Tiling the Bathroom

Bathroom tiles are the obvious choice for lining your bathroom or shower area. They come in an almost limitless choice of patterns, textures and colors that can satisfy anyone with a discerning taste. While bathroom tiles are usually installed by professionals, most people with no previous tiling experience can tile bathrooms in about a weekend. Before tiling, it is important that the walls should be clean, sound and dry, with the surface as flat as probable. Any wallpaper will need to be removed and flaking paint should be coated with a stabilizing primer.

Preparation

It is highly recommended to make your very own gauge stick, which will help in plotting the position of the tiles on the wall. Use a piece of softwood, lay several tiles next to it then mark each tile's position along the stick.

How you set out the walls dictates the size and shape of your bathroom, so locate the bottom of the lowest row of tiles and nail a temporary guide batten to the wall that is aligned with the mark. Check if this is horizontal by using a level. If the border tiles are less than half the width of a tile, reposition the rows sideways by half a tile. Use the level to nail a guide batten against the last vertical line. For tiling around windows, use it as your starting point so the surrounding tiles should be equal in size. Keep in mind that cut tiles are supposed to be placed at the back of the window reveal. To position the row of tiles above the window, use a guide batten above it.

Laying Out the Tiles

Get the first tile to be placed and position it in the right angle formed by the guide battens at the skirting level. To ensure that there is enough space for the grouting, place plastic spacers flanked by the tiles if they don't have lugs. Wipe off any adhesive from the tile surface with a damp sponge. Proceed to tile along the strip of wood until the first rows are complete, checking to make sure that each tile is perfectly horizontal. The battens can then be removed after the tiles have been allowed to set.

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