Re-Tiling Exterior Quarry Tiles

[Croker]

I've had enough of the pathway leading up to our front door, it's in a total mess with cracked / missing tiles etc. and I want to completely re-do it. To be honest it's needed doing for years but have always put it off to 'next year' as I don't know where to start.

It's a typical Victorian terraced house with a pretty bog standard looking diamond arrangement of alternating black and red quarry tiles, it'll be about 9ft x 3ft so not a massive area. Haven't decided what to replace them with yet but it doesn't really matter at this stage, and no doubt the wife will take over at that point anyway

Problem is the only tiling I've ever done before was a kitchen and bathroom wall; nothing outside and nothing at floor level. Generally pretty handy though and am sure I can do it, just need pointing in the right direction and to have all the necessary gear to hand before starting, and a good idea of how to proceed. Not too fussed about trying to do it on the cheap, if I do it I want to do a proper job.

Can anyone give me an idiot's guide to doing a decent job from start to finish please?
Everything from removing all the old tiles, preparing and levelling the ground, adhering and spacing the tiles (concrete? / grout?), preventing moss from appearing between the tiles etc etc.
Best materials to use and any special tools needed (e.g. an angle grinder to cut the tiles? Or would something else be better?)

Total novice at this so don't worry about insulting my intelligence, I'm thick-skinned so I'll get over it and I get loads of practice at home anyway!

Any help much appreciated

[wine~o]

SDS plus with roto stop and a chisel type blade will make lifting the old tiles easier, you'll be better off with a wet tile cutter than an angle grinder.

Tile adhesive suitable for exteriors are plentiful Mapei Adesilex P4 is one.

[London mike 61]

You can send a request to the owner of this site http://www.pavingexpert.com/ and he may well answer a lot of your questions, there are also some useful links if you type ‘ quarry tiles ‘ into the search box at the top of the home page.

Mike

[Croker]

Many thanks for your replies, I'm planning to get myself a suitable SDS drill as it will surely come in handy on other jobs in the future. I've had a quick look at the pavingexpert website and will have a proper look when I get a bit more time, also will do a forum search for quarry tiles (never thought of that before, d'oh!)… anyway cheers for the links / suggestions.

I've had a look at the existing tiled area and where the missing tiles are they appear to have been originally stuck down with some sort of concrete mix... reading up online it seems this is pretty common, do you think I should go down this route again or use a dedicated tile adhesive?

Also, once the old tiles are removed would it be wise to put down a self-levelling compound before proceeding with the tiling?

Apologies if these are daft questions, just trying to get my head round it all!

[wine~o]

Proper tile adhesive is a cementitious mix, so yes.. Decent tile addy is actually better than mixing your own sand/cement mix.

[Croker]

Cheers wine-o

It has now being decided that we are going to keep the original good tiles and only replace the missing / cracked ones. So, plan is to...

1) Get an SDS drill with chisel function and smash up the concrete where necessary
2) Try to locate some original tiles as close as possible match to what we have, probably (hopefully...) from a reclamation centre
3) Stick the buggers down and hope for the best