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.
