How do I Install a Seamless Stone Floor?
- 1). Measure the distance between two walls of the room and find the center. Make two marks at opposite ends of the room and snap a chalk line between those two points to create a control line that goes through the center of the floor across the room. Measure in the opposite direction, find the center point, and mark that point against the existing chalk line. Use the framing square and pencil to mark a square line in either direction perpendicular to the existing line and then pop another chalk line across those marks, giving you a cross-hairs in the center of your installation area.
- 2). Start in the center of the room and work your way out in any direction. Use the grid pattern as a guideline, working each grid one at a time as you work your way around the room. The chalk lines serve as a reference point to keep the overall installation square so that you can line each stone up against another and keep them tight and seamless.
- 3). Take the notched trowel and spread a layer of the thinset mortar onto the floor, with the chalk lines as a reference point. Avoid smearing over those lines as you will need them to keep your installation straight. Spread only enough thinset to work with a few tiles at a time. Spread it evenly while you press downwards on the trowel to ensure that you "burn" the thinset into the floor to achieve proper bond with the substrate material.
- 4). Place a piece of stone in the corner of your grid and press down firmly on the piece as you move it gently in all directions. Understand that you should hear air being forced out from between the tile and the thinset mortar as the bond between stone and mortar completes. Move the stone into its final position along the reference lines. Repeat this process for each individual piece of tile. Realize that as you work your way out from the lines you will be using the other pieces of stone as a reference point, and since there is no joint you will be placing one stone against another until you have completed the installation.
- 5). Utilize the tile wet saw to cut any pieces of stone along the edges of the room or around doorways, cabinets or other areas in the room. Leave at least ½ inch gaps between the installation surface and the edges of the room and doorways to allow for seasonal movement such as swelling and shrinking of the floor.
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