Fixing Bathroom Tiles – Part 2

So here I am – all my tools are ready, the right adhesive and grout bought on the advice of the experts to suit the stone-effect porcelain tiles I have chosen and packs of tiles lined up outside the door. I can do this… I know what the procedure is.

Spread out the adhesive over a fairly small area – I’m planning on being able to fix four tiles before the adhesive starts to dry but they are large tiles roughly 30 x 50 cm and I may have to adjust my estimate once I have started.

I will position the first tile immediately below the horizontal line that I have marked all around the bathroom and in the corner most visible from the doorway. The plan is then to continue tiling with whole tiles down to the floor and then sideways to the opposite corner of the room. I am using a strong adhesive that should hold the tile in place relatively quickly and shouldn’t allow it to slip down the wall. The absorbency of any substrate will affect how quickly and easily the tile is held in place. But I’m tiling onto an absorbent surface of plaster – old but sound – in which I have filled any noticeable dips.

Even with such large tiles I will be using tile spacers as I am hoping for a perfect, professional finish so want even spacing between each tile. A spirit level is on hand to check the horizontal and vertical lines at regular intervals.

Once I have completed the lower half of the bathroom the upper half, should, I hope, be easier because I will have a firmly established horizontal line all around the room and simply need to continue tiling upwards and across in the same way as I fixed tiles to the lower half of the walls.

When all the whole tiles have been fixed to the wall sections, then I will start the process of cutting tiles to fill the gaps. Luckily most of the tiles require cutting approximately in half so I will hire a professional electric tile cutter for a day and should be able to get good, clean cuts done on them all. If you are installing ceramic tiles it is possible to score them and crack them along the score line but if, like me, you have chosen porcelain wall tiles you will need a good quality electric tile cutter to achieve a professional finish.