How to Lay Ceramic Tile

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Have you ever wondered how those ceeramic tiles can look so perfect? What is the secret of proper tile laying? How can we choose the right kind of tile for our home? Yes there are different kind of tiles that we can choose from. There is the ceramic tile, the Quarry tile, the slate tile, and of course wall tiles.

The Ceramic tiles are for interior floors, usually used in areas such as Kitchens, Bathrooms or laundries. One of the key aspects to good effective tile laying is in the preparation of the floor. It’s just like decorating; preparation is the key to success. Both glazed ceramic tiles can be laid directly onto a concrete floor, as long as the floor is dry and in good sound condition.

If you have a timber floor, you can lay tiles directly onto the timber, but only if the timber is strong enough to support the extra weight of the tiles. Tiles in mass can be very heavy, so check with builder to see if your timber floor will take the weight. If not, here are some things that you can do:

Cover the floorboards with an exterior grade plywood; make sure that the plywood is securely fixed onto your floor. This can be done with special floorboard adhesive and then some you can either nail it or screw it down to the floor.
Make sure that the floor is completely level. You may need some leveling compound to do this. If you have vinyl on your floor you may want to remove any vinyl as this will help for leveling.

Ok, so now that we have our floor all nicely prepared, what now? Well, the next step is to start laying out those tiles of yours. If you want the end result to look professional, then careful setting out of the tiles will be required.

Start off by finding the center of the floor, that should be your starting point. Lay the tiles out onto the floors from center out as you would like to see them, make sure that any patterns etc. are properly aligned. Remember to allow for the joint thickness for the grout to go into. See how many whole tiles will fit onto the floor area and move the rows just slightly if need be to fit more tiles in.

As you lay the tiles, use tile spacers to mark the gaps between the tiles. Use a level to make sure that all of the tiles are straight with each other.

Now comes the fun bit, the edges. To measure these tiles, lay a whole tile over the last whole tile laid. Then place the edge of the tile next to the wall. Mark the tile and then cut it to size. To cut the tiles you will need either a diamond tipped blade or you can hire proper tile cutters from your local decorating stores.

Use a high-grade tile adhesive once you have the pattern of the tiles set out. Some adhesives do dry quickly, so you may need to be fast.

Laying tiles may not be as easy as it looks. If you do get stuck, then you will need to consult a qualified tile layer. He will know what the best thing for you to do is.

In the meantime have fun laying those tiles.

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