Floor Tiling Guide
Floor tiling Guide

Floor tiling guide brought to you by Tower Tiles

Floor tiling guide a step-by-step guide on tiling your floor - in any room.

Materials checklist

The adhesive you use will depend on tiles chosen and where you’re planning to use them. For example, always choose waterproof adhesive in damp situations, such as shower cubicles, where ceramic tiles will get a good soaking. With underfloor heating, choose one that is also heat resistant. Check manufacturer’s specifications and follow the instructions carefully. What you will need:

If you’re planning to renovate or simply updating, consider tiling your floors. A tiled floor is attractive, hard-wearing and easy to clean. And today’s choice of tiles means you’ll easily find the type you want, in the colour or pattern to suit your decor. If you thought that tiling floors was a difficult job only for a tradesperson, then we’ve good news for you. Provided the surface is suitable and you prepare it correctly, laying tiles requires no special skill, especially with modern adhesives. Not only do you save money, you also get the satisfaction of seeing a job well done and one you did yourself. With this step-by-step guide – and a little help from Tower Tiles – you can’t go wrong.

Which type of tile?

  • Ceramic tiles are ideal for kitchens, bathrooms and halls, but their hard-wearing and decorative surface is suitable for any room. They come both glazed and unglazed in a wide range of colours and patterns. You should seal unglazed tiles with a ceramic tile sealer before walking on them.
  • Vinyl tiles are latex backed and comfortable to walk on. They are supple and are easy to handle and lay. They come in many colours and designs, some imitating other materials such as stone and timber. You can use them in any room, but they are especially suited to kitchens and bathrooms.

floor tiling guideStep 1: Planning.

  • It’s worth measuring and planning your layout on paper first, especially if you intend to use an intricate design. If the room is an irregular shape, divide it into rectangles and measure each one separately. Then make a scale drawing on graph paper. This will help you set out an attractive design and allow you to work out the number of tiles you need.
  • Ceramic tiles are commonly 150x150mm square or 100x200mm oblong, but interlocking circular, hexagonal and provencale-shaped tiles are also available. They can be bought singly or by the square metre. Vinyl and Cork tiles are 300x300mm square and are usually sold in packs.
  • If you’re not planning a design, use this chart as a quick guide to the number of tiles you’ll need.

Step 2: Preparing the floor surface.

The surface should be dry, flat, stable and free from grease, dirt and unsound material. If you have a concrete floor which is flat and level, go ahead and lay your tiles without further ado. But if there are small cracks or holes, first chisel out any loose material, sweep clean and fill using a pre-mixed cement. An uneven floor can be levelled using a self-levelling compound.

floor tiling guideStep 3: Finding the starting point

Tiles look best centred in the middle of the room with any narrow tiles at the edges. So your first task is to find the centre of the floor. If you simply begin from a corner you may end up with whole tiles along one side and narrow tiles along the other. So instead, measure along one wall and mark the centre at floor level. Do the same along the opposite wall. Now stretch a stringline from one centre mark to the other. Then repeat the process for the other two walls. The two lines will meet at the exact centre of your floor.

 

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