GROUND FARCE - Pastures new: SHED STEP

It’s been a bank holiday bonanza – plenty of sunshine, four days of uninterrupted DIY and an over-abundance of chocolate as it is Easter after all.

You're never too old for Easter eggs

The ‘Special Landscaping Operation’ has advanced quicker than you can say ‘pass me another crème egg’ to the point that the shed step is now completely tiled.

Rewind back to the start of the week. The other half unexpectedly found himself with some paid ‘gardening’ leave being in between jobs and cracked on with the landscaping, filling in the step base with concrete and laying down the first 2 brick courses for the back border wall.

Thanks to a week of glorious sunshine, the concrete base quickly dried out so over to yours truly to weave a bit of tiling magic and finish off the top.

First a trip to B&Q for some tiling essentials - some exterior tile adhesive and tools to apply it with.

It pays to have the right tools for the job

Whilst the same principles apply to tiling be it inside or outside, it’s important to remember that things such as adhesive and grouting need to be fit for exterior use. I’m using a 20kg bag of Mapei Fast Set Adhesive to fix my tiles to the concrete.

Use adhesive suitable for the exterior

Dries super fast so mix up in small batches

Begin by ensuring your concrete base is as debris free as possible. Give it a good going over with a stiff broom. Some people then apply primer to the base or a waterproof membrane such as Redgard before laying their tiles but well, I’m just going to go for it. If they all fall off later then I’ve only my own stupid self to blame.

Give your base a good wash and brush before tiling

Before applying any adhesive, I like to lay out all the tiles across the base so that I can get an idea of spacing plus see if there is any unevenness to the surface area. Without a specialist tile cutting machine, I’ve spaced out the tiles with wider gaps to make them fit perfectly over the concrete base.

Lay out your tiles beforehand across the whole area

Now to stick them into position. As Mapei is a fast-setting adhesive and its quite a hot afternoon, I’m working on the basis that it is better to make up smaller batches rather than mix up the entire bag in one go only to find you’ve got a 20kg grey brick by the time you get to the end of tiling. Little and often I say.

Work small sections at a time

It’s a slow, time-consuming process but better to get it right first time as once these babies set, there’s no lifting them off to reposition.

Keep checking spacing and lines are straight

Left overnight to thoroughly dry and harden, the tile bed is grouted the following day. Rather than buy a separate exterior grouting product, I’ve used the same Mapei mixture to grout the tiles. It’s a nice grey and should dry rock hard but make sure you wash off all splashes or marks before it does otherwise you may not be able to remove them from the tiles later.