How to Install a Slate Porch
If you are contemplating changing the look of your porch, you may choose to pay for it into slate tiles. Slate is a kind of stone, therefore slate tiles are durable and perfect for outdoor applications. Slate tiles are best installed over a concrete porch since it is a more stable surface. These tiles should not be installed over damaged or uneven concrete. Level your porch using quick-setting concrete if it’s dips or rises. Slate tiles are available in lots of colors including black, grey, purple, green and red.
Prepare for and Set the Slate
Deep clean the cement by scrubbing it with a wire brush and soap and water or spraying it with a pressure washer. A clean surface will make sure that the tiles remain stuck to the porch.
Allow the porch to dry before you begin placing the tile. Brush the surface with a little water before you trowel onto thinset mortar. Apply about 1/8 inch of mortar using a notched trowel to the cement in an area that you can cover slate in five minutes.
Wipe the back of each slate tile with a damp cloth and lay the tiles over the mortar. Use spacers to keep even spacing between your tiles as you lay them.
Quantify any areas alongside a border which are too small for a complete tile. Subtract the spacer width to get the size of the tile. Mark the tile in which it has to be cut.
Use a diamond wet saw or handheld tool with a diamond wheel accessory to reduce the tiles to size. Lay each tile as you did before.
End the Porch
Sprinkle the entire surface of the porch with water without walking . Cover the porch with plastic sheeting and then leave for 24 hours. Don’t allow anyone to walk on the porch during this time period.
Remove the plastic sheeting and spacers and employ a grout release representative to the tiles. This broker will make the elimination of grout movie from the slate simpler.
Mix up the outdoor grout as directed on the package. Apply grout to all the spaces between the tiles using a tile grout float.
Wet a sponge and wring it out so that it is not really wet. Wipe it over the tiles and grout to remove excess grout. Allow the grout to dry prior to using the porch.