BUILDING THE VARDO: More of the Lasagne-style Tiled Floor

These are the top two layers of lasagne-style tile flooring. 4 and 1/2 sheets of HARDIBACKER Board (1/2 inch cement board) screwed in over the Denny Foil gave Pete something solid over which to lay the mud. We decided to use Portland cement and fine gray sand mixed with water only. Pete screened the sand to pick out the bigger pieces ... that way he did not have to use silica sand (which can be a problem for some MCS folks). There is no latex added to either the mud or grout. The 13 inch high fired, glazed tiles are laid with 1/4 inch grout. The grout is also Portland cement and gray sand mixed with water.

The terra cotta tiles are laid, grouted and in the process of curing. We'll let the cement slow cure ... maybe two weeks. At this point we aren't going to seal the grout. Many comments and ideas from MCS safe building forums gave me a wide range of possibilities and experiences. We're going with the original comments from Ecology House in California that say in essence: the ungrouted tile does require a little more work ... it gets sandy from time to time. We'll begin with that ... maybe it will make me feel more like I'm walking the shores of sand beaches like any Hawaiian wahine would love to be doing.

Any experiences with or without sealant over grout? Love to hear from you.


Thanks, Pete the floor is beautiful.