Tiling Exterior Entryway


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Old 09-13-13, 09:32 AM
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Tiling Exterior Entryway

I have this really strange entryway for my house that I have wanted to do something about for a while, but never did. Anyway. I have a modular ranch style home where they basically indented the front door about 2 feet but just used the plywood subfloor as the floor. I replaced it once with some exterior plywood because it was in bad shape, but it was just a patch job basically.

Anyway, I think I want to do like a slate tile or something. It doesn't get a ton of water since it is covered, but it can get wet (as you can see in the pictures depending on the angle of the rain. It is a very small area so I think the joists can handle the additional weight. So my questions are, what is the right way to do this?

Do I just put cement board down? Or do I use a waterproof membrane? Other type of membrane? What type of grout? Should it be sloped? I attached a couple of pictures to show what I am dealing with.







 
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Old 09-13-13, 10:35 AM
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I don't think you have enough height to add anything, something has to be removed first.

What's underneath?
 
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Old 09-13-13, 11:20 AM
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I measured the height and with the door closed there was a little less than an inch and with the door swung open it was a little less than 3/4 of a inch (so it appears it slopes towards the house (or the wood isn't level).

As far as what is underneath, if I pull up that plywood I would see the floor joists that span the house. I believe that plywood is 3/4 inch (and I already replaced it once so I could easily replace it with 1/2 or something or 1/4 and then put cement board on top.

If anyone has other ideas on what to do to make that look less ugly I am open to suggestions.
 
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Old 09-13-13, 04:40 PM
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I don't think you have enough height, period.

Hang tight, maybe someone else will have a suggestion but I don't see tile in this location.
 
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Old 09-14-13, 11:14 AM
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I might be able to raise the storm door a bit too buy dine room. We are going to be replacing that storm door anyway. How much room would I need? 1.5 inches total?

I am open to other suggestions to though for something other than tile.
 
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Old 09-14-13, 11:48 AM
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I doubt you can get by with plywood any thinner than 3/4" and still use tile. Often a 2nd layer of plywood is used to make the sub floor stiffer. Assuming it can be used in an exterior application, ditra would let you skip the added height that cement board would add. I'd think you'd need to use something like RedGard to insure the substrate stays dry ....... but I'm a painter, not a tile guy.
 
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Old 09-15-13, 10:13 PM
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The other option that I am starting to consider is to actually move the door out flush with the rest of the house and then re-do the entryway (since I would have an unfinished portion of floor).
 
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Old 09-16-13, 04:34 AM
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IMO you should figure out a way to keep the mini porch - it's nice to have that overhang when you come in and need to unlock the door when it's raining
 
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Old 09-16-13, 08:57 AM
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Yea, it can come in handy at times for sure, but I still think it was poorly executed. The other thought that I had was to move just the storm door. Basically frame it out flush with the house and install just the storm door, creating a small enclosed area sort of like a mud room.

That way I can leave the siding and everything how it is, tile the floor with regular tile and not be concerned about the height and just put up a frame to install a storm door. Thoughts on that idea?
 
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Old 09-16-13, 01:55 PM
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Kind of short for a mud room but that would resolve the floor height problem. Definitely wasn't the best design to start with. Don't know if the architect dropped the ball or the builder made unapproved changes ...... you're just the 'lucky' one stuck with dealing with it
 
 

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