Getting Ready To Tile Your Bathroom

Tiling a bathroom yourself is relatively easy for a competent DIY’er but if you find putting up shelves is just too difficult a task for you then you would probably be better off getting in a professional tiler. If you think you are up to this home improvment DIY task, then read on – you could save yourself a substantial amount of money, add value to your new home and have the pride of knowing you have done the job yourself.

The beauty of porcelain tiles in a bathroom is that they provide an enormous choice of colours, styles, sizes, textures and patterns; you can mix and match them for a unique design and they are extremely hard-wearing – you won’t find yourself having to tile your bathroom again for many years to come.

After you have chosen your tiles, whether they are ceramic tiles, porcelain tiles or natural stone tiles, you will need to buy the appropriate adhesive and grout (this will depend on the type of tiles you have chosen). You will also need some special tools to complete the job as quickly as possible. Don’t be tempted to save more money and do without any of these as they will make the task much easier:

• Grout spreader
• Adhesive spreader
• Tile cutter (for cutting tiles for around curved shapes such as a sink pedestal)
• Tile saw
• Spirit level
• Wooden guide batten (for aligning tiles)
• Tile nibblers (a special type of plier for intricate shaping of tiles)
• Tile spacers (small pieces of plastic to space tiles evenly)

Once you have all your equipment you will need to prepare the surfaces to be tiled – they need to be cleaned then dried and any old, flaking paint or wallpaper must be removed if the tile is to adhere well to the surface. If you are tiling onto bare, new plaster then apply a coat of primer to ensure the adhesive can actually stick to it.

If there are any cracks, uneven patches or large holes, repair them with filler and allow the filler plenty of time to dry. It is particularly important to have as level a surface as possible if the tiles are to lie completely flat.

You should now be ready to plan your tile layout and start marking out their positions.