| Home | Free Articles for Your Site | Submit an Article | Advertise | Link to Us | Search | Contact Us |
This site is an archive of old articles

    SEARCH ARTICLES
    Custom Search


vertical line

Article Surfing Archive



Top Tiling Tips For The Beginner - Articles Surfing

Tiling wall and floor surfaces has become an increasingly popular method of adding a clean and attractive finish to the modern home. Done well, the results can look stunning and last for many years. Below is a collection of our top tips for those new to tiling:

1) Planning

Like most home improvement tasks ' planning is the key. Fail to plan and you plan to fail. Thinking long and hard about the best approach, how to achieve a satisfactory job with the least amount of cuts will save countless tile breaks not to mention hours of stress.

2) Calculating the area to cover

It's always a good idea to spend some time properly calculating the surface area and checking your calculating several times. Once you've settled on the number of tiles needed add another 5 ' 10% as you'll nearly always crack some, plus you'll have a few spares if damage happens at a later date.

3) Prepare the surface

One of the most important issues is to clean and smooth the surface to which the tiles will be applied. Loose or flaky walls should be sorted before tiling. Also any evidence of wallpaper should be removed. Check surfaces are reasonably level'unevenness will show more when tiled and lead to irregular gaps between.

4) Levelling with battens

One great tip is to use battens to help get tiles straight, especially the first row ' horizontally or vertically. As a minimum a straight pencil line will help but the batten will do the job much better especially if the area that you are covering is fairly large.

5) Adhesive

Adhesive the key component to good and long lasting tiles. If water or humidity is likely, such as kitchens and bathrooms etc, waterproof adhesive should be an obvious consideration

6) Check your work as you go

One great tip is to regularly stand back from your work and to get a fresh set of eyes to look over it. Once the adhesive and / or grout has set you'll find that fixing mistakes can take an age. If spotted early enough it should be possible to re-jig tiles or remove and re-fix in order to make good.

7) Grouting

Grout should be applied over small areas at a time so as to avoid the grout drying too quickly over areas you've not yet smoothed or cleaned. Applied with a squeegee type spreader it should be possible to move swiftly but spending time cleaning as you go will save you hours, rather than leaving it until the grout is dry.

Making certain excess grout is removed will give an overall better looking finished to the tiled surface. The opposite is always a dead giveaway of an amateur job.

8) Sealing around baths and sinks

Good silicone based sealant should be applied to the necessary areas. Don't relay on the grout to produce a watertight seal, as its only really good were water runs quickly off.

Submitted by:

Steve Hinks

This article is free to republish provided the resource information remains intact. Steve Hinks ' http://www.shropshirebuildingskills.co.uk Shropshire Building Skills :: Shropshire's No. 1 Construction Training Centre



        RELATED SITES






https://articlesurfing.org/home_management/top_tiling_tips_for_the_beginner.html

Copyright © 1995 - Photius Coutsoukis (All Rights Reserved).










ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Aging
Arts and Crafts
Auto and Trucks
Automotive
Business
Business and Finance
Cancer Survival
Career
Classifieds
Computers and Internet
Computers and Technology
Cooking
Culture
Education
Education #2
Entertainment
Etiquette
Family
Finances
Food and Drink
Food and Drink B
Gadgets and Gizmos
Gardening
Health
Hobbies
Home Improvement
Home Management
Humor
Internet
Jobs
Kids and Teens
Learning Languages
Leadership
Legal
Legal B
Marketing
Marketing B
Medical Business
Medicines and Remedies
Music and Movies
Online Business
Opinions
Parenting
Parenting B
Pets
Pets and Animals
Poetry
Politics
Politics and Government
Real Estate
Recreation
Recreation and Sports
Science
Self Help
Self Improvement
Short Stories
Site Promotion
Society
Sports
Travel and Leisure
Travel Part B
Web Development
Wellness, Fitness and Diet
World Affairs
Writing
Writing B