The first step (after confirming a solid substrate and deploying the self leveler) was to clean the floor and decide on how to lay out the 12×24 tile. Once we had a decision we sketched a grid on part of the floor:

The adhesive is similar to rubber cement- first you trowel a layer directly on the floor:

Then let it dry. This took a little over an hour and we could still see our lines on the floor:

Then we used the little roller to put a thin layer of adhesive on the back of each tile. There were about 40 or so tiles, so it took a while. (I have like seven layers of clothes on because it was freezing out and we had to run to Home Depot right before hand to rent a roller… More on that later.)

The adhesive had to “flash” (dry) for 15 minutes or so on the back of the tiles, here they are drying:

So now that both the floor and tiles were slightly sticky, you can finally place the tiles on the floor using the sketched lines as guides. Then press with a tile float:

And then roll with the 100 lb roller: