I am about to start tiling a concrete area of my home about 220 sq feet. I was wondering if there is any specific type of thinset I should be using for a concrete surface. The tiles will be 12×12" ceramic tiles.
Concrete – the recommended thinset when tiling over concrete
ceramic-tileconcretetile
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Like Greebo says, you want to get back down to the concrete, but I'd suggest that more to have a flat surface to build on top of. To make the job go faster, you can use a power tool. Several would get the job done:
Power Chisel (best fit for the job):
Air Hammer (you'd need a high capacity air compressor):
Demo Hammer (more power than you need, but it could be useful for other jobs in the future):
MC Hammer (don't touch this):
Shower tiles are not a place to cut corners. If they are porous then you will have a host of issues. Basically you will breed mold faster and the tile install won't last as long - mold gets in cracks and pops tiles out or at least loosens bonding. You need to get a non-porous stone, plastic, glass, or porcelain.
If going with 12x12 tiles you will need at least 1/16th of an inch given they are uniform - and perfectly cut 12x12 are not cheap. So you are looking at 1/8-3/16. Which means you need sanded grout.
For cheap I suggest you go on craigslist or whatever is equivalent locally (even try job leftovers at tile store). The bottom 3 feet of your install needs to be a good tile - you will need about 34 sqft. You can get decent porcelain for $2 a sqft and even cheaper if it is a job leftover or end of stock. You can still use your ceramic up top. And when switching tiles I usually put in a narrow trim of glass mosaic in between - will need 3-4 sheets.
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Best Answer
I use this type of Flexbond for concrete applications - well most applications. This will isolate cracks up to 1/16th of an inch. Also this stuff really bonds well to concrete. I know that you can buy that $10 bag but I wouldn't skimp on the thinset. I can say I have done a lot of tiling and not a crack yet (knock on concrete).
Also want to mention that I end up doing a lot of glass mosaic patterns (even in floors) and this stuff (get the white for glass) works great.