Flooring Tile - Tile on concrete basement floor

I plan on finishing my basement and place a bar in the family / game room. I would also like to place tile behind and in front of my bar. Any ideas or recommendations on how to prep the concrete floor, and lay the time down would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks:)

What condition is the slab in. Are there any cracks in the floor? If so describe. Whats on the floor right now? Is the slab sealed or painted? How flat is the floor? You can run a long straight edge over the floor in different directions to determine this.:)

The floor is 9 years old, very level, no cracks, it is not painted, and is ALWAYS dry with no potential of ANY water issues. Thanks for asking, and hopefully you can help.

Thanks-

Throw some water drops on it just to make sure it soaks in, if so your good to go with bagged modified thinset to set your tile. May I also suggest you put something over the floor in that area to reduce the amount of drywall dust that gets there. Drywall dust sucks to clean off. Also consider how you will transition from the tile to other flooring types. Schluter makes several product for that whic get set under the tiles at transitions. www.schluter.com , click products, then click edge protection for floors. Don't grout the perimeter to allow expansion and stay away from any premixed products no matter what claims are made on the bucket.

Also doing a similar project and I am curious as to why premixed products are warned against.

We are constantly hearing reports of nightmare projects with the use of all of the premixed thinsets and grouts. The thinsets sometimes NEVER DRY under certain circumstances and the premixed grouts shrink at a high rate and crack and develope pinholes to say nothin of the coating they leave on the tile surface that is difficult to remove.

Premixed thinsets are nothing more than mastic adhesives with sand added from what I hear and mastic adhesives have they're limits.:)

Premixed products have one good thing-you don't have to mix them. For that 10 minutes of time savings (including slaking time), you end up using a product that will take up to 6 months to dry under a 12x12 tile, has no compressive strength to support a point load on the tile from chairs, tables, and heels, and when exposed to moisure, it will reemulsify-that is, turn back to a paste and not return to normal after that. So figure this-your basement floods, a pipe breaks, or just vapor transmission through the slab can cause tile to pop up, break under weight, etc. That 10 minutes of time savings isn't very impressive anymore, is it?

There was a post a few months back where someone used a premixed thinset on backer in their kitchen. They came on this site and said how great the stuff was. Wouldn't you know it, they had 4 tiles break when moving their fridge back. Would not have happened with thinset.

So, mix, slake (smoke) mix again, and set your tile.

Thank you very much, I plan on taking all your ideas. I do not plan on installing the tile until after the sheetrock is done and painted. I then plan on installing the bar, and finally the tile. I live in New England, should I be concerned about the floor being cold? I do plan on heating this new living space with hot water baseboard heat. Again thanks for the help.

I then plan on installing the bar, and finally the tile.You can do that, but then it's a permanent fixture. Either save enough tile to fill it in if you later decide to remodel or set the bar over top of the tile which will mean less cutting. I live in New England, should I be concerned about the floor being cold?Only if you are the bare foot type 'cause you can count on it being cold, but even that can be solved with under floor heat mats or socks. The later is much cheaper. Only real temp concern is the slab and basement must be maintained at no less than 50-55 degrees for the materials to cure properly, starting with the first tile you set until 72 hours after you finish grouting.