The art of having a very good tiled finish is in the preparation. The walls or floor should be as level and solid to work with as possible. If you are tiling onto any floors or walls check if the areas are level by using a straight piece of timber or a long level, this will help to find any high or low spots. Try to level out any imperfections by using plaster or bonding for the walls and a floor self-levelling compound for the floor. If the floor is just natural floor boards then we recommend you use a 9-12mm WPB ply and screw this down onto the floor using 30mm screws, this will help you not to hit any pipes below. If the walls are hollow in places, then we recommend that they are removed and rebuilt with render or bonding to a good finish.
When the area you are going to tile onto is level and solid to work with you should size out the room buy finding out how many square meters of tiles you will need. This can be worked out by taking the shortest distance which could be 3 meter then times this by the longest distance which could be 6 meters on the floor or wall. The total area works out to be 18 sqm using this method. When you have calculated how many sqm’s of tiles you need you should always allow 1-2 sqm for cutting tiles in half and waste in general, but always make sure you can take back any tile you don’t need for a refund.
When you have, the tiles check to see what size spacer’s you will need for the tiles you have bought. If you don’t know what size you should go for, we recommend 2-3mm spacers on the walls or 3-4mm spacers for the floor. The adhesive that you buy should be recommended by the tiller, we would recommend, ready mix adhesive for the walls and rapid self-mix for the floor. If the grout you are using is a light colour, then try and get a light colour adhesive and visa-versa to help stop the adhesive coming through the grout.
When the area is ready for tiling we recommend that you size out the tiling area by finding the straight point of the wall or floor. The best way to find you strait line on a wall is to use a level and mark a straight line as a plus sign on the wall. When you have done this, we recommend fixing a piece of timber to the horizontal line and use this as a base for the first row of tiles to be installed.
If you are tiling a bathroom you should always work off the bath first which will give you have the same affect and help you in many other ways. When you are sizing out the floor you must find your straight lines for a good finish, we recommend using a level and put it against the two legs of the door frame.
This is the best place to start tiling from on the floor and we would lay out as many tiles as you can to determine how the cut’s will affect the overall finish of the job and we also recommend this for the walls as well.
If you need any advice about tiling or you need a quote please get in touch by emailing info@jwmcdonaldbuildingservices.co.uk or phone: 07713741026 we will be happy to help.