Tiling for dummies

Bogwoppit

I have a new house that needs a few finishing jobs done and one of those is tiling in a few areas.

I’m fairly handy at doing a bit of diy but I’m a little ashamed to say I have never done any tiling, none, no experience.

I have three bathroom sinks to tile which shouldn’t be too hard but they’ll be used as a practice run for doing a large area of splash back over the kitchen counter, 4.5m x by about .8m.

I plan to pick up a tile saw and or a tile cutter on done deal.

I’m guessing that the tile adhesive/grout premixed in the buckets is a pretty expensive way of doing it.

Is there a tiling bible anywhere?

Thanks

lgk

Plenty of guides on YouTube. If you want to practice, buy a couple of sheets of plasterboard or ply and the cheapest tiles you can find and create a few awkward profiles to tile around.

jmBuildExt

I've done it a few times as a DIYer. Whole bathroom projects, floors/walls and also simple splashbacks/mirror surrounds.
Have to start somewhere, you make mistakes, and it can be slow, but v satisfying when you're done.

On diy mixing Vs pre-mix:
I've done both and the tiles are still there years later. Pre-mix prob more expensive alright....but if you are only going to get a few minutes here or there (e.g. an hour after work) to work on it the pre-mix is handy - as mixing is a pain (if you diy mix, use an old drill and mixing attachment - whatever you do dont do it by hand )

Set it out on paper before you start. Ideally leaving a half tile at each end and top and bottom.
Around doors/windows plan it so it is symetrical each side of the midpoint of the door/window - look up the vids you will see what i mean.

Check the "topography" of your wall. Check for bumps or hollows using a straight edge. If you tile tile into a hollow without realising, the next tile beside it wont run straight with it, they'll be at an angle to eachother, and you will notice this, particularly with big tiles (600mm length) in brick formation. When you go to put the tile on the row above, there will be a ridge. You get away with it better if using smaller tiles and going in grid formation.

If the wall has been tiled before or it is not even, you are better off replacing the plasterboard and starting fresh.

If tiling onto a wooden floor make sure you put down a ply-wood sub floor thicker the better (Or there are specific materials for this in tiling supliers) and use lots of screws into the floor boards and joists. Personally Ive drawn out 100mm square grid and put a screw on every junction.

On cutting: I could never get reliable results from manual cutters (i ended up with too many broken tiles) , both the wheel thing and the scribe. In saying that I probably wasn't using the best equipment (usually cheap stuff from bnq) The scribe was working well but goes blunt quickly, better quality might have worked better.
So... I used a cutting wheel. But it leaves a kind of noticeable chipped edge in my experience.
The edge is better with manual cut, manual cutting can be quicker and less mess if you master it. So if you can get someone to show you that, or buy good equipment I'd reccomend that.

Thats all i can think of for now, im sure some seasoned tilers will have more advice.
good luck.

Sleeper12

Bogwoppit wrote:

I’m fairly handy at doing a bit of diy but I’m a little ashamed to say I have never done any tiling, none, no experience.

I wouldn't be ashamed if I were you. I'm in half a dozen bathrooms every day fitting showers. Most DIY tiling jobs are terrible and make our job so much more difficult.

randomname2005

What are people's thoughts on tiling around or under sinks and toilets? Is it worth the hassle of lifting toilet, replacing wax ring etc, and adjusting sink brackets or just cut around?

Sleeper12

randomname2005 wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on tiling around or under sinks and toilets? Is it worth the hassle of lifting toilet, replacing wax ring etc, and adjusting sink brackets or just cut around?

The correct way to tile is to remove all the sanitary ware except the bath before tiling. You are not supposed to tile around anything

Tabnabs

My top tip is to buy the very best tools you can get your hands on, don't scrimp there. Cheap tools make the job slower and messier for the amateur.

Calahonda52

Good quality water cooled table saw type tile cutter the only way to go.
The larger the wheel the more vertical the cut and less risk of chipping

Dr_Colossus

Check out Sal DiBlasi on youtube, he's based in the Boston area but an expert tiler and great instructional videos. Videos cover everything from preperation to finishing and very informative.

DublinDilbert

Tabnabs wrote: »

My top tip is to buy the very best tools you can get your hands on, don't scrimp there. Cheap tools make the job slower and messier for the amateur.

Normally i'd agree, but for one of the last tiling jobs i did i bought a cheap (€15) mac allister B&Q tile cutter, as I didn't want to keep running up and down to the wet saw. I couldn't fault it, cuts were very good from it and spot on.

Advice to the OP, get a decent spirit level and plan out your tiles so you don't have any small cuts at the edges. Small cuts look terrible and if the wall runs off (which it will) they will be very obvious. Don't tile off the floor, put a 2x1 level around the room (at a height of ~90% of one tile). Come back and do the bottom row of files once the rest have set.

Sleeper12

You can hire professional tile cutters if you want. Pretty sure you can hire an angle grinder if you don't have one