Re-Laying old cement tiles

Finally after most of the masonry works were over it was time to re-lay the old patterned tiles.  Having 2 different patterns in the 2 rooms that we opened up to each other, we opted for plain white tiles to fill the voids left by the removal of walls and widening of doors.  Upon calculating the square area and making up for allowances on possible breakages and waste due to complete inexperience in laying tile we were short quite a few tiles.

We managed to find (from more than 1 source) a fair amount of white tiles by using a local recycle site.  Being manufactured by different people at different times (some tiles were rather old), we decided to lay them at random, in keeping with the school of beauty seen in imperfection or randomness.  Being an older property we thought that we could afford this.

Different shades of white to
bridge the gap where
 the wall once stood

Needs list: a long spirit level, rubber mallet, sand, cement,     angle grinder, sponge, brush, knee pads, 3 buckets, drill and mixer attachment, trowel (kazzola) and hawk (flawt) and lots of patience.

My rookie mistake here was to start laying tile without checking if both rooms were level.  It was only half way through the work did I notice that there were various levels in both these rooms.  Getting an idea beforehand is definitely easier and prevents removal and relaying not to mention tile wastage.

Preparing the substrate

The areas which had to be tiled where cleaned, and a fresh substrate of bedding (torba) was laid. The bedding was compacted by hand (being a small area) using a flat piece of wood  and water was sprayed over it to aid settling of the bedding.  The tiles were soaked in water beforehand to allow for a better adhesion and a fresh batch of mortar consisting of fine sand and cement was mixed using a drill and mixer attachment.  The ratio I used was 3 parts sand to 1 part cement.  I found personally that the mixture should not be too soft as the tiles could sink further below the desired level and not too stiff not to allow adjustment.

Here is the laying process in point form:

1. Prior to laying the edges of the tiles (that were already laid) were gently ground down using an angle grinder.  The edges will have left over mortar and grouting stuck to them.  This allows for good apposition of the newly laid tiles.
2. Using a trowel apply an amount of mortar relative to the size of tile and slightly higher to the required level of mortar (you may check with the neighbouring tile).
3. Place a wet tile on the mortar and gently tap around it  starting from the edge closest to the neighbouring tile outwards to allow the excess mortar to move outwards.
4. Check level with neighbouring tiles throughout the process.  Is tile level?  If level is too low, remove tile and add mortar.  If level is too high remove some mortar and re-lay tile.  If the tile is level move on to the next tile.

Red arrows mark the badly damaged tiles that were replaced

Whilst in the process badly damaged tiles were removed and replaced.  With damaged tiles that were surrounded by others in good condition removal consisted of cutting a grid like pattern into the tile (using a grinder) as well as cutting around the border of the tile.  This approach did not damage any neighbouring tiles.  After lifting out the pieces the edges were ground down using a grinder.  The replacement tile was laid in the same manner above.  The surrounding tiles were used as a reference level.

The edges were left to the end.  In this way broken tiles were used to cut down to size.  The remaining whole tiles were kept as spares.

  

The decision to mix and match different whites worked out well for us.  However that is just a matter of taste.

Edges were left till the end

All that remained was to bring in a professional tile polisher to breathe life back into the tiles.  This is not a job that can be done without the right industrial tools.