Bit the bullet and installed the leca limecrete floor - expensive and impossible to find people who know what to do: yes, any good builder (like ours) can figure it out but they will complain endlessly about how onerous it is over doing 'normal' concrete/cement. They did figure it out eventually, while saying all the time they should have charged more because of all the extra work and time it took. Since the floor went in, though, the basement is as dry as a bone and the musty smell disappeared immediately, never to return even during prolonged spells of wet and cold, something barely dreamed possible. But note that a land drain was also installed, just to make sure.
So now the time has come to put some coverings down and the question is, what should be used to stick down and grout the tiles. They are unglazed porcelain and unless they come with full instructions on what to do they will be slapped down with glue and grouted with cement, or whatever is considered 'normal'. Would really like to avoid that.
Am assuming can just use lime mortar? Got a lot of 3/2 left over from pointing interior walls - would that be ok for bedding the tiles? What about the grout? Would like to see a fairly fine/thin grout line. What about time scales? Our workmen's biggest gripe with lime is that it isn't super-fast at setting hard like, well, concrete - really need to manage their expectations by preparing them for the time required by the whole process.
Know this question has most probably been answered a million times elsewhere on this board but the search function is not very good - spent an hour already and having to piece together bits of information, so apologies to all the regulars (you know who your are - Penners, Nigel, etc!) for any repetition. Any advice gratefully received.
PS - Husband completely fed up with the cost of lime + me completely fed up with workmen complaining about lime = bone dry, musty-free and liveable basement. Totally worth it.
So now the time has come to put some coverings down and the question is, what should be used to stick down and grout the tiles. They are unglazed porcelain and unless they come with full instructions on what to do they will be slapped down with glue and grouted with cement, or whatever is considered 'normal'. Would really like to avoid that.
Am assuming can just use lime mortar? Got a lot of 3/2 left over from pointing interior walls - would that be ok for bedding the tiles? What about the grout? Would like to see a fairly fine/thin grout line. What about time scales? Our workmen's biggest gripe with lime is that it isn't super-fast at setting hard like, well, concrete - really need to manage their expectations by preparing them for the time required by the whole process.
Know this question has most probably been answered a million times elsewhere on this board but the search function is not very good - spent an hour already and having to piece together bits of information, so apologies to all the regulars (you know who your are - Penners, Nigel, etc!) for any repetition. Any advice gratefully received.
PS - Husband completely fed up with the cost of lime + me completely fed up with workmen complaining about lime = bone dry, musty-free and liveable basement. Totally worth it.