NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Planning on giving your bathroom a refresh, or finally getting around to those kitchen tiles?

It can seem like a pretty daunting task being responsible for gluing down those tiles that will (hopefully) stick forever.

Don’t make a botch job of your DIY decoration. Stick around for these top expert tips on how to tile like a pro.

The expert: Leigh Price, co-director of Real Stone, Tile & Bathroom

The reason: Tiling may seem like a daunting task but do it right and it’s not as difficult as it looks

What you’ll need: Tiles, tape measure, marker pen, adhesive, spirit level, grout float, bucket

If your walls are sound and are not damaged in any way and existing tiles are strong enough to be tiled on top of, you can begin by applying a grip primer which goes over the existing tiles and provides a grippy surface to stick new tiles onto.

If you are working with plastered walls that are not sound – so if there are any weak or crumbling areas – you will need to smash the plaster off to get down to bare brick or the first hard surface you can reach.

If you have existing tiles that are not suitable to tile on top of, or your walls are tiled halfway and you wish to tile to full height, you will need to remove all the old tiles.

After this, you will need to reboard throughout. It is imperative that you use waterproof boards in wet areas such as shower areas or above baths, but you can use normal plasterboard throughout the rest of the room.

Where you have used waterproof boards for shower areas, you will also need to use a specialist tape to tape all the joints so that you have a surface that is absolutely impenetrable from moisture.

You will also need to apply a tanking paste to the shower and bath areas.

Top tip: You mustn’t skimp on preparation, especially during the tanking stage.

Don’t be scared of using a bigger tile, even if the room is small. My advice is to go as big as you can with tile size, so you have less grout lines, which helps you achieve a smooth, seamless look.

The only element of maintenance with a tiled wall is the grout, so choosing bigger tiles also helps to minimise that.

The next step is the laying out stage, where you consider the visual impact as you open the door into the room.

Ideally, right opposite as you walk in you want a full tile, and to work outwards from that when laying your tiles so that any tile cuts are kept towards the corners of the room where possible.

This means not starting a corner with a full tile. You are looking to balance your tile pattern so that you have manageable cuts when it comes to your corners, and this is where the tile size choice comes in – so that you don’t end up with too many cuts.

Plan to lay full tiles in the middle of walls and work out from there. I would recommend taking a tape measure and marker pen and mark out on the wall where your tiles are going to sit.

Top tip: Measure twice, cut once, when you are cutting your tiles into corners.

Apply your adhesive, and choose a slow-setting powdered adhesive if you can.

The slow-setting adhesive gives you around three to four hours to work with before setting, as opposed to the rapid-setting adhesive, which is only really suitable for experienced tilers, as the working time is approximately 40mins.

Slow-setting adhesive gives you more leeway in that it enables you to take a tile off the wall, and replace it, if it needs adjusting.

How you apply your adhesive depends on your tile size. Spread the adhesive on the wall like butter with a notch trowel – for medium to bigger-sized tiles, go for an 8mm notch trowel – making sure not to ‘dot’ the adhesive as this will leave voids behind the tile.

Aim to get 90% of the tile covered in adhesive. For bigger, heavier tiles, you will also need to apply the adhesive to the back of the tile; this is called back buttering.

Apply and grout your tiles. Make sure your tiles are straight along the bottom where they meet the floor as your floor may not be level, but this can be adjusted afterwards. A spirit level is your friend at this stage.

You must also use tile spacers to help ensure your tiles are level; these sit between the tiles so when you put one tile on top of another, you put spacers in between plus small wedges that sit along the bottom and keep the tile off the floor to the height you need them.

Top tip: Choose your grout colour carefully as it has a big impact on the overall look. At Real Stone, Tile & Bathroom we have around 75 colours to choose from.

With slow-setting adhesive, you tend to have to wait 24 hours before you can grout your tiles. Fast-setting is usually up to eight hours, but check the instructions carefully for the adhesive you have used.

Grout comes in a powdered format so you will need to mix it with water in a small bucket. Next, apply with a grout float, which acts like a trowel to spread the grout into all the joints.

Apply diagonally across the tiles, beginning at the top of the wall and working your way to the bottom, ensuring you don’t leave any gaps or air bubbles.

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About an hour after applying, when the grout has started to stiffen, remove any excess on the tiles with a damp sponge by wiping off, cleaning the sponge, wiping off, etc.

Top tip: If you are using a textured tile, remove the excess grout as quickly as possible.

If you have nice smooth tiles the excess will wipe off easily but if you have opted for a gritty, textured tile (such as a brick effect) remove the excess grout as soon as you can to avoid the grout setting in to the texture.

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