Complete novice attempting tiling - madness

yellow hen

We've just renovated the loo under the stairs and I want to put tiles around the sink. It's heavy mosaic tiles on a sheet but I only need to use half a sheet in total. I don't know anyone who can tile and it's not worth finding and paying someone so.... I'm going to attempt it myself. Am i mad? Are there any golden rules i should follow?

Prenderb

No, try it yourself. You'll enjoy it! Check a couple of youtube clips.

Buy premixed adhesive /grout, I'd say for that small an amount, and a spreader, you'll be grand.

Atlantic Dawn

Yes I'd also recommend looking at Youtube clips for technique. Get those plastic spacers, much easier. Plan ahead before you go any cutting, measure everything twice. I found it's a good idea to visually lay everything out first as close you can to how it will be ending up and see if you will encounter problems before you start. Some tile may be one plain colour but will have some ingrained pattern on them that you should try to get all tiles the same positioning.

mashed13

I've paved the path from the house to the shed of about 5m2 last summer with literally no previous experience it came out great of course I messed up few bits and pieces but at the end the job done was way more rewarding than anybody else doing it for you, my advice is to get the tools you need and take your time, double count and measure twice! youtube tutorial videos is a must!! Enjoy btw you'll probably end up saving quite a penny doing it urself ; )

A Law

I was a tilers helper for a summer. Most jobs looked relatively straight forward, I was rubbish at it tho. Definitely get spacers. Tile cutters and an angle grinder if you have to cut pieces out of tiles. There's a way to mark the tile size when its less than a full one. It was a long time ago so can't really remember.

yellow hen

I'm going to try it tomorrow. There is literally 2 sets of 16 mosaic tiles on a meche sheet which will go each side of a corner sink. I keep thinking.... How hard can it be??!

aligator_am

I ended up tiling the kitchen and dining area floor when we moved in here, saved a good amount of money but it took me ages to do it

As others have suggested, definitely get a box of those tile spacers and watch some vids on youtube, oh and I can tell you now, if you don't have a nailbrush then get one, that cement is a pig to get out from under your nails (even if they're short).

Are the tiles going on a wall or on the ground? reason I ask is that I think you have to make the cement thicker to counteract gravity if putting them on walls (I remember reading something about it before I started laying the tiles).

macnug

yellow hen wrote:

We've just renovated the loo under the stairs and I want to put tiles around the sink. It's heavy mosaic tiles on a sheet but I only need to use half a sheet in total. I don't know anyone who can tile and it's not worth finding and paying someone so.... I'm going to attempt it myself. Am i mad? Are there any golden rules i should follow?

I tiled all my bathrooms, shower, and kitchen by myself with no previous experience. Its easy but a very physical job, in saying that two sheets of Mosaic won't be a big job. I made a few mistakes that only I notice. Just take your time and be as ocd as possible.

uck51js9zml2yt

yellow hen wrote: »

I'm going to try it tomorrow. There is literally 2 sets of 16 mosaic tiles on a meche sheet which will go each side of a corner sink. I keep thinking.... How hard can it be??!

Wear a ,pair of goggles when cutting tiles.

A Law

How'd it go op?

gutteruu

Heres the pics they posted earlier.



:D Would like to know how you got on aswell