How to Lay Thin Brick Over a Concrete Porch

Roll out a piece of uncoupling membrane onto the concrete porch surface. Cut it to size with a razor knife, so it fits along the length of the porch at one end. Pick up the membrane and spread down thin set over the area with your notched trowel. Press the membrane back into place in the thin set.

Repeat, laying out courses of membrane side by side to cover the whole porch. Let the thin set dry for 12 hours.

Divide the surface of the membrane into four equal squares, using your chalk snap line to snap two intersecting lines, from the middle of each edge of the surface to the middle of the edge across from it.

Spread thin set into one of the four corners formed by the intersection, using your notched trowel. Cover an area about 3 or 4 feet on a side.

Press a brick tile in place at the corner of the intersection at the center of the floor, into the mortar. Set additional brick tiles off the end of it, lining them up lengthwise along one of the lines. Put spacers between the tiles as you lay them.

Set additional brick tiles in a second course alongside the first. Either arrange them in a grid pattern, with the ends lined up between the courses, or in a staggered pattern, so the brick ends of one course meet in the middle of the lengths of the bricks in the adjacent course (like the staggered brick patterns in old buildings). Either way, continue putting spacers between the brick tiles as you lay them.

Build out from the center of the floor to the perimeter, spreading additional thin set as needed and laying more brick tiles in either a grid or staggered configuration. Cover the whole surface. Cut the tiles around the perimeter as needed to fit at the edges using a tile cutter.

Let the mortar set 12 hours. Pull out the spacers.

Spread grout over the brick tile surface with a grout float, pressing the grout into the spaces between the tiles and scraping it off the surface. Wipe off the residual grout with a damp sponge. Let the grout set 24 hours.