Tiling floor with mosaic of broken terracotta roof tiles & slate

[Leao]

Hi everyone at Tilers,

I am restoring one of the ruins on my land in Extremadura. The ruin has beautiful dry stone walls but the terracotta roof is leaky and the floor is just concrete and it would be good to liven it up a bit.

I would like to tile the floor and would love it if you could give me some advice. I have some salvaged normal tiles but I find them too modern for the rustic ruin I am looking to restore. Ideally I would like to make a giant mosaic on the floor out of broken roof tiles and slate stone. The terracotta roof tiles are curved but if broken up sufficiently the curvature is negligible. Although I have done a lot of masonry and DIY, my tiling knowledge is very basic. What mortar would you advise for such a job? 'Thin-Set Tile Mortar' seems rather expensive and perhaps inappropriate for what I am aiming to do. I remember helping someone tile a chapel in Galilee and he used lime. Would this just be normal hydrated lime render like you use on walls or would it have to have some special ingredients for a floor?

I have seen that when people do mosaics they lay out a dry mix of mortar, add the stone or tiles in the shape they would like the mosaic and then wet the mortar when they are happy with the design. Would you advise this technique even for a large mosaic. The floor area we are talking about is about 6 x 4 metres.

Any advice would be most appreciated,

LEAO +

[doug boardley]

I'm not familiar with the spanish method of fixing floor mosaics but due to weather and climate difference I'm sure it's not the same way that we here do it. Why not ask a local tiler for some hints.

[doug boardley]

I think you'd have to smash the roof tiles up into tiny pieces to avoid any sharp edges, personally I don't think I'd risk it.

[Leao]

Thanks for the replies Doug.
The terracotta tiles when smashed do not have sharp edges but they are quite fragile so they would have to be firmly embedded in the mortar in order to avoid further cracking.

Leao

[Leao]

Hi,
How much thin-set tile mortar would you need (more or less) for a 24 metre squared room and how much would you expect to pay for it?

Thanks again for your time,

LEAO

[Dave]

You could just use sand/cement mortar mix but it would need a modifier adding.. something like SBR to add some flexi but at thin thickness's it might well crack in extreme heat.... not something i have tried... A slow setting modified thinset would be my choice..

[Phil Hobson]

As Dave for me, sand and cement method would need SBR additive. If you do go for that, I would advise you to use a slurry mix (SBR and Portland cement) to bush on the back of the tile just before bedding, no guarantees though