I have a small concrete patio area ( 3Mx2M) which I painted with a 'Garage Floor Paint' a couple of years ago. Not a Good Idea ! Moisture has caused patches of the paint to flake off leving unsightly gaps.
Problem One : What is the best way to remove the rest of the paint ?
Problem Two : My preferred option is to tile this small patio - what sort of tiles should I be looking for and is it a difficult job ( Cutting problems etc )?
I live in Southwest Scotland so frost in winter could be a factor.
Rather big for paint stripper. Try a hot air gun and a scraper.
What type of tiles do you want? I have tiled my patio with slate, concrete not being my favourite material from the aesthetics point of view.
Other stone, such as marble, granite and limestone is available. I'm not too knowledgable about other forms of tiling, the man made stuff. You will need a diamond wheel flatbed tilecutter to cut stone, you can get one for about £40 or so I believe.
There is a certain amount of skill involved in tiling a patio, I have to say, but unless you have no diy aptitude, then give it a go. You can use tile cement or mortar, mortar is cheaper. If you use mortar then use plasticiser, either the proprietary stuff or PVA. PVA also helps 'stick' the tiles down, though it's not really necessary for a patio. The plasticiser will help you bed the tiles down into the mortar, otherwise it can 'lock up' before you've pushed the tile into position properly. The plasticiser allows mortar to flow out from beneath the tile as you tap it down, you will need to get the mortar consistency just right, with enough water and plasticiser to allow easy adjustment.. A solid bed of mortar is preffered to the 'five dot' method.
You can buy 5mm tile spacers to go between the tiles. Make sure the tile are following the desired pattern as you go along, use a metre rule or long straight edge for this. It can help to draw the pattern out on the patio before you start. Put a slope on the patio to allow water to run off, 1:60 is ok. The slope should run away from the house. Use a spirit level as you go along to keep the slope of the tiles level from side to side, and sloping away from the house. Use the spirit level as a stright edge to get tiles level with each other.
Finally, grout the tiles with a proprietary exterior tile grout, mortar is a little coarse for that job.
That's the way I did my patio anyway. Wear gloves, cememt is caustic. Clear up cement stains etc with a damp clean sponge as you go along.
Don't use terracotta then. Of course, there are other tiles than just stone, you can get setts, concrete tiles ( not my favourite ), quarry tiles ( dunno if these are good for outside ), and fired ceramic tiles. Perhaps someone else can advise on these. Yopu may not need a diamond wheel tile cutter on thin cermamic tiles, one of those splitter tool might be ok. Mix all tiles up before you use them to randomise colour variations.
Thank you everyone for your helpful replies. Yes, the patio has external house walls on two sides. I will start with my hot air gun, I think and see how it goes. The paint is soft and very flaky so the gun should be effective, I think. The advice re tiling is very comprehensive - thank you Andrewpreece.
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