To Tile or not to Tile... (myself)

[Andy Allen]

This floor I did last year, it was a hall running into a kitchen, dining room, utility, and cloakroom.
Everything was squared off the left side wall in the hallway. A Dead straight row of tiles were fixed down the length of the hall into the kitchen, I then laid the tiles in the other rooms working off this row, using long straight edges..

 

[Josh Wells]

Hey Andy,

That looks very good! Fancy a trip to Ireland 😉 so looking at my layout would it be best to start on the right wall in the hall? And then dry lay them out in to the kitchen to the units and to the right wall? To make sure it would all be square.

Also as stated before, does anyone know what is best? Tile before or after skirting boards are on. I going on the side of under the skirt board as it would allow for the most “hidden” expansion gaps

 

[Andy Allen]

Yes square off the right hand wall in the hall........dry lay a row into the kitchen and see how square it is with the units.
Always best to tile with skirtings off if you can ...

 

[Josh Wells]

Thanks Andy, I really appreciate all the advise and I am even feeling a lot better at doing my first tiling job. What do you or others think about grout protectors, is it worth it? I would be looking at going black or dark brown grout as the wood effect tile are dark in colour

 

[GoneGuy]

Hi Adey,
Thanks for the advise with the longer 1.8m spirit level. Does anyone know, if it’s a new build can I get the build/developer to come in and level it as a snag? Or is that down to me to level 100%?

Hi Andy,
Thank you for the heads up I guess I should put a line in each of the smaller rooms and 3/4 in the kitchen?

Regards,
Josh

If there is a site agent ask him as usually they will bend over backwards to help the customer so they can get their reviews up

 

[Josh Wells]

Yeah we have estate agent, developer and foreman is that what you mean? Sorry not sure on terms for house sites! Once we get the keys would people like to see the progress? Of the tiling or the end result

 

[Flintstone]

We all love a photo on here! Good luck with it and make sure you ask a question if your not sure. Hoover it, make sure it’s clean, prime it, mix your adhesive as per the instructions, use slow / standard set adhesive, make sure you are getting good coverage of adhesive between tile and floor. 12mm notch trowel, and probably 10 bags of adhesive

 

[Josh Wells]

So I went to the house yesterday and the floor seems level, maybe off by 2mm at a very few points. Would this matter? Should I level it to 100% once I get the keys? Or is 2 mm not noticeable when put in tile.

 

[LM]

So I went to the house yesterday and the floor seems level, maybe off by 2mm at a very few points. Would this matter? Should I level it to 100% once I get the keys? Or is 2 mm not noticeable when put in tile.

We work to a tolerance of 3mm over a 2metre straight edge. Very very rarely do we encounter a floor that is as good as only 2mm out so you should be grateful for that. A professional tiler wouldn’t need to do any more prep in regarding the flatness of the floor if it’s as good as you say it is. Without the correct training and experience those deveations could be enough to make the floor end up looking disastrous in the hands of an incompetent person.

 

[Julian 'Farmer' Bonsall]

Not directly related.
FYI.
With the typical accuracy of +/- 0.5mm per meter measuring 2mm/2m is tricky. One thing however is that the level you have in your hand is very repeatable (over a short time - temperature and transport affect them). So if your measurement is 2 degrees then the subsequent measurements (within the realms of dust and level surface) on that floor 'should' be much improved over the +/-0.5 mm/m and limited mostly by how well you can read the vial (taking closeups images can help). There are low'ish cost solutions that would get you within +/-0.15mm/m if needed.