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can you lay ceramic tile outside?

We want to put ceramic tile on our front porch, its fully covered but we were told you had to put porceline tile outside not ceramic. Does anyone know or have you done this?

Answer:

Outside Tile
This Site Might Help You. RE: can you lay ceramic tile outside? We want to put ceramic tile on our front porch, its fully covered but we were told you had to put porceline tile outside not ceramic. Does anyone know or have you done this?
Actually, it can work. But once the linoleum is there, the tile will be worthless. It will be easier and cheaper to just rip up the entire floor tile and all and start over than it will be to clean all the adheasive off of the tile. If you are sure you want the linoleum anyway, you can go to a place like Home Depot, and get a floor leveler system that is ok to be used over tile. They have it, I have purchased it before. If the tile is glazed (shiny and slipery rather than rough feeling) then you will more than likely need to remove the glazing with sanding or grinding, or etch the glazing with an acid compound such as a muriatic acid mix. I have done this sucessfully when installing 12 x 12 natural stone tile over existing glazed tile in a rental unit before. It work VERY well, as the original tile was in excellent shape and had a concrete backerboard under. Once you have the glazing etched or removed, if needed, and have the floor leveled... you don't absulutely have to, but it would be an excelent idea to install a special plywood underlayment designed for use under linoleum or vinyl flooring. This will have to be glued to the prepared tile surface with a special adheasive. They have this at the Home Center as well. After that, it is just as simple as glueing the flooring down just as any other installation. The reason I wrote all that was to show that it is in fact possible and the outcome is very satisfactory if done right. In the end though, most times it will be easier to rip it up and install the linoleum. Hope that helps.
Outdoor Ceramic Tile
don't believe anyone who tells you that you have to put porcelean only outside. porcelean costs more, and that's a sale to them. my company has put many a ceramic tile outside, regardless of the type of weather an area receives, and have yet to have a problem. i strongly recommend a multi flex thinset, over a regular thinset, and please don't buy your thinset from home depot. if you would rather buy from lowes over a tile distributor, buy lowe's ultrafex II. it's a superior product. pick any tile you want, from any store you want, and put it on your porch. make sure the right thinset notch size is used. a tile up to 12 inches requires a 3/8 notch, a tile up to 18 inches requires a 1/2 notch, and anything over 20 inches requires a 3/4 notch. if the proper notch size is used, you shouldn't have any problems with cracking. if your area is subject to hard freezes in the winter, a little rubbing alcohol (not much, maybe a cup per bucketful) added to your thinset guarantees the thinset will never freeze. good luck!

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