How to Cover an Old Porch With New Tiles

Lay out tiles on your porch to test the fit, inserting spacers between them. Begin with full tiles in the most conspicuous area, such as across the front edge of the porch.

Work back toward less obvious areas, such as into corners and along the edge where the house meets the porch, where you may need to cut a row of tiles to fit. Do not cut tiles to fit the smaller spaces yet.

Trace around the perimeter of the tile layout with a pencil and remove the tiles.

Mix thinset mortar with water in a wheelbarrow and let it sit, or slake, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Mist the porch lightly with a spray bottle filled with water, but don’t soak it.

Move the wheelbarrow and a stack of tiles to begin setting them along the inside of the pencil line closest to the house.

Scoop out thinset mortar with a notched trowel and spread it across an area large enough to set four or five full tiles.

Set the first few tiles on the mortar, inserting spacers between. Press down lightly on the tiles to seat them into the mortar.

Spread more mortar and continue the row of tiles and spacers along the pencil line.

Continue spreading mortar and setting tiles with spacers in rows. Work toward the front edge of the porch until the field inside the traced pencil line is complete. Leave the area outside the pencil line bare; you will fill those spaces later.

Let the thinset dry for as long as the manufacturer recommends before allowing foot traffic. Drying time for thinset can require 24 hours or longer.

Measure the spaces outside the tiled area where smaller, cut tiles will go. Apply those measurements to full tiles, mark them with a pencil or marker and cut them with a tile cutter or a wet saw.

Spread thinset on the back of each cut tile, press them into place on the porch and let them dry.

Pull out the tile spacers with needle nose pliers after the mortar is dry.

Mix sanded floor tile grout in a bucket according to the manufacturer’s specifications.

Scoop up grout on the edge of a grout float. Spread the grout across the tiles, forcing it into the grout joints. Drag the edge of the float across the tiles side to side, back to front and diagonally.

Let the tiles rest for approximately five minutes. Wipe the tiles lightly using a large sponge dampened with water.

Let the grout joints dry for an hour, then wipe down the whole surface with a soft, dry rag to remove the powdery grout haze.