Tips For Laying Bathroom Tiles

• Home

Tips For Laying Bathroom Tiles

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

If you are completely remodeling or renovating your bathroom you often have to put in new tiles. Tiles, like wallpaper and carpet in other rooms, help to set the theme in the bathroom. Tiling can be quite easy, but people without experience will often turn to a professional to do the job. There is nothing wrong with this if you really hate DIY but a good idea might be to do some of the tiling to get a feel for the job. Once you have done a few you might find it is ok and carry on with the rest of the job. Doing it yourself will save you money but will take a bit of time to accomplish. This is the trade off you have to make. Having said that, here are some tips for laying bathroom tiles and some common mistakes to avoid.

Planning Ahead And Preparation

Once you’ve decided on a tile pattern that will look good in the bathroom, you need to estimate the number of tiles that you will need. It is always a good idea to over estimate the number you will need because it is almost certain that you will crack or break a few tiles. You may make a mistake and have to scrap some of the tiles. And, you may have to cut some tiles to fit into awkward parts of the bathroom. The guideline is to put an extra 20 % on the number you originally come up with. If you have any left over then they can be used as spares if one accidently cracks or comes loose and breaks.

Once you have your materials you need to prepare the surface. The surface should be smooth and free of any old tiling, grouting or adhesive. You may want to sand down the area to ensure that it is smooth. A bumpy surface will lead to a bumpy layer of tiles that can look ugly and liable to come away from the wall over time. Wash and thoroughly dry the are where you will be laying the tiles before you start laying down tiles to ensure you get a good grip.

Adhesive

When it comes to adhesive there are a lot of things that can go wrong if you aren’t careful. The first thing to do is make sure you have the right adhesive. Any bathroom tiles that are being placed around a bath or shower needs waterproof adhesive. If you use non-waterproof adhesive it will eventually decay and crumble causing your tiles to fall off the wall and break. Even if you don’t think water will reach the adhesive it will, the smallest crack can let in water and then there is also condensation.

Grouting

Like adhesive, grouting can have a lot of problems. You want to wait at least twenty-four hours after laying the bathroom tiles before grouting to allow the adhesive to fully set. Use a squeegee to evenly spread the grout and do only a small area at a time otherwise it may dry before you have it firmly in place. If you don’t remove excess grout before it dries you will have a much more difficult time removing it later. Make sure the grout is pushed firmly into each gap by running a dowel over it lightly.

Experiment with a few tiles if you are uncertain or never tiled before. You will find that you pick it up and get more confident quite quickly.

Leave a Reply