Porcelain tiles are favoured by many and work well in multiple areas throughout your home, indoors and outdoors. Due to the fewer air pockets they hold, their dense nature means that they wear well and can handle a lot of footfall, making them the ideal selection for indoor flooring tiles and not just in your bathroom!
How To Carry Porcelain Tiles Safely:
Porcelain tiles are notably heavier than your standard tile, which is why they are more durable and favoured by professionals. Lifting these dense slabs can be difficult, especially if you’re working on a job independently, which is where the Grabo comes into play. Designed to make heavy lifting easy, the Grabo will allow you to easily carry your tiles from one location to another, making it the ultimate lifting tool for porcelain tile installation.
Installing Porcelain tiles inside:
What you’ll need:
Before you start, you need to ensure that your surface is clean and dry and free of dust, grease, and loose material. It’s also vital that you ensure the area is level.
2. Cutting your Tiles.
As porcelain tiles are denser, they are trickier to cut, so we’d suggest using something a bit stronger than your standard score and snap cutter. We would recommend a good quality diamond blade for this job to not damage the tiles in the process. This is best done before you start moving any of the tiles.
3. Lay your adhesive.
Using a notched trowel, spread the tile adhesive over the surface with the smooth side of the trowel. Then with the ridged side of the trowel, start to run it over the adhesive to create ridges, which helps with the overall adhesion.
4. Laying your Porcelain Tiles.
Once you’ve laid the tile adhesive, lift your first tile using the Grabo for stability and place it firmly into the adhesive. Twist the tile to bed it into the adhesive. Repeat this process with the next tile, and use spacers to ensure they are neat and even. During the laying process, it’s a good idea to use a spirit level to check that they are all even, as it’ll be a lot trickier to replace later on when the adhesive is dry. If you need to lift and replace a porcelain tile, you can use the Grabo to do so without ruining the placement of the other tiles. Remove any adhesive on the tiles with a damp cloth. Leave them for 24-48 hours to dry.
Installing Porcelain tiles outdoors:
What you’ll need:
Firstly, mark out the area that you’re looking to patio and dig out the area, clearing all roots, topsoil and vegetation. You’ll need to dig at least 200mm down. Once the space is dug out, they then lay a sub base of MOT Type 1 and then compact. Once you’ve done this, get your rake and comb over the soil to make it level. Get your garden roller to compact the ground below. To ensure that the surface you're applying the porcelain tiles to is secure, you’ll now need to lay down a further layer, known as a mortar, which should be one part cement to four parts sharp sand.
2. Lay your cement base.
Using your trowel, spread your cement across the area that you’re laying.
3. Prime Your Slabs
When working with porcelain slabs outdoors, you want to ensure that they are as secure as possible, so we recommend using a slurry mixture on the back of them, known as back-buttering, before laying the slab.
4. Laying your Porcelain Tiles.
Lift your first tile using the Grabo for stability and place it firmly into the mortar bed. Using a rubber mallet, tap the slab into the mortar. Repeat this process with the next tile, and use spacers to ensure they are neat and even. During the laying process, it’s a good idea to use a spirit level to check that they are all even, as it’ll be a lot trickier to replace later on when the mortar is dry. If you need to lift and replace a porcelain tile, you can use the Grabo to do so without ruining the placement of the other tiles.
Using The Grabo:
The Grabo was created to help all construction workers and tradespeople with heavy lifting to make their workday quicker, easier and more efficient. Since launching, the Grabo has taken the construction industry by storm and is now a must-have tool on site. To find out more about the Grabo, click here, or find your closest authorised Grabo dealer.
