It’s not a small task to lay tile flooring on your own. It’s possible, but you’ll save a lot of time and effort if you enlist the aid of friends and family or engage a professional installer. However, if you are set on laying tile flooring in your home, this is how you will do it.
The first step is to take up the old flooring entirely. To avoid having to replace them later, start by gently removing the baseboards. The existing flooring must be removed, be it carpet, tiles, linoleum, or something else. To have a long-lasting, high-quality installation that you can be pleased with, you must access the subfloor. When you’re done clearing out the old furniture and decorations, thoroughly scrub the floor. To get the most outstanding results, sweep, mop, and vacuum. The subfloor must be level. If it isn’t level, then you need to correct it by filling in the gaps, dips, and fractures until it is.
That doesn’t seem too horrible. Tile flooring installation is now at its most labor-intensive stage, but the result will be a beautiful floor you can take pride in. You have previously ordered the tile after carefully measuring the floor. In all likelihood, you’ve been getting ready for the job while it sat on the doorstep for quite some time. Return to the room and take new measurements of the ground level. Move straight through the doorway until you reach the opposite wall. Draw a chalk line and use it to align your tiles. You can lay a row parallel to the opposing wall when you reach it. A quarter to half an inch of space between the wall and the tile is recommended. Put spacers in between to keep everything aligned. Remember that this is just a practice run and that no glue is being used.
At long last, we may begin adhering the tiles to the floor. The fullest tiles should always be placed in the room’s center. Therefore, that’s where you should begin. Spread glue over an area 2 feet by 2 feet using a notched trowel. Space the tiles evenly apart and press them into the glue; use a rubber mallet to keep them level. Keep going until the whole floor is coated.
In cases where a whole tile won’t fit, a tile cutter or tile-cutting saw will come in handy. These are available for purchase or rental. After tiling has been laid and allowed to dry for 24 hours. The following day, take out the spacers and grout the entire floor. Using a grout scraper, carefully remove all the grout from the tiles’ surface without disturbing the grout between them. The remaining grout can be easily cleaned up with a moist sponge. Wait 72 hours before opening the floor to foot traffic. After three weeks, preserve the floor by using a grout sealer. You have successfully laid tile flooring in your home.
However, if you find the project’s physical demands or mental complexity to be too much to handle, consider having it done by a professional. After all, if you want your tile flooring installation to last many years and look great, it’s best to leave it to the experts if you don’t think you can do it yourself.
Sears Home Improvements’ Search Marketing Manager is named Shawn Hickman.
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