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[H1313]How To Lay Ceramic Tiles
by Larry Blenn, Lar
If you are a Do-It-Yourselfer then laying tile can be an enjoyable experience. It may seem a little intemidating at first but it's really not so bad.

Remember to select a good quality tile. No sense in doing all the hard work to end up having broken or chipped tiles a year from now. You'll want to get good measurements of the area you are planning on retiling.

When laying counter tile there will normally be a lot of cuts, it's always good to have two people working so that your mastic doesn't start to set before you can get the tile layed. I would recommend only spreading out the mastic no more than two or three feet at a time. Mastic does set pretty slow so you should hav plenty of time to do your work just don't get to far ahead of yourself.

When working on floors you will want to start at the center of the room and work your way out from there. You can do this by simply scribing a line down the center of the floor and then center the tiles over the line. When you finish one row, start another. When you get to a wall the last tile before the baseborad or wall will usually need to be cut to fit. Laying tile in this fashion will keep you from having odd size pieces in strange places once you are done.

I highly recommend using a professional to get the job done right. If you are determined to same money on this project then collect as much information as you can before starting. Even doing a job yourself in going to cost you some pretty good money and you want to get it right.

There are several self help books or even online courses that you can use to learn all the little tips and tricks that will make your life a lot easier. I highly recommend watching a viteo tutorial on the subject. You can find them online and they are very helpful.

One last thing I would like to mention is your equipment. Make sure you have a good tile saw so you can get the job done right. Manual tile cutters tend to be a waste of time if you are doing a large job. With the right equipment and preplanning you should end up with a nice tile project.

Now that we have finished with the technical planning and preparation, the next step is the deciding factor when applying tiles. It is simply choosing floor tile patterns, tile colors and sizes. Let us assume, for this guide, a room which has a perfectly square size of 84 square feet and no funny shaped protrusions.

Tile size is important to floor tile patterns because it will affect the pattern design insomuch as more tiles give you less options to make a complex design (unless you have an enormous room) whereas smaller tiles will require a lot more effort to put down than their smaller counter parts. Likewise larger tiles can be cut into interesting shapes such as flowers, little animals (for a child's room) and the like where with small tiles, it would be immeasurably more difficult to do such things.

One last, but important, thing to consider when deciding on a pattern for tiles is how many extra tiles you will need to get. It is generally considered a good idea for beginners to get roughly 15% extra tiles depending on the complexity of the cutting. Also, placing tiles diagonally will lead to much higher wastage than if you place them in a normal position so you should take that all into account.

Another thing to remember with these tiles is what room you are going to place them in. Take the living room for example. Living rooms should not have glossy tiles which makes ceramic tiles perfect for use in living rooms. However, if you are thinking of putting tiles in a child's room then solid color ceramic tiles are a great idea. Mixing and matching various colors can give the child's room a very cheery and happy feel that will rub off on the children... and we all know how priceless a child's happiness is.

Kitchen tiles should be chosen for ease of cleaning (after all, cooking is hardly ever a clean job) and inexpensive to maintain. Ceramic is great for kitchens because it is so easy to maintain. The installation costs might be higher but the maintenance is almost zero. Bathroom tiles will have the greatest impact on how you feel in the bathroom. It is the first thing anyone and everyone notices when they walk in. They must also be able to withstand a lot of water being splashed on them which is why porcelain tiles are the best, and most common, tiles in use in bathrooms today.

The color of floor tile patterns is one of subjective choice and is best dictated by the colors you want on the walls (or have on the walls in the case of replacing tiles). It is important to remember that using light grout on dark tiles (and vice versa) will make the spaces stand out more, whereas using dark grout with dark tiles will accentuate the tiles themselves. This all depends on the actual design of any tile floor patterns you are making and is a completely subjective point.

Article Source : How To At Home

About Author
Both Larry Blenn & Johnathan Cunnings are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Larry Blenn has sinced written about articles on various topics from Arts, Mental Health and Home Improvement. Larry Blenn is a home improvement specialist with several articles on this topic. to learn more about tile setting please visit
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