How to Lay Tile Directly on the Floor
- 1). Clean the floor as usual. Pour liquid floor leveler slowly over any cracks, holes or gaps in the wood floor, letting the liquid even itself out. Let the leveler set for 8 hours.
- 2). Use your chalk snap line to divide the floor into four squares, with two perpendicular lines crossing the floor from the middle of each side of the room and intersecting in the middle.
- 3). Spread thin-set mortar over the middle of the room with a notched trowel, covering a few square feet over the intersection of the two lines. You should still be able to see the lines through the mortar.
- 4). Press the first floor tile into the mortar in the middle of the floor, at the intersection, bordered on two adjacent sides by the two lines. Set additional tiles around the first one, putting tile spacers between them as you lay them.
- 5). Lay additional tiles off the first group, spreading more mortar as needed. Work your way out from the middle toward the walls, putting spacers between all of the tiles as you go and using the lines as guides.
- 6). Cut the tiles around the perimeter of the room on a tile cutter, as needed. Lay them with the cut sides facing the walls.
- 7). Let the tiles set for a day. Pull out the tile spacers.
- 8). Grout the floor with a grout float, spreading the grout over the surface and pressing it into the spaces between the tiles. Wipe off the residual grout from the surface with a dampened sponge. Let the grout dry for 48 hours or more before using the floor.
