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How do I lay down ceramic tiles?

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Ceramic tiles are for interior floors. They are usually used in areas such as kitchens, bathrooms or laundries.

One of the keys laying down tile is preparing the floor properly. Glazed ceramic tiles can be laid directly onto a concrete floor, as long as the floor is dry and in good sound condition. If you have a timber floor, you can lay tiles directly onto the timber, but only if the timber is strong enough to support the extra weight of the tiles. Tiles in mass can be very heavy, so check with builder to see if your timber floor will take the weight. If not, here are some things that you can do:
• Cover the floorboards with exterior grade plywood; make sure that the plywood is securely fixed onto your floor. This can be done with special floorboard adhesive and then some you can either nail it or screw it down to the floor.
• Make sure that the floor is completely level; you may need some leveling compound to do this.

Once you have your floor properly prepared, the next step is to start laying out the tiles. If you want the end result to look professional, do it carefully and properly.

Start off by finding the center of the floor; this will be your starting point. Lay the tiles out onto the floors from the center out towards the walls, making sure that any patterns are properly aligned. You'll need to allow space for the grout to go into. See how many whole tiles will fit onto the floor area.

As you lay the tiles, use tile spacers to mark the gaps between the tiles. Use a level to make sure that all of the tiles are straight with each other.

The challenging part is the edges of the room. To measure these tiles, lay a whole tile over the last whole tile laid. Then place the edge of the tile next to the wall. Mark the tile and then cut it to size. To cut the tiles you will need either a diamond tipped blade or you can rent proper tile cutters from your local home improvement store.

Once you have the pattern of the tiles set out, use a high-grade tile adhesive to put the tiles down. Some adhesives dry quickly, so you may need to be fast.

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