Beginners tiling experience.

[jg]

After the recent tiling project, I had a great suggestion of writing down my experiences so that next time (if there is a next time) I would have some notes to refer to.
Then I thought I'd put the notes here:
A: So I don't lose them, and
B: So someone else can maybe avoid some of the mistakes I made.

Anyway, here goes.
We started off with a bathroom tiled to half height. Typical bath basin and loo. We decided to get a shower fitted and would therefore need to tile the bath area to full height.

The existing tiles looked sound and fairly new. (we've only been in this house a year) So I thought I'd try and keep these and just tile the remainder. Time will tell if this was a good move.

The first problem was that the tiles seemed to be an odd size. 195mm, where most new tiles were 200mm. If I used these my grout lines would gradually get more and more offset. Then I found these mosaic type tiles in B&Q which are normal tiles with grooves cut into the face in a grid pattern to make it look like loads of little tiles. With the tile sale on I bought all they had and a couple of big buckets of unibond shower and bathroom adhesive and grout.

Now, I've done a little tiling before(one bathroom in my old house, and had help on that one). I had one of the score and snap type cutters which worked very well last time, but these new tiles were not one smooth face so that wouldn't do. I went and got a diamond wheel cutter for about £30 which I have to say was very good.

I started off with a full tile which proved to be a bit of a mistake. I understand you're meant to split the difference on a wall, but I didn't I kind of thought that as they are mosaic tiles I can't calculate how much of a 1 inch square i'll have left when I get to the other end. So anyway, I started spreading adhesive over about 1 tile area at a time. I later discovered this lead to an uneven tile surface, and the worst offenders were re-done.

Tip: spread adhesive evenly over a bigger area.

For some reason tile spacers don't work for me. They always seem to slip behind the tiles being stuck and getting in the way. So I dont' put them in the corners of the tiles. I wedge them in along the edges of the tiles and pull them out later.

I tiled the first wall fairly quickly and moved on to the next. Here's where starting with a full tile proved to be wrong. The corner was out and this resulted in a widening gap in the corner. I'll be filling this with silicone soon.

I continued round the bathroom. The final wall which is the end of the bath where the shower won't be came out brilliantly. At this point I wished I could start again.

Tip: wash down as you go, it's much easier that way.

Cutting tiles took ages. Partly because the cheap tile cutter, although cut nicely, made an absolute mess, water everywhere, so I had to set it up on the drive and run down to cut each tile. I saved all the cutting till the end so spent the best part of 2 or 3 days doing this. Mark and cut, then trim a little.

Tip: an angle grinder with a stone cutting disk, and a bench vice is great for adjusting a tile fit.

There was a little chipping on the surface, but as the cuts would be against the ceiling or in a corner I wasn't too bothered.

Once I'd stuck these up it was time for grouting. (I make this sound like I did it in a day, but this is about 3 or 4 weekends work with the odd evening aswell.

Thanks to a great tip on here I use BAL microflex grout which is lovely. I already have a rubber float thing from last time I tiled and it worked very well. scoop some on to an edge, run up the wall fairly flat to the wall and it spreads grout over the tiles, then scrape the wall with the edge at right angles to take off the excess, I did this a few times at different angles to work it in to the joints and it was quite quick once I got going.

Tip: Don't mix up too much, because it goes off quick, and you'll get carried away and forget you need to wash down the grouted tiles.

Anyway, that's my tiling done for now, sorry for the long brain dump post.
J

[royaloakcarpentry]

You didn't dump a post lol

I enjoyed reading it. Everyone has been there and can identify with it.