Before you lay the first
tile you pretty much need to know where every
tile is going to end up before you start. Throughout even a really simple square room with a couple of doors in it there will be a great amount of options of where the tiles will be laid. Maybe the room is 9 and a quarter tiles in width and length so rather than having a quarter of a
tile around a width and length (two sides) of the room you opt to have 8 tiles set with equal gaps either side of the room for cuts that would work out around 3 quarters of a
tile which would look more attractive due to the symmetry and the fact that there are no small cuts around the room. Obviously working this out can take some time as you will have many other obstacles in your way. A tool you could use to help you plan a complex shaped room is called a gauging staff or gauge staff/stick.
In simple terms, you need to imagine the floor already tiled or as a grid and then in your mind (this is sometimes where having a plan on paper can help) you can move the floor around and ensure you have reasonable sized cuts where every
tile may meet another surface or wall. Maybe dry-lay (just pop tiles down on the floor next to each other as if you were tiling but without adhesive so you can pick them back up again afterwards) a row or two in different directions to find out where exactly each
tile will finish.
Things to remember include using spacers in your measurements or on your gauging rod to ensure accuracy. Spacers ensure there is a gap around each
tile. You may also need to plan for other
tile sizes if you have a pattern using more than one
tile which can sometimes be time consuming.
Once you are happy and you know where a row of tiles is going to end up in theory it doesn’t matter where you start as each
tile has it’s own place on your floor. So you want to start laying the tiles in stretches using about an arms length of
tile amount (maybe around 1m / 3′) at a time in width and work either towards you or work moving to the side progressing in straight lines. You will need to ensure you are using a combination of straight edges and a square to ensure you are staying within the plan you have set for your floor.
Spread
tile adhesive from your square to around 1 meter away and then depending on where you are kneeling spread it also in the other direction about 1 meter. This should give you a patch of adhesive on the floor that’s 1 x 1m (or 1 square meter) and then using your spacers and tiles start laying. The method in which you use to lay each individual
tile is one that will enable 100% coverage of adhesive on the back of the
tile and will not trap any air behind the
tile meaning you get ‘dead spots’ (areas which are not fixed that can cause cracking and splitting in the future).
Work your way in lengths and widths around your room putting the cuts in as you go in approx 1 square meter patches always cleaning any access adhesive off the floor in areas you are coming back to later and you will soon be done
.....dave..
