How to Tile Floor

How to Tile Floor Tile flooring is one of the important aspects of home décor. It has been existing for several years. Over the years, tile flooring trend has undergone certain changes in respect of material used, texture and design.

While in earlier years marble and other expensive polished stones were used for floor tiles, today ceramic is being highly preferred by the people for their home floors. This is because it is relatively a economical option and with some polishing it acquires the shine and look similar to that of marbles.

If you want to lay tiles on your concrete floor, then here are some instructions that will guide you to tile a floor.

Steps to Tile Floor

The very first step towards tiling includes striving for a perfect layout. Plan ahead about the floor tiling and ensure that your layout optimally uses the number of whole tiles and the size of cut tiles, if any.
Clean the floor properly before laying the tile. Any filler, sealant, old paint, dust or any other material should be removed from the floor prior to tiling process. Make sure there are no holes or bumps on the floor surface. Use a leveler to ensure the surface is smooth and leveled.
Prior to tile installation, keep the floor dry. Now locate the mid-point of the floor and mark it with a chalk. Dry fit the tiles to make sure the patterns end similarly on the required edges. You can make appropriate lines, both vertical and horizontal to ensure the tile size is consistent as they reach each end point during the tiling process.
Now apply good quality adhesive on the floor. Make use of the notched trowel to spread the tile adhesive across the floor surface. Make sure that you start from the middle of the floor. Start laying the tiles on the adhesive and also keep the tile spacers in-between each tile to ensure even joints.
While laying the tiles, make sure to give little twist to each tile with your fingers so as to ensure tiles bond well with the adhesive. Now you may cut the tiles to allow them to fit on the ends. When you cut the tiles, there may be some sharp edges, this you need to smoothen out with the aid of sandpaper.
Now allow the tiles to dry. Leave the tiles untouched for overnight.
Once properly dry, you can remove the tile spacers. Mix the grout as per the requirement. Make use of rubber float to apply the grout. During this process, take care to apply the grout to the tiles at an appropriate angle; the most accurate being 45 degree. Remove excess grout from the surface. You can wipe it off with a wet sponge.
It is always good to check the tiles after an hour to ensure there is no grout haze. In case you find any, simply wipe them off.
In case of tiling a floor for bathroom, it is always advisable to seal the edges of the tiles with mildew resistant caulk.

Tips

If you have some odd-sized tiles that cannot be avoided, then it is always better to place them out of the main sight lines from the doorway.
While setting the tiles apply consistent finger pressure. This helps to avoid lippage i.e. where a tile’s edge is not at level with its surrounding ones.

Watch a video instruction on how to tile floor