Prepping floor for fireplace tiles

[lee666]

Evening all,

I have recently opened up an old fireplace and I am looking to put some slate tiles in the bottom to make a hearth for a stove.

The main floor is concrete, the bottom of the opened up fireplace is 2 inches or so below floor level with the old small tiles in the bottom. I want to bring things level with the and want to know the best thing to use.

I was toying with filling up with normal concrete but I read that it would need quite a few weeks to dry before I could lay the slate on. Is this correct?

I also saw that BAL do a rapid set concrete and was thinking of using that instead as I would ideally like to tile in a week or 2 max after levelling. does anyone have any experience of the BAL rapid set?

Lastly, What would be the best method of fixing the tiles to the floor? Would a sand cement mix be best?

Many thanks

 

[ree]

Why not simply slurry the cleaned up hearth, then bring up to level with a pre-mixed bag of sand and cement (any plumbing suppliers).

While the screed is "wet" you could fix your tiles to it having previously dry set-out and prepared the tile lay-out.

Lightly butter the backs of each tile with a little slurry, or cement dust if you have it available.