How to Tile on Basement Floors
- 1). Dissolve half a cup of trisodium phosphate in a bucket of hot water. Thoroughly mop the concrete basement floor. Go over it twice with a bucket of clear hot water to rinse it. Let it dry for two days.
- 2). Pour liquid floor leveler into any cracks or holes on the floor. Let it set overnight.
- 3). Divide the floor into four quadrants using your chalk snap line to snap two intersecting lines over the whole floor. Use a carpenter's square to adjust the lines where they intersect so they're completely perpendicular to one another.
- 4). Spread thinset mortar over a few square feet of the floor at the center of the intersection. Set floor tiles at the intersection, bordered by the lines. Put spacers between the tiles as you lay them.
- 5). Continue spreading mortar and laying tiles, working your way out from the middle toward the walls. Use the lines to keep the tiles straight. Put spacers between all of them. Cut the tiles at the ends, by the walls, using a tile cutter.
- 6). Let the tiles set for a full day. Pull out the spacers.
- 7). Grout the tile with your grout float, pressing the grout into the lines between the tiles and scraping it off the surface. Use a damp sponge to wipe up the residual grout. Let the grout cure for 24 hours.