subject: Lay Bathroom Tiles Yourself As A Diy Project [print this page] Laying tiles in your bathroom can either be a very easy project or it can be frustratingly difficult! This will all depend on the type of tile you are laying, where you are laying it and how many you are laying.
Some people may decide to lay the tiles in their bathrooms by themselves while others may prefer to hire a professional contractor to help them out. If you want to do it by yourself then there are some common pitfalls which you should be aware of.
Preparation
As with everything the best thing you can do is to prepare well in advance, this will make even the most complicated of jobs seem much easier. You should make sure that the surface is smooth and clean before you lay the tiles, otherwise you will have trouble getting the tiles level which will lead to them breaking. To smooth and level the floor use a light sander, then get rid of all of the dust by washing it. Make sure the floor is completely dry before laying the tiles.
You should also try to work out exactly how many tiles you will need to complete the job. You don't want to get half way through the job only to find that you've run out of tiles. In fact it's a good idea to buy more tiles than you think you will need, perhaps 20% more. This will cover any breakages and miscalculations. You can't simply go out to the shop to buy more tiles because it could well be that the batch numbers will be different which could mean the colors will be slightly different.
Adhesive
There are many different things that can go wrong with the adhesive if you're not careful. You must make sure that you purchase the right adhesive for the job that you're doing. If you are laying floor tiles around a bath or shower then you need to make sure you're using waterproof adhesive. If you use a regular type of adhesive, then this will eventually come away due to the water. Water will reach the adhesive even if you don't think that it will!
Grouting
Grouting can cause a lot of problems, before grouting the tiles you should wait a minimum of 24 hours after laying the tiles. This gives the adhesive plenty of chance to set. You should spread the grout out using a squeegee, don't do everywhere at the same time concentrate on small areas of floor. You should remove any excess grout as soon as possible otherwise it will be very difficult to remove later.
