Do it yourself

By: Ted Kellogg

It has been said that the Kitchen and Bathroom areas of the home are the most desirable to be updated or remodeled by the homeowner. Home improvement of this kind can be a potential lure to a prospective homebuyer. The task which we are going to discuss in this article would probably have to be rated as moderate for a do it yourselfer.

Ceramic tile on the floor has a lot of benefits over other floorings. Ceramic tile is considered a permanent floor. Therefore, it should never have to be redone. It has very low maintenance and is very cosmetically appealing to the eye. As well as easy to clean up.
Installing ceramic tile can basically be broken down into 5 steps being:

I. Selection
II. Preparation
III. Installation
IV. Grouting
V. Maintenance

I. Selection

Ceramic tile comes in a wide array of colors, styles, textures, and sizes. Literally 100's and 100's to chose from. My best advice would be to go to a large tile store such as Master Tile, Hutcherson Tile, or American Tile. These places usually have large showrooms with actual tile installed so you can get a better idea of how this may look in your home. As opposed to a small shop which has just a few tiles set aside. It is really hard to get a good idea of what you are looking for unless you can actually see some installed over a large area. All of these places have sales people who will be more than happy to assist you, and explain in greater detail all the aspects of the particular tile you are interested in.

Now days it seems like most of the tiles for floor coverings have moved up from the 8 x 8's to the 10 x 10's and 12 x 12's and even 16 x 16's. The majority of homeowners usually pick the 12 x 12's. It just seems to be easier installation and layout for the do it yourselfer, because they take up a larger area, therefore eliminating a lot of the small cuts and you have less grout lines.

Also something to keep in mind while you are doing your shopping for the tile is grout color. Grouts are manufactured in a wide variety of colors also. If you are not intending on staying in your home for any length of time, may I suggest you purchase something with earth tones. Earth tones basically are lighter colors and these tend to blend in with a wider selection of paints, wallpapers, and cabinetry. On the other hand if you are planning on staying in your home and you like something really different, or something bold and striking, the choice is always up to you and tile can fill those needs.

Most ceramic floor tiles have a rating system. The system runs from 1 to 5. For the purpose of this article 3 and 4's should be the only ones being considered; 3 being a light commercial grade to a heavy residential grade and 4 being commercial. These tiles in the 3 and 4 rating should give you years upon years with no problems.

Read Choosing Ceramic Tile

II. Preparation

Preparation is very important of the installation of floor tile. It is kind of like
building a house if you start with a solid foundation the rest of it seems to fall into place. The first step is making sure you have the right tools to accomplish the job. First you'll need a pencil, chalk box, a roofers square, a couple of buckets, a couple of sponges, a rubber mallet, a quarter inch notch trowel, a grout floater, a straight edge 3 to 4 feet long (it could be just a plain piece of wood as like a 1 x 4 as long as it is relatively straight), a cutting board, and a pair of nippers. Most of these tools can be rented or purchased at the tile store. Some of the time you may even borrow these tools is you purchase the tile and materials from them. Depending on the store.

The second step is getting started. Removing the quarter round, furniture, and appliances from the area on which you have decided to tile. To remove the quarter round or sometimes called shoe mold, especially if it is caulked, it is best to take a utility knife, score the quarter round next to the base board, just enough to penetrate the caulk. Take a semi-long screwdriver with a flat head and hammer it just behind the quarter round enough to pry it away from the baseboard. Especially where the nails are. Reminder, do this slowly to not break the quarter round. Sometimes it makes it easier to mark on each individual piece of shoe mold on the backside and on the baseboard with a number or letter so they correspond, incase you decided to return it to the wall when you are finished installing your tile.

If you have vinyl sheet tile down, not to worry. If you want you can give it a try to remove it. Sometimes it comes up fairly easy sometimes it does not. But it is all going to require a little of elbow grease regardless. Years ago we had to practically remove every bit of sheet vinyl. But now days with newer technology and easier application, you can achieve very good results by applying directly over the sheet vinyl. That is if it is stuck real well. As a mater of fact, some homebuilders will have sheet vinyl applied over slabs in preparation of installing ceramic tile over it. Because they are worried that their slabs may fail and if a crack does occur, it tends to lessen the degree of the fracture shown from the tile because the sheet vinyl has a little bit of elasticity to it.

If you happen to come across sheet vinyl that seems to come up fairly easily, it's probably best to go ahead and remove it all. If you can get the first layer off which is like the clear-coated finish part of it, the underside of it is similar to paper and cardboard. Once you get the top portion up you can usually take some hot water and apply it very liberally over the entire area and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. This tends to break down the glue and also deteriorates some of the paper backing. After that it is fairly easy to take a razor scrapper blade, (also rented or purchased from the tile store) and scrape it up. Holding the blade at a 45-degree angle, working small areas at a time, you can usually cover the entire area in a reasonable amount of time.

If you decide to leave the sheet vinyl down, it should be cleaned thoroughly, so it is free from dirt, grease, waxes, or any foreign materials. After is has been cleaned thoroughly and dried, the next step is to apply a primer over it. The primer can be purchased at the tile store. The easiest way to apply this is with a sponge mop. Pour a good quantity on the floor; mop it in one direction until you get an even coat. Let it dry. Come back and mop the area again from a different direction for 100 % coverage and let it dry.

There may be a spot in the floor that seems to be a little lower than the other areas. If you come across one or two of these areas and they are not unusually low, you can trowel them out with a quarter inch notch trowel and thin set. If they seem lower than that, you may want to purchase such as level cure, fast patch, speed patch, or quick set. One of these products will work and they all set up real rapidly. They can be mixed with a water or latex additive. Spread across the area where it is low, pull off with a trowel and let dry. If you have to float an area or two out it does not need to be perfect. Basically all you are doing is trying to level the slab out a little bit. With that and the thin set, you can usually correct any problem areas.

III. Installation

Okay, we are ready to go now. Pull out your chalk box, pencil, measuring tape and square. Some of you may have seen illustrations on laying tile before, and they say to start in the center of the room. Well that is wrong. Believe me, if you start in the center of the room, you can square up a room fairly rapidly, but then you will have cuts on all four sides of the room. Cutting tile is usually one of the hardest parts. It is much easier when layout comes into play to take your longest and straightest wall, that is going to be most visible, and try to layout full tiles form that area back and put the cuts underneath cabinets, in closets, utility rooms and so on, so that they are not as visible to the eye.

To find your starting point, lay 2 or 3 tiles against the wall then come away from the wall 2 or 3 tiles, if it is a 12 x 12 lay 2 tile. Put a ¼ inch spacer in between the tile and push up tight against the base. Now take you measuring tape and measure. You should come out with approximately 24 ¼ inches to 25 inches somewhere in there. Walk down to the other end of the wall and put a make at the same distance away form the wall. Next you take your chalk line and make sure you have it pulled real tight and lay across each mark on the floor. Have someone stand in the center of the chalk line and snap it once or twice. That should leave you a good straight line. Now take the same process we just talked about, go over to a wall, preferably a long wall, running the opposite way and do the exact same thing.

Now you should have a point where two chalk lines cross each other. Take your roofing square and lay against each line where they cross. If you are lucky, the lines should be right on the edge of the roofing square both sides. If not you may have to square up the floor a little bit by adjusting the lines.

Take your thin set, hopefully they sold you the right amount you will need for the amount of tile you have purchased. It should also be a multipurpose thin set. Add water to a bucket and add the powder thin set to the bucket slowly. Mix with a stick, or broom handle (something stiff) to a peanut butter consistency. Only mix as much as you think you can use within 30 to 40 minutes. After you have mixed it make sure you have all the lumps out of it and it has a creamy consistency. Let it sit to slate for approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Then remix it again. Never add water to the thin set after you have premixed it, as this will dilute the adhesive value of it.

Take a quarter inch notch trowel, dip out a big glob of thin set or pour on the floor. Take the trowel and comb the joints. It does not matter how much you put on the floor you can always take it off. Once you have combed the joints, make sure they all run in the same direction. Notice the rises after you have combed the thin set with the notch trowel. If the rises are collapsing upon their own weight, your thin set is probably too wet.

Once you have got this part complete take your tile and lay against the line, so that you can just almost see a little of the line. Lay a couple of tile down and take the spacers and put in between the joints. On the outside of the tiles you can leave the spacers standing up and down. Where 4 tiles come together, you need to lay the spacer flat between each joint, butting the tile up fairly snug against the spacers. Once you get the project going you will be surprised to see how rapidly you will have it done.

One was seems to be easier for homeowners on installation is to lay the entire full tile first. After you get a few tiles ran come back with your sponge and wipe all the joints down so not to leave any thin set on top of the tile or in the joints. Tile should be set into the bed of mortar firmly by twisting or using a rubber mallet by tapping it 3 times in the center of the tile. Try to make sure all your tiles are fairly flat and smooth. Follow this procedure until you have ran out of full tiles. You may want to let it set overnight and come back the next day to make your cuts.

Cuts are fairly easy to be made with a cutting board for straight cuts. If you run across an angle cut that is giving you a lot of trouble, a lot of times you can measure it and mark it out on the tile, or even make a template on a piece of paper to make this cut. It may take you a few tiles to make these. Some of the tile companies have wet water saws, which you can also rent. It makes a job a lot cleaner and easier to accomplish. A lot of the times, tile stores will make cut for you if you purchased your material there.

Once all the tile is set wait at least 24 hours before walking on it.

IV. Grouting

I guess the most important thing to remember when grouting is that water is your enemy. The less water you can use, the better off you will be in the cleaning aspect of it. Grouts should be a latex fortified grout and a sanded grout for floor installation. Mix grout in the same way you have previously mixed the thin set and let it stand for approximately the same amount of time. You will need a grout float, which is a tool that is used to force the grout into the joints. Also you will need to remove all the spacers out from in between all the tile. They make a special tool for removing the spacers, but all you will need is a regular head screw driver or a metal clothes hanger that you can bend into a hook to put under the spacer and pop it out. Pour your grout out of the bucket in puddles across the floor areas and take the float holding it at a 45 degree angle. Work it back and forth in the crisscross motion until you have covered the joints. After you have done this and all the voids in the joints are filled, you will need to come back again holding your float at a 45-degree angle to the floor removing all the excess grout off the top of the floor.

If you put it at a 45-degree angle the grout float will not gouge and dig into the joints. Again only work in a small area until you get the hang of it. Once you have done this you will notice a haze forming on the tile.

Now comes the time to clean it. You will need a big sponge and a clean bucket of water. Take the sponge and dip it into the clean water then wring it out as much as possible. Lay the sponge across the tiles and wipe in a circular motion with not too much force. You will notice it starts to pick up the excess sand and grout pigments up off the floor. Take the sponge and flip it over wipe it real gently at a 45-degree angle a couple more times to clean all the floor as best as you can. After you flip your sponge be sure and rinse it and wring it again before starting the process in the next area. After the floor has been wiped down thoroughly, let it set until the grout somewhat stiffens up. You can come back over the floor with a terrycloth towel and polish it, just as if you were wiping polish off your car.

Now you should basically be finished with your new floor. Most latex fortified grouts really in my opinion do not need sealers, unless it is a white grout or real light color and the floor is in an area where you will be tracking in dirt or mud from outside. If you do decide to use a sealer, you need to wait a minimum of 7 to 10 days before applying the sealer. This allows the grout to have a sufficient amount of time to dry and cure. You may want to cover the floor with deadening felt or old sheet so that the floor will not be tracked on prior to sealing. If you do decide to seal there are several good products on the markets for sealers, with some that last up to 10 years. Sealers Choice by Aqua Mix is a very good chose. Each sealer comes with their own directions on the bottles. Be sure to follow those carefully.

V. Maintenance

Most tile, especially on the floor just need to be swept and damp moped. No cleaners with acid base ingredients should be used to clean your floor. These cleaners break down the grout pigments and will etch you floor. Also no cleaners with colors should be used. They have specialty cleaners on the markets for ceramic tiles. Use only these products. If a tile gets a scratch in the surface of it you can purchase a pumice stone and lightly rub this across it. Sometimes this will lighten the effect of the scratch.

Good luck with your new floor.

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