How to tile a laundry concrete floor?

[IbrokeIt]

Hi. 

We live in a older fibro house and I'm wanting to tile our laundry floor which has a smooth unsealed concrete finish. 

There seems to be no water proofing anywhere in the room.

I'm just unsure if it is OK to tile directly to the concrete slab and what type of adhesive to use

Also the room has a slight fall towards the drain under the laundry sink. 

I plan to remove the sink once I have finished the rest of the room and tile there and seal off the tiles around the drain with bathroom silicone 

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @IbrokeIt. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about tiling.

Provided no cracks or expansion joints exist in the concrete, you can tile directly over it with a standard tile adhesive. Whether the area needs to be water-proofed first is something worth investigating. As it's not a bathroom, it potentially doesn't need to be, but the floor drain could put it into a different category. It's best to enlist the services of a professional who can provide their opinion and reference building regulations. You should determine the need for waterproofing before moving ahead with your project, as it can affect your home insurance and inspections if you sell the property.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[IbrokeIt]

Thanks for the reply

I forgot the mention that the floor even tho it is a house on peirs does become slightly damp when it rains or in extremely high humidity 

So do I need to prime it with something like dunlop primer and adhesive? 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @IbrokeIt,

Unless this is water that is pushing up through the slab and leaking over the internal floor, then a waterproofing membrane is not required, and the Multipupose primer and Dunlop 5kg Mastic Powder Multipurpose Tile Adhesive can be used. This tile adhesive is suitable for periodic wetting, which might be experienced in slightly damp conditions. However, that's an entirely different issue from what we discussed earlier, where this could be considered a wet area by construction regulations.

Mitchell