Mosaic floors: installation instructions

Mosaic floors at first sight amaze with their splendor and sophistication. Strong and durable, they can last more than 100 years even in the most passable places. The technology of manufacturing such a floor is not so complicated as laborious. It requires a lot of patience and good taste. In this article, we'll show you how to make a simple marble mosaic floor with your own hands.

mosaic floor terrazzo

main difference mosaic floors terrazzo from ordinary concrete isthat they are thin-layered, but, despite this, they allow the realization of a much larger number of design ideas. This is a more decorative kind of floor covering, which is characterized by the same stability and durability, as well as a strong concrete floor.

The concept of terrazzo combines all types of liquid mosaic floors. They differ only from the type of binder and filler material. So, the function of the mosaic can perform marble, sand, glass, fragments of ceramic tiles, decorative stones and other natural environmentally friendly materials.

In this article we will consider the creation of a mosaic floor with marble chips, since this option is the most popular. According to a similar scheme and technology, it is possible to make floors with other fillers.

Depending on the use of binder material, several types of floor terrazzo are distinguished:

1. The thick floor is made on the basis of cement.
2. The floor of medium thickness is made of crumb and a mixture of cement with polymer additives.
3. The thin floor includes only mosaic elements and an additive made of polymer components.

Marble floor

Mosaic floors today are made mainly of marble because of its excellent performance. This is a natural rock with an extremely high density and a characteristic crystalline structure. Marble does not absorb water, does not react to chemicals and is fairly easy to machine. It is these qualities that are needed to create an ideal sex that will last for decades.

High aesthetic characteristics, as well as the ability to transmit natural textures in detail, have found wide application in construction, landscape design and interior design.

But to use whole marble slabs would not only be wasteful, but simply impossible: pure marble is not so common. Therefore, an alternative and less expensive way of using natural material was invented-the creation of marble chips. It is made of illiquid goods and waste products of marble products. At the same time, it does not matter what goes into the crusher - ritual slabs or ordinary untreated rock - the marble mosaic floors are equally strong and durable.

Advantage of the marble floor:

• strength( can be used even in places of great patency);
• concrete mosaic floor is resistant to moisture( you can do in the bathroom, swimming pools);
• abrasion resistance;
• environmental friendliness;
• simple maintenance;
• durability;
• does not give a spark with mechanical influences( it can be used in workshops and in enterprises with increased fire safety requirements);
• aesthetics( with the appropriate skills you can create absolutely stunning floors with ornate patterns, paintings and ornaments).

Today, the market offers a wide range of marble chips, which is different in size fractions, color and other characteristics. Basically, it is used for flooring in public places and on the street, as for the house the marble covering will be too cold.

From the shortcomings of the marble mosaic floor, we can distinguish not only the coldness, but also the susceptibility to burnout of crumbs under ultraviolet. And it's not just about the painted products, but also the usual white marble - with time it starts to turn yellow.

Because the life of the marble floor can be measured for decades or even centuries, it can easily get tired of it. And here if you want to change marble to a parquet, with the dismantling of the coating there will be serious problems - breaking a strong marble is very difficult.

And the last delicate moment is the high cost of a mosaic floor made of marble. The price of the service depends not only on the material used, but also on the pattern that you want to implement. Typically, the laying of the pattern is paid separately, and for this work a designer is hired.

Make a mosaic floor of marble chips is not so difficult, but for this you must strictly follow the instructions. So, first you need to prepare the base - the rough floor should be leveled with cement reinforced screed. Then - set the dividers, prepare the marble mixture, fill and grind. Let's consider in more detail each of the stages.

Preparing the

base To prepare the base for laying the mosaic floor, it is necessary to remove the old floor covering, reaching the roughing floor. An ideal foundation is a monolithic reinforced concrete slab or cement screed.

Procedure:

1. If there are cavities in the rough floor, grooves or cracks, they must be puttied or poured over the entire surface with an equalizing mixture.
2. Special attention should be paid to places of entry into the floor of pipes( risers in a multi-storey building).
3. Treat the base with hard brushes to increase the adhesive capacity of the floor.
4. Remove all debris and dust off the surface.
5. Set the separators. It is best to do this during the organization of cement screed, placing them in a meter and a half from each other. The best delimiters are obtained from their square tubes with a side of 25 mm.
6. If you are going to create a complicated patterned pattern, you will need to install additional separators for each insert. To do this, use thin brass or aluminum plates of different shapes, less often - glass( for rapports or simple rectangular images).

Preparation of a marble mixture

For filling a mosaic marble floor, a rather large amount of crumbs of different fractions is required. Different sizes of elements allow creating a more interesting and "live" picture. For outdoor creativity, crumbs 5, 10 and 15 mm in diameter are usually used, choosing equal proportions of the material.

Specificity of preparing the working mixture:

1. Mix "different" crumbs in equal proportions.
2. Add cement( at least M400) in a ratio of 1: 3 or 1: 4.
3. If you want to make a colored floor, use special natural dyes - marble flour, ocher, iron wax, chrome oxide and others. Pigments in the mixture should not be more than 30% of the total mass.
4. Before adding water, thoroughly mix all the components of the mixture, after which add the liquid portionwise until a dense and slightly mobile mass is obtained. It is almost impossible to name the exact proportions and the amount of water, because different additives have different water absorption, so be guided by the consistency, constantly mixing the mixture.

Advice: before adding marble chips to the solution, it should be thoroughly rinsed with water from dust to ensure maximum adhesion to the cement and to eliminate the formation of voids inside the floor.

Floor pouring

The marble floor is poured in two layers, resulting in an extremely durable coating.

Procedure:

1. Prepare a classic cement-sand mortar M150.It should not be too thick to fill all the voids and level the defects of the floor.
2. Moisten the substrate with a liquid cement slurry, diluted with water. Distribute the composition over the surface with a conventional broom or brush.
3. Place the solution in a card and level it with a wooden strip or plastic trowel to get a perfectly even and uniform layer about 2 cm thick.
4. When the bottom layer hardens enough to walk safely( not necessarily to dry completely), you can proceedto the second stage of work - pouring a marble mixture. Evenly spread the solution with marble chips into the cards between the dividers and smooth it with a smoothing roller, making the strokes.
5. When you have filled all the cards, leave the surface to dry for 6-7 days.

Surface grinding

In order to obtain a gloss and elegance for the floor covering, for which it is appreciated, it should be sanded. When the marble floor dries, you can start rubbing the surface with abrasive materials. For this, a grinder with a large abrasive is used, which easily copes with the removal of the top layer of hardened cement.

To facilitate and accelerate the grinding process, moisten the surface with water and sprinkle it with a layer of fine quartz sand. In case of detection after polishing potholes and voids, they should be filled with cement mortar and thoroughly wiped with marble bars.

When it comes to creating an expensive floor with a complex pattern, after normal polishing it needs to be polished. Remove all the smallest debris and dust, put on the grinder a nozzle with a felt wheel, apply a special paste on it and walk all over the surface.

To prevent the floor from cracking during drying, you should sprinkle the cement-marble mortar with a layer of sawdust afterwards, and then sprinkle them with water as it dries( once a day).

Mosaic floor of

tile The mosaic floor can be laid using the pouring method, as described above, or by laying out each element or fragments. Actually, the real mosaic was created from time immemorial. If you need to make a reliable and waterproof floor at home, it's not necessary to spend money on a massive and cold marble coating. Mosaic floor of tiles can easily be made by hand, even without professional skills.

The pleasant news is that at this event you can save a lot by using not a special mosaic tile, but a conventional tile battle or even fragments of ceramic dishes. Buy such an illiquid material can be in any large building store or market.

Types of tile mosaic

For the production of tile mosaic, not only ceramics or tiles are used. There is an amazing variety of textures, materials, shades and colors, among which you can find the product for the most pretentious taste.

Mosaic tiles can be:

1. Tiled - strong, durable, inexpensive, a large selection of colors, textures, patterns.
   
2. Glass - strong, hydrophobic, temperature-resistant, original appearance.
   
3. Ceramic - durable, does not react to chemicals( can be used for kitchen and bathroom), does not burn out, affordable.
   
4. Concrete - stronger than the rest, frost-resistant, can be used outdoors, withstands high loads, contains marble and granite blotches. The disadvantage is the poor color palette.
   
5. Metal - a mosaic of stainless steel on a rubber base. Very stylish, although quite cold. Suitable for flooring in the kitchen, bathroom or hallway.
   
6. Broken ceramics - a special kind of mosaic, allowing to realize the most daring creative impulses. On the video - a mosaic floor made by own hands from broken tiles:

Technology of laying

If it is a question of laying a special floor tile, there is nothing complicated in this. In most cases, products are produced in the form of plates of small fragments, which are laid on a cement or glue solution like a normal tile. Describe this process will be a waste of your time, but what's really interesting is creating a mosaic floor made of broken ceramic or tile.

How can a beautiful and durable floor be made of illiquid pinned tiles? If you want to save money and time as much as possible, you can buy a tile battle of one color scale and lay the pieces on the principle of a puzzle. But if you intend to create a real patterned mosaic, you need to know a few secrets.

The principle of laying the mosaic floors is quite simple - the basic contours of the pattern are painted on the prepared base, the colors are marked, after which it is possible to glue the tiles. Then the spaces between the pieces of the mosaic should be wiped with a special composition of a suitable shade. It sounds elementary, but there are two ways of laying tiles on the floor.

If you need to cover a small area, say, in a bathroom or a toilet, you can quickly "sketch" the image with a pencil or chalk and immediately glue the pieces of broken tiles that fit in shape.

But if it's a spacious room and a complicated pattern on the floor, you have to work hard. To lay out a smooth and beautiful drawing as on a sketch, you must first collect the fragments of the mosaic, and then glue them to the base.

How to do it:

1. Place the sketch in real scale on a flat surface.
2. Cover the sketch with a transparent adhesive film with a sticky side up.
3. Fasten the edges of the film with adhesive tape so that the picture does not "move out" during operation.
4. Separate the protective coating from the adhesive surface and lay out a fragment of the picture according to the sketch. Repeat the procedure for all major or most complex fragments that you would not be able to lay out "by eye".
5. Glue the fragments to the base, slightly drowning in the adhesive composition.
6. Wait for the adhesive to dry completely and fill the seams between the tiles with a trowel using a rubber spatula.

Useful trick: if you have a projector at your disposal, you can transfer the picture to the floor or wall and put it much faster.

Tip: if you are laying a mosaic tile on the floor in the kitchen, it is best to cover it with a protective trowel, so that accidentally spilled coffee or wine does not leave an ugly stain on your memory.

Finally, we offer you to see what masterpieces can be made from the usual tile battle: