I was speaking about the difficulty of a greenhorn working with mortar in general, not specifically with embedding "tiles." In my case it was bricks. I am in zone 9 and since our soil is primarily sand, it is common here to place concrete on solid soil (as opposed to humus-rich spongy soil,) without using a gravel bed below. In the case of the photo above, it looks like some of the small tiles were prefabricated into larger pavers and that these were embedded in mortar, along with individual small tiles. Investigate the process of setting thin pavers in mortar over a concrete slab.

Grandma, we just finished (last night!) a patio made with the quikrete form that looks like stones. It really is as easy as it says on the package. We were at an advantage in that we have a small electric concrete mixer but mixing the 'crete in a wheelbarrow wouldn't be that difficult. In truth, as stated on the package, you can fill the cavities in the mold, pat it down, smooth it out and lift the mold. You will get the consistency for the concrete down pat after about 2 pourings. We figured out how much water it took for a bag of concrete, subtracted just a little to compensate for the humidity (YIKES) and then we were a concrete pouring team. We did wind up using the upper end of the recommended water amount. My husband mixed and I filled the mold. I'll try to send you a picture of ours in process. We used a colorant but you don't have to. We also used the high strength concrete so hubby can drive over the patio with the riding mower. Also, the package says you use one 80 pound bag of concrete per mold pouring but we were able to get about 1-1/2 mold pourings from one bag. We felt very proud of ourselves and it looks good. We still have to put either sand or concrete between the "stones" but we can't make up our minds what we want to use. Good Luck! This is really an easy proces. Carol PS - We are also Grandma and Grandpa so don't think only spring chickens can do this!

Piece of heavy pipe about a foot away from the house, whatever you use to suspend the pipe you leave in the ground. Move the pipe as you pour and fill in the indentation.

I have a 4 foot by 8 foot front porch that is very uneven. It slopes about 2.5 to 3 inches from one side to the other. Can I add a concrete overlay, starting with 1 inch on left to 4 inches on right? I have been told yes and no. Most recently, I was told I could do it if I used wire and anchors in the old slab.