Quarry tiles on concrete

[Bash it]

Hello from a newbie. Great site! Will come in very useful when I get round to doing patio, however for now .....

I have a kitchen floor which is currently flags on soil. I want to lay quarry tiles (6" x 6" x 1/2") and am planning on doing this on concrete (4") over dpm. I am wondering if it will be possible to lay the tiles straight onto the concrete when laid rather than wait months for it to dry out and use tile adhesive etc. Is this OK to do and if so how long should I wait to a) walk on the floor, b)grout the tiles. What can I grout the tiles with if done this way. Can I use cement base tile grout or do I need to use mortar. I just thought this way might enable me to get kitchen back in use a bit quicker.

Any advice would be greatly received.

thanks, from bash it

[alan ditchfield]

I would lay a concrete floor and then use a tile adhesive over that you will find it a lot easier than waiding round in wet concrete trying to level your tiles but that is just my opinion. PS.. the concrete will be hard enough to lay over in a day or 2 get the floor level with concrete and it will make the tiling easy. It may be a good idea to lay the concrete over viscuine to prevent moisture rising through it.

[Bash it]

Thanks for reply. Might be best to go down this route.

Just one thing, do you mean you can tile onto the concrete with a ceramic tile adhesive after it has been down for two days. I thought you had to leave it for weeks to dry out thoroughly before you could tile onto it.

If so would course of action be:

dpm, 4" concrete, leave for 2 days, tile using cement based tile adhesive then grout.

[danensis]

Remember that if you stop the moisture coming up through the floor it will probably come up through the walls.