Laying Ceramic Tile
And the things I learned
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
It was time for a renovation. My bathroom has seen it's better days. After purchasing my house about three years ago there were certain things I wanted to accomplish. The main one was to do any home renovation or major repairs on my own. I've done most of the small things such as painting wall, new light fixtures, swithes and the like throughout the house. Now came the most intensive project for me yet.
The bathroom.
I started out pulling up the linoleum floor, which is a pain. Beneath that was a layer of vinyl tiles. The vinyl tiles weren't as hard to get up as the linoleum. My house is on a slab and a scraper did the job easily. After pulling up the flooring I started to look on the internet for the best way to start about laying my new ceramic tile. This is where I went uh-oh. Apparently old vinyl tile or linoleum and it's adhesives contain asbestos. From what I read a lot of professionals will not even pull up the old flooring for fear of this. Before doing what I did it may be a good idea to send a small sample for testing. After getting most of the old floor removed it is time to remove the old vanity and toilet. Removal of these two are fairly straightforward, just be sure to set your toilet on a thick layer of newspaper or and old cloth so the wax ring doesn't leave residue on your floor.
Then came the laying of the tile. I have read to lay the tile in a grid pattern, where the tile alongside each wall is eual size. I didn't tak this approach simply because there's only one wall that is completely visible. I started with a full tile in the corner where the tub and wall meet opposite of the toilet and worked my way out. Be carefull when cutting your tiles. I had a tile cutter for the straight cuts, and tile snippers for the curved ones. Always score your tile for the curved cuts. I was cutting the tile to go around the toilet drain, after snipping a curve about half way through the tile, the tile snapped on me. That was at least thirty minutes worth of work gone. When snipping your tiles be sure to where thick work gloves, otherwise you'll have some sore hands. When it comes time to grout the tile, make sure all the tiles and spaces are clean. You'll also need a good sponge. My sponge was cheap and started to fall apart about halfway through the wiping up of the grout.
The project is well worth the effort and time. The total expense was small. The tiles were about $0.60 each. You can find good tile on sale quite often if you look hard enough. The new sink and vanity was purchased at a hardware store that had overstocked items. The end result is more than satisfying. It's nice to look at the work and know you've done it yourself.
One more thing to look at if you lay ceramic tile is how level your floor is. I used 12X12 tile and have a very level floor. If your floor os a bit wavy or unlevel you should go for a smaller tile size.
The bathroom.
I started out pulling up the linoleum floor, which is a pain. Beneath that was a layer of vinyl tiles. The vinyl tiles weren't as hard to get up as the linoleum. My house is on a slab and a scraper did the job easily. After pulling up the flooring I started to look on the internet for the best way to start about laying my new ceramic tile. This is where I went uh-oh. Apparently old vinyl tile or linoleum and it's adhesives contain asbestos. From what I read a lot of professionals will not even pull up the old flooring for fear of this. Before doing what I did it may be a good idea to send a small sample for testing. After getting most of the old floor removed it is time to remove the old vanity and toilet. Removal of these two are fairly straightforward, just be sure to set your toilet on a thick layer of newspaper or and old cloth so the wax ring doesn't leave residue on your floor.
Then came the laying of the tile. I have read to lay the tile in a grid pattern, where the tile alongside each wall is eual size. I didn't tak this approach simply because there's only one wall that is completely visible. I started with a full tile in the corner where the tub and wall meet opposite of the toilet and worked my way out. Be carefull when cutting your tiles. I had a tile cutter for the straight cuts, and tile snippers for the curved ones. Always score your tile for the curved cuts. I was cutting the tile to go around the toilet drain, after snipping a curve about half way through the tile, the tile snapped on me. That was at least thirty minutes worth of work gone. When snipping your tiles be sure to where thick work gloves, otherwise you'll have some sore hands. When it comes time to grout the tile, make sure all the tiles and spaces are clean. You'll also need a good sponge. My sponge was cheap and started to fall apart about halfway through the wiping up of the grout.
The project is well worth the effort and time. The total expense was small. The tiles were about $0.60 each. You can find good tile on sale quite often if you look hard enough. The new sink and vanity was purchased at a hardware store that had overstocked items. The end result is more than satisfying. It's nice to look at the work and know you've done it yourself.
One more thing to look at if you lay ceramic tile is how level your floor is. I used 12X12 tile and have a very level floor. If your floor os a bit wavy or unlevel you should go for a smaller tile size.
