Does anyone know how to mix the concrete used when creating a mud base for ceramic tile. Please provide ratios of materials.
bill6
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
A standardized approach, quick-to-install hardware, and a simplified design make building custom casework cost-effective.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
Go find the book "Setting tile" by Michael Byrne. I know I have seen it at Lowes and HD, it's also avgailable on line. Excellent book, it will answer all your questions, and some you haven't thought of.
Do it right, or do it twice.
El is totally right and you give too few details here for anyone to answer your question properly.
If you want us to spend time writing information to you you should spend the time writing more details to us.
Be more detailed pal
andy
My life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Edited 11/30/2003 8:56:42 PM ET by Andy Clifford(Andybuildz)
geez, bad day?
a little harsh coming from you
4
spose workin in the snow today didnt help...yepMy life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
If you don't know what you're doing, use a pre-mix polymer-modified product such as Spred-N-Bond which is designed to stick to old concrete in thin layers (up to 2" max thickness). Add water and mix. Only thing you have to worry about is the consistency. For that, you should mix a trial batch or two and play around with it in a dummy set up till you make it work the way you want.
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Thanks for your help. Where do you purchase Spred-N-Bond?
I get it from my lumberyard. It's made by Daubois, under the brandname Bo-Mix. Here's a link to the product page on their web site. http://www.bomix.ca/produits.php?lang=en&cat=resurfacage&prod=spreadnbond
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Bill -
Depends on whether it's a floor or wall. Different kind of mud.
For walls, you use "fat" mud. That is, mortar not unlike what mason's use to lay brick. I mix mine about 4 parts sand, 1 portland cement and 1 to 1-1/2 parts masonry lime. The lime makes it 'sticky' and hang together. I presume since you asked this question that you're dealing with a flooring installation since floating a mud wall isn't something you want to do without knowing a lot more about it than just how to mix the mud.
For floor mud you mix up to 6 parts sand and 1 part portland cement adding just enough water to make it hold together in a ball when you squeeze it in your hand. Hence the term 'dry-pack'. There's a lot more to floating a good dry-pack floor than knowing how to mix the mud as well.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
I buy mine at a masonry supplier. Its called deck mud or drypack. About $5 a bag. Great for floors. If ya'all wanna make your own, the recipe is 5-6 parts sand to 1 part portland cement.
Mix with water. Plain frigging water. No ad mix. Mix very very very dry. Add very small amounts in a plastic mud trough and hoe with a mason's hoe. Add water, and chop. Add a little more and chop. Keep choping until water is evenly distributed throughout the mix. This may take about 10-20 minutes for a couple of bags of mud. Really chop it up. Stop adding and chopping when the mud reaches a point where you grab it with both hands and squeeze it and it miraculously holds together, just barely. It is very very dry. Stop at that instant and it is ready.
Spread mud over tar paper or poly and diamond lathe. I use dumb 3/4" metal conduit as a screed, leveling them with mud stuffed underneath.
Good luck.
A better book on mud is John Bridge's Ceramic Tile which goes into more detail about mud.
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
Boris & Dennis...why no lime in the floor mud? I have no idea, but since you both left it out of your receipes, I thought I'd ask.
Do it right, or do it twice.
Lime is great---for walls and curbs. You need it to make the mix sticky so it adheres to the lathe on verticle surfaces. If you were mixing mud for walls the recipe would be 6-1-1/2. 6 Parts sand, 1 Part Portland 1/2 Part Lime.
For floors, the lime will do nothing but cause a mess. The stickiness will cause the mud to adhere to your strike off and globs of mud will come with it, so there will be divets and holes in your floor. The lime will also absorb water and you will need more water for the mix, and the mix with more water may shrink more. Admix will also cause the mud to be more sticky, too. So I keep it simple--sand, portland and water. Makes a nice sandy dry mix that doesn't shrink and stays flat.
Regards,
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
Elcid -
Like Boris said, you don't need to make the mud 'sticky' to get it to stay on the floor! (grin) Lime also causes the wall mud to shrink since it is an extra vehicle for carrying water. Some guys like to use fire clay instead of lime since it's not a hard on your hands. But it *really* causes shrinkage.
Another thing is the type of sand used. I don't like to use too fine a sand since with floor mud it makes it too sticky as well. Mason's sand is about right. Concrete sand is a little course but for a heavy bed (thick) it might be better.
When mixing drypack with pre-packaged dry sand, it takes more water than if you're using bulk sand from the truck - the latter sometimes had enough moisture in it already to provide decent hydration of the portland cement but is harder to mix by hand and get even distribution of the cement............
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
In Michael Byrne's book he talks about 'sharp' sand as the right stuff for making the various mud recipes. I went and looked at some sand at the building materials place and hell, I couldn't tell if it was sharp or not, so I went and bought 5 sacks of deck mud at the tile shop and used that. Worked great. Most tile places have the specialty products for tilesetting that you can't find at the lumberyard. If you're setting tile you gotta find a good tile shop.