back porch tiling project!

I also finished the tiles!!!  It was a nightmare right from the beginning to the end!  When we first took up the carpet tiles and saw that it had been "repaired" with ugly big black tiles I had no idea how we would sort it out.  A year later I had done so many DIY projects I thought - I can do that!  So...I knocked out the big black tiles...then some of the broken original ones.  Then I found that they wouldn't come out easily - and I broke others trying to get them out!  Then I realised that new tiles with stick up too high - so I had to break up the concrete underneath - which dislodged and broke more tiles - the area I had to re-tile got bigger and bigger!!  Meanwhile, I struggled to buy replacements - found the right size in reproduction tiles - but the white was actually cream and nowhere near the right colour - also the while ones were slightly bigger than the black ones.  I had to start searching repeatedly looking for original ones being sold.  I went and looked at some - but they were grey!  Eventually somebody was selling them online and I sent a broken one of mine to check the colour - they said they didn't match.  I asked for a pic and thought - that will do!! BUT I ended up paying about £80 for 14 white tiles - he charged me £25 for a 'small order' and £25 for postage!  Anyway - they were mm's too big!  So I had to shave off two edges with the wet tile cutter!

So - I had to lay more concrete in the gap as bringing up the old concrete had gone down to dirt and too deep.  I hadn't done this before - and in hindsight I really should have used more!

When it came to laying the tiles - I had to use so much adhesive because it was too deep.  I should have stopped and used more concrete - but I didn't really realise until it was too late.  The tiles are so tightly packed together I had difficulty getting them in - and they kept sinking in - in the adhesive!  Basically it was so stressful - but I finished it - and just hoped they'd be okay when dry!

Here are the pics!!

This is a 'before'pic.  You can see the large black tiles put it, but other bits were damaged too.

So - I started taking the tiles out....

This is how big the hole ended up after I had dug up the concrete - and broke and dislodged other tiles!!

as you can see the concrete underneath was too high - and tiles kept getting broken!

Anyway - this is how it turned out!!

You can see - on the bottom half of this pic - the slightly different colour white and new looking black tiles!

So - just need to do some grouting now!!  All in all, a major stressful pain in the butt - but good enough to 'use' the floor!