makes an outside entryway, using ceramic tile and thinset, a possible weekend project.

Things You'll Need

• Notched trowel
• Level
• Gloves
• Safety goggles
• Knee pads
• Bucket
• Sponge
• Tile grout
• Marker
• 3/16-inch spacers
• Ladder
• Straight edge
• Wet saw

Instructions

1. Make sure the entryway is free from dirt, grease and other loose materials.

2. Find the center of the entryway so that if you must cut tile around the edges, your cut tiles are even to your left, right, front and back. You can start in a corner, but for decorative tiles, marking the center makes the design easier to lay out.

3. Make an X at the center of the entryway. Using a straight edge, extend that X to the edge of the entryway, front, back, and side to side.

4. Dry set ceramic tile with 3/16-inch spacers. Set them from the center reference X, and continue along the reference lines right to left, front to back. Fill in the quadrant areas too. This way you will know where each tile goes and the size to cut tiles along the edges, if need be.

5. Make sure to mark each tile you dry set with at least one reference line. If your area is small enough, you can mark completely around each tile along each row, creating a grid over the entire entryway.

6. Mix thinset with water to the consistency of cake frosting. Depending on the color of your tile, you will have decided on white or gray thinset at the time of your purchase.

7. Use the notched trowel to spread thinset on the concrete. Make sure not to cover the reference lines with the thinset. Spread the thinset no thicker than the thickness of the tile. Comb the thinset with the notched trowel. That will give you a good bed for the tile to lie in.

8. As you lay tiles snuggly into the bed of thinset, make sure they are even in height. If the subfloor is uneven, compensate by using more thinset on the backs of the tiles that will cover low areas. Use a level to verify the evenness of your tiles.

9. Cover your tiles from the elements and allow them to dry overnight. Consider marking off the area with a caution tape or rope. You want to make sure that no one steps on the tile while it's drying for 24 hours.

10. Grout the tiles. After 24 hours, the thinset should have dried enough for this step. Wash the grout lines down as you go. Change the water in your bucket often. Do not over-saturate the tiles with water, as this will dilute the freshly dried thinset and diminish the hold. Too much water can also wash the color from your grout.

11. Rope off, cover, or otherwise protect your project while it dries for another 24 hours.

References

• Monty McGriff, Owner; McGriff Tile; Laguna Nigel, California
• Floors Transformed: Applying The Thinset Mortar
• Andersen Ceramics: Decorative Tiles