- Terra cotta tiles have to be laid on an extremely flat and solid surface, or they will crack under weight. Cover the floor with 1/2-inch cement board, which comes in sheets like drywall and can be cut by scoring it with a razor knife and snapping it. Use carpenter's glue and screws every six inches to affix it to the floor. Arrange the sheets in staggered formation, so there are no four-way intersections. Fill in the seams with thinset mortar over mesh drywall tape, using a drywall mudding knife to get it very smooth. Hand-sand the surface to remove any raised areas.
- Your tiles should be laid from the middle of the floor, so any cuts at the edges of the room are the same on both sides. Use a snapline to divide the floor into four even sections, with the two lines crossing in the middle. Start laying the tile at the corner of one section where it meets the others, in the middle of the room. Spread down thinset mortar with a notched floor trowel and press tiles into place. Run them along the snaplines and then along one another, putting plastic spacers between them to keep a consistent distance. Cut the end-pieces as needed with a rented wetsaw. Pull all the plastic spacers out as soon as the tiles are down.
- Because unsealed terra cotta tiles are so porous, they need to be pre-sealed before grouting to prevent the grout from staining them. Use a brush to spread tile sealer on the tops of the set tiles, while avoiding getting it on the sides of them inside spaces between them. Once the sealer dries, grout the spaces, mixing the powdered grout in a bucket and pressing it into the lines with a rubber trowel. Wipe off the excess grout from the tile face with a wet sponge. Let the grout set for two days, then reseal the whole floor, covering the grout along with the tile face.
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