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How can I support patio tiles that overhang the slab?

sawyer89

I’ve recently had tiles installed on my patio slab. Along most of the slab edges there is a slight overhang where the edge of the tile juts out a bit further from the slab edge.

I assume I would want something under that lip to support the tile edges and avoid breaking/chipping?

Just wondering the best way to go about it, any advice would be appreciated (sorry for the terrible photos).

Cheers

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JacobZ

Hi @sawyer89,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

As the overhang appears minimal, and there is already an aluminium angle installed which will protect and support the edge, the need for support underneath the tiles seems minimal, but I do question why they've left it like that. The fact the tiles around the edges are cut, tells me that they intentionally left this overhang.

Did your tiler give you any indication of why they installed the tiles with an overhang like this? If not, I would give them a call and ask them. It looks like quality work, so I doubt it was accidental.

How many mm is the overhang and is it the same on all sides? Were they perhaps leaving it so you could tile or render the vertical face of the slab?

To me, it seems like they've created that slight overhang, so you have the option of either tiling the face of the slab or rendering it. Both of these options would add some support, but their purpose is more about aesthetics than supporting the tile edge.

It's hard to say with certainty and it would really come down to the quality of the tiles more than anything, but a slight overhang like that doesn't seem like a major issue to me.

Allow me to tag some helpful members for their thoughts @Dave-1, @Nailbag, @R4addZ, @Noyade.

Jacob

Dave-1

Good Afternoon @sawyer89

I am in agreeance with @JacobZ , The tiling job looks like a nice job right down to that aluminium edge. I suspect it is for a reason so would hit up the tilers if possible. Apart from that all I can think of is mortaring a sloped side (triangle point facing down) along that edge but it may be superfluous.

Dave

R4addZ

Hi @sawyer89

The Tiler would have had to do this because you wouldn't want to see a non straight edge to the tiling, it would have looked terrible. yes you can render the sides but it won't provide much supportas the render will have no vertical support it's self other than it's adhesion to the face of the concrete. It will however make it look better.

Noting that you are butting up to it with the lawn, might I suggest you use a concrete mix to render it and haunch it as you would around pavers in order to give the render a larger footprint (which the grass would grow over) as this would provide more support

sawyer89

Thanks guys for the responses.

@R4addZ you're spot on, the L shaped slab was not quite square on a couple corners so the tiler couldn’t finish flush to the concrete without having some horrible tapered cuts.

Where the overhang was at its worst the tiler managed to use some mix of adhesive/grout to kind of fill under it and angle it back to the face of the concrete (Which I think is what you were suggesting @Dave-1) - this is what you can see in my second photo.

The overhang on the rest varies from bugger-all to maybe 10-15mm.

Maybe my best option is the haunched concrete where the overhang is more pronounced and not do anything where it is minimal?

JacobZ

Hi @sawyer89,

A concrete haunch could certainly help, or you could bolt some H4 timber to the side of the slab, directly underneath the tiles, then backfill up to it. As long as it sits tight to the underside of the tile, it would help to reduce any flex that could crack the slab in the long term.

Jacob

R4addZ

@sawyer89

I would also haunch up where the tiler has left a slope like in your second picture as we don't know how much overhang it is supporting or how strong the adhesive

Nailbag

Hi @sawyer89

Consider fixing the exposed concrete slab face tucked right up to the aluminium trim with 5mm x 100mm steel edging using fasteners. Alternatively if you're wanting to cover the front of the aluminium trim, you could pack the underside with plastic packers/shims and then fix the steel edging. Steel edging isn't cheap at around $105/6m length found at larger garden supplies.

This would provide a permanent protection for the slab that you can run your mower along to as well as the line trimmer.

Apologies product images are provided in lieu of links as that technology is letting me down today.

Nailbag

R4addZ

Hi @Nailbag

Just trying to understand how this edging would protect the tiles from breaking???

Nailbag

Hi @R4addZ and @sawyer89

Apologies my first post which has now been revised lacked enough explanation.