Help me with my first floor tiling project!

[MissB]

Please?

I have the backerboard down. I've laid out the tile with spacers and cut the tiles that needed to be cut.

I'm doing a (roughly) 6'x6' bathroom floor. The border of the room is 6" square tiles and the rest of the floor is 12" square tiles.

My question is: do I start with the field tiles first, or set the border tiles? This house is old (1922) so there isn't a square edge in the place. I'm worried about getting out of square if I don't do some of the border first. I've snapped reference lines along the border, but I haven't drawn any reference lines in the 12" tile area.

What I was thinking about doing is starting on one of the back corners of the room and back-buttering in 5 or so of the border tiles, then working my way to the other back corner by laying in the first row of 12" tiles (and the rest of the border tiles along the back wall). Does this approach sound right or wrong?

I have a how-to-tile book and I've taken the Lowe's tiling class, but I can't find any suggestions of how to approach this part of the project.

Thanks if you've made it through all of that!

[Lugnut]

1. I've never done a floor

A crooked old house sure adds a degree of difficulty. Using a border adds another I'd think. I'd probably work with a square to try to get a reference line in the corners since you probably can't count on the corners being square and start with the border. You can make little grout line adjustments in the center tiles if you have to. :shrug:

The guys at Lowe's were very helpful when I did my kitchen countertop and backsplash tile job. It might be a good idea to call and ask about your particular project.

[NMDemDist2]

2. when laying laminate, you always start in the middle and work out

but with a tile floor, you need to figure out where you want the "weirdness" to be, and work that area last i should think

[shanti]

13. what?

that's not true at all. i just finished putting laminate down in three rooms and started at the wall every time. the instructions on the package tell me to do so as well.

[NMDemDist2]

15. interesting, i have never done it that way. we always start in the middle

and make the cuts at the walls so it looks balanced. i did the whole house in 4" x 24" laminate wood "planks" and we started by snapping a line down the central hall and worked from there

but i liked the idea of laying out all the tile first esp. since the OP is putting a border around it.

it pays to read the manufacturer's instructions (when available) though for whatever material you are using.

[LiberalEsto]

3. I think you need to find the center of the room

by stretching and snapping a chalkline between each pair of opposing walls.
Try going to the This Old House website or simply google laying floor tile.

Good luck!

[Greybnk48]

4. We just put down a floor

and this is how we started--snapping a chalk line length and width to find the center and starting there. Our room is not square either, but the focal point of the room is the center.

[Berserker]

5. On a project we had recently

on a 100 hundred plus year old home that we built a two story addition on. The last obstacle we had was a walkway deck that went from a high bank to the second story. After checking out the existing house level with the intended walkway we found that if we wanted to follow the house to the door of the new addition we would have to be 8 inches off level in 15 feet to get to the door. We struggled with those facts and wondered would it be better to make it follow the house or would we be better to run it level. We decided to run it true and level no matter what and it looked great.

[Longhorn]

6. Assuming you're not already finished by now,

;)

my husband said he would lay out the entire border and a horizontal and vertical crossing of the field tiles through the middle of the room first first, cuts and all, in order to find out where the inside of the border needs to go (cuts on the border will be against the wall.) Once the border is laid out in this manner, it can be set and then fill in with the field tiles OR start on one wall and work your way over to the doorway following the predetermined layout.

Note: He's not a tile setter but he's been a remodeling contractor for 30 years and has both hired tile setters and set tile himself.

[MissB]

7. I haven't started yet (I've been putting it off)

The whole thing is laid out (and the lines were snapped for the border, which is what created the reference lines for the "squareness" of the room).

So I think all I have to do is mark the horizontal and vertical lines for the field tiles.

Thanks for the info! It really helps. I think I'll probably start on one wall and work my way towards the doorway!

[Greybnk48]

8. One more bit of advice and I need some help too

We used a light grout for our floor--it's beautiful. WE were sold (on) a new grout sealer that you can spray on fairly easily. We followed the instructions to a tee and five months later our grout is staining.

How do I get the stains out and what is the best sealer? Can anyone out there give me some tips?

[Longhorn]

9. I shared your problem with my husband.

His views on the subject:

First, he's never had that much luck with tile sealers. He said you have to wait at least a day after you grout, and preferably three days, before you use the sealer. Then you need to keep applying coats of the sealer until it won't accept the sealer any more. And even then, they can fail.

Second, he said he doesn't know of any way to remove the stains that won't also remove the grout color. He said there are companies that specialize in restaining grout and then resealing but then you have to live with the darker color.

Third, if the current stains aren't too bad, you can clean the grout with grout cleaner and apply more coats of the same sealer to try to avoid more staining. You'll need to stick to the same brand of sealer since additional coats of a different brand may not adhere.

We used a brush-on sealer on our grout (several hundred square feet of tile in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and utility room) and while we can tell that it mostly works, there are still some stains. :shrug:

[NMDemDist2]

10. thank you DH for all his great insight and thanks for posting the

link in the other thread.

you (and your DH) are as wonderful a resource in this group as Husb2Sparkly is in the cooking group

[Longhorn]

11. You're welcome!

One of these days I'll find a forum where I'm the "expert," but it's nice to be married to one! :D

And I'm getting more active in the kitchen due to the cooking forum and the new kitchen island that my husband built me.

[stevebreeze]

12. first lay out the whole floor on the sub floor you have down

My suggestion would be to layout the boarder then make the field fit. If you need to cut the tile find a happy medium, don't cut only on one side. You can do this if you layout either a center line and work off of that or if you have an odd number of tiles in the field layout the center row of tiles. If the cuts are out of SQ and you makeup the difference half on each side it will be less noticeable.

[SoCalDem]

14. Tile needs to be re-sealed from time to time..

Lowes sells tile cleaner.. use that, and re seal :)

easy as pie..

If it's a small room, you could use a polyurethane finish after you have it all pretty:)

I have tile in my whole house except for one bedroom:)

[Greybnk48]

16. Thanks for the help guys

I'll try an actual grout cleaner and more sealant.