Tiling – Basic Steps On Tiling Your Kitchen Floor

For many of us, the thought of tiling your own floor may be scary because you know that perhaps you will make some errors in the process.  This being the case, a lot of people prefer to not learn how to do it.  But actually, it is much easier than what many might think. It can save you a whole lot of money because you won’t need to employ a professional for the job. This task is a no-brainer for you as long as you understand the do’s and don’ts.

How To Choose Your Tiles

You must select the tiles you need to use before doing anything else. The variety of options will amaze you when doing this. Tiles come in various sizes, colours, textures and finishes.

The overall design and feel of the room and how you want that room to be, affects the type of tiles that you should use.

Calculations & Dimensions

You also have to measure out your floor area. Whether you want the tiles to go under any type of fittings or units is also very important to take into account. But with the possibility of needing to move appliances in the future, like a fridge, it is recommended to tile underneath all the fittings. This will save yourself the bother of tiling at a later stage.

Once you have chosen the type of tile you need to use, you have to do some calculations. Get your floor’s width and divide it by the width of one tile. This is to learn the number of total rows that you’ll have. Also, this can help you decide the optimal wall edge to put your cut tiles against.

Tiling

After doing the math, you can now start tiling your floor. Ensure that you have an even coverage of glue positioned on your sub-floor. Your sub-floor or the surface you’re tiling also is a factor in which adhesive to use. If it’s a concrete floor, then you can certainly use a rapid setting adhesive. Because it can set as fast as 30 minutes, ensure that you don’t spread too much of the mixture at once.

Once it is a wooden sub-floor, then you need a flexible type of adhesive. You know if an adhesive is flexible if it’s written on the bag or the tub. You’ll need a white adhesive if you have marble. This is so that no colour coming from the underside would bleed and ruin your design.

Grouting

Once you have completed placing your tiles on the floor and after you have allowed enough time for the adhesive to dry, then you have to grout the floor. If you have natural stone tiles, like marble and travertine or if you have used porcelain, you should seal them first before you grout them. For your tiles to be more resistant against dirt, staining and to be more waterproof, you have to use a specialized impregnating sealer.

Apply the grout using a grout squeegee after mixing it up. Work over the joints until you have filled them all.

Wipe off the excess grout using a sponge or cloth to finish it.