Porcelain HELP please!! - Tile Advice

[duncanvale]

I am a home diyer trying to lay a porcelain patio!!. I already have my sub base down and compacted, where I am struggling is the laying.

i have Italian porcelain, 20mm in depth, 1200mm long and 600 wide.

I am laying the slabs in linear (parallel) pattern , where I am struggling is getting them level. I think my starting mortar mix was too dry, it was taking me 1-2 hours to lay 1 slab and I was really having to wack the slabs to finally get level. I have been playing around with the mix and been too wet where the tile sinks, the weight of the tile is >25kg so I think the mix has to be almost exact so it’s manageable without sinking. The current mix I am using is 20kg building sand, 4kg cement and 3 litres water and it is still taking me ages To lay and level.

I am hoping somebody on this forum has experience of this size tile and can give me some tips, to improve levelling and speed up!

thanks in advance

 

[Ajax123]

Are you using a plasticiser? Itll help make your mortar more flexible. A bit more cement probably 5kg if its OPC

 

[duncanvale]

Many thanks for your reply. I have a plasticiser I can use but I didn’t know if this would make it more likely to sink, based on the weight of the tiles? How much should I use? 100ml?

 

[Rae]

The bigger the tile the harder to get level ,get a pro on the job ,at least to help